Mount Lebanon is mentioned in the Old Testament several times. King
Hiram I of Tyre sent engineers with Cedar wood which was abundant in Mount
Lebanon, to build the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem. Since then the Cedar species
known scientifically as Cedrus libani is often associated with Mount
Lebanon. The Phoenicians used cedar to build ships in which they sailed the
Mediterranean, thus they were the first to establish villages in Mount Lebanon
and would live from cutting down Cedars and sending them to the coast.
After the 5th century, Christian monks who were followers of a hermit
named Maron,
