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On December 4, 1110 Sidon was sacked in the First Crusade. It became the centre of the Lordship of Sidon, an important seigneury in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In 1900 it was a town of 10,000 inhabitants, but in 2000 its population was around 200,000. It contains the remains of walls built in the 12th century CE. In 1855, the sarcophagus of King Eshmunazar II was discovered. From a Phoenician inscription on its lid, it appears that he was a "king of the Sidonians," probably in the 5th century BCE, and that his mother was a priestess of AshtartAshtart (in ASCII spelling Ashtart and often simplified to Ashtart , Hebrew or Phoenician , Ugaritic ttrt (Englished as Attart or Athtart , Akkadian Astartu (from dAs-tar-t , Greek (Englished as Astart or Astarte is a major northwest Semitic goddess cogna, "the goddess of the Sidonians." In this inscription the gods EshmunEshmun (or Eshmoun less accurately Esmun or Esmoun was a northwestern Semitic god of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon. This god was known at least from the Iron Age period at Sidon and was worshipped also in Tyre, Beirut, Cyprus, Sardinia, and in Car and BaalThis article is a discussion of Baal the deity; for Baal as a Christian or Jewish demon see Baal (demon). Baal Standard Hebrew Baal Tiberian Hebrew Baal / Baal is a northwest Semitic word signifying 'lord, master, owner (male), husband' cognate with Akkad Sidon 'Lord of Sidon' (who may or may not be the same) are mentioned as chief gods of the Sidonians. ‘Ashtart is entitled ‘Ashtart-Shem-Ba‘al '‘Ashtart the name of the Lord', a title also found in an Ugaritic text.

The BibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) describes Sidon at various places:

• It received its name from the "first-born" of Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:15, 19).
• It was the first home of the Phoenicians on the coast of Canaan, and from its extensive commercial relations became a "great" city. (Joshua 11:8; 19:28).
• It was the mother city of Tyre. It lay within the lot of the tribe of Asher, but was never subdued (Judges 1:31).
• The Sidonians long oppressed Israel (Judges 10:12).
• From the time of David its glory began to wane, and Tyre, its "virgin daughter" (Isaiah 23:12), rose to its place of pre-eminence.
• Solomon entered into a matrimonial alliance with the Sidonians, and thus their form of idolatrous worship found a place in the land of Israel (1 Kings 11:1, 33).
• It was famous for its manufactures and arts, as well as for its commerce (1 Kings 5:6; 1 Chronicles 22:4; Ezekiel 27:8).
• It is frequently referred to by the prophets (Isaiah 23:2, 4, 12; Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 27:8; 28:21, 22; 32:30; Joel 3:4).
• Jesus Christ visited the "coasts" of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24; Luke 4:26) and from this region many came forth to hear him preaching (Mark 3:8; Luke 6:17).
• From Sidon, at which the ship put in after leaving Caesarea, Paul finally sailed for Rome (Acts 27:3, 4).

This entry incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation.