Beirut is mentioned as far back as the 15th century BC; its name appears in the Tall al'Amarinah tablets. Prominence came when it was given the status of a colony of Rome in the year 14 BC, under the name Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus. The original town was located in the valley between the hills of Ashrafiyah and Musaytibah. Under the Romans, Beirut was famous for its law school, which existed for more than 300 years. The Roman city was destroyed by a series of earthquakes, culminating in the year 551 AD. Arab invaders found little to suggest earlier development when they occupied the city in 635. King Baldwin I of Jerusalem conquered the city in 1110 during the First Crusade, although the city had little importance at that time. Primarily serving as a port for trade with Europe, the town's orientation was to the sea, so it was vulnerable to attack from the adjacent mountain area.
The city changed hands several more times, its fortunes rising and falling with fluctuations in trade with Europe in spices and silk. In 1187 it was taken by Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria. After 1516 the region became nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, but the city was ruled by a variety of local powers. The town began to develop as commerce increased, and by the middle of the 19th century Beirut's population of about 15,000 had expanded beyond the city's walls. During this period of expansion, missionaries from the West and intellectuals of the Arab world began to shape the city.
