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Hardine, county of Batroun, republic of Lebanon, was founded by the Hittites in about 1250 B.C.
The branch of the Hittites were called the Sardenas or Shardenas.
The name Hardine is a Canaanite word meaning "the place that evokes fear."
The Sardenas also founded and colonized the Island of "Sardinia," named after themselves.
In the ninth century B.C., they were hired by King Solomon of Israel to aid in the logging and shipping of the cedar trees to Israel.
Hardine became one of the leading lumber camps in the cedar trade. It is said that thousands of Hebrew soldiers and citizens were sent to help the loggers of Hardine. A Hebrew cemetery has been found in during archeological digs in Hardine.
When King Solomon's Temple was first destroyed, all connections between Lebanon and the Hebrews were severed.
The Phoenician people were plagued by systematic wars and devastation by the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, various Arab crusaders, and most recently Syria and Israel.
Hardine was the first Christian Village around 270 A.D. according to the Lebanese Maronite Order and French Jesuit Archeologosts in Mount Lebanon. The town was converted by the daughter of a Roman official who had her imprisoned in Hardine for converting to Christianity.
Following the arrival of the crusaders in the latter part of the 11th Century, the Christians flourished, especially the Maronites, for the next 200 years. The first woman hermit mentioned is Sarah in 1199.
By 1287 A.D., the crusaders were out and orders were given by the Sultan of Egypt to invade Christian and Druze Lebanon. Benjamin, the Mouquadam (Commander) of Hardine, is mentioned as a Maronite hero in battles defending Batroun and Byblos.
The first expedition was not carried out by the Arabs against Christians and Druze. But in 1302 A.D., the Arab armies of Damascus, Tripoli and Egypt invaded the mountains of Lebanon and were severely beaten by the Lebanese. Benjamin Mouqaddams of Hardine was instrumental in rallying the 34,000 troops that defeated the Arabs.
After the departure of the Crusaders, the Maronites came under attack from the Mamlouks. They suffered every humiliation, while their Churches were set of fire, their villages plundered, and their vineyards destroyed. North Lebanon was devastated. The curtain was drawn down severing all contact between Lebanon and the West.
Many Lebanese fled the country with over 100,000 Maronites settling in Cyprus. Additional homes were made in Sicily, Malta, Italy, France and England.
From 1367-1404, Maronite Patriarch David John made Hardine the Maronite See after fleeing there for safety upon the assassination of his predecessor.
The persecution of the Lebanese Christians continues to this day.
Under Ottoman rule, Lebanon developed economic and religious ties with Europe. Open to the West, it became a hot bed of political strife between various foreign nations including France, Russia and Britain. These powerful countries assumed the protection of certain ethnic- religious groups, with France supporting the Christian Maronites.
Three men from Hardine served as Syriac Bishops: Seviros Issa (1443-1480), Abrahim Hdayban (1503-1523) and George Dagher (1590-1598).
In 1583, a Hardine-born monk, Jacob ben Sarkis Dagher became the first school supervisor of the newly established Maronite School in Rome. In 1598, Jacobite Bishop, George Dagher, converted to Maronite ending the presence of all Jacobites in Mount Lebanon.
in 1808, Joseph Kassab was born in Hardine. He became Blessed Hardini when he was Beatified on 10 May 1998 in the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome by Pope John Paul II.
In 1860, at the end of a bloody civil war, instigated by the Turks, culminated in a massacre of the Maronites (over 20,000) by the Druze. Britain and France intervened and pressured the Turks into establishing a new Christian-dominated administration for Lebanon which lasted until World War I.
Emigration to the United States began in 1886. The largest population of Hardine immigrants is in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Hardine lost 12 of its citizens on the Titanic on the night of 15 April 1912.
After World War I, Lebanon became a French mandate. During the 1920s the French redefined Lebanon's borders, combining the largely Muslim-inhabited coastal plain with the Christian-dominated mountains to create the Republic of Lebanon. It remained under French mandate until 1943, when Lebanon became fully independent.
In Hardine, over 30 churches, monasteries and shrines were established.
Today, a brand new hotel, The Hardini Inn, shines in the village built with love from descendants living in Sydney, Australia (Joe Assaf) and California, USA (George Esseff). The Hardini Inn is built from Hardini's existing family homestead (Beit Kassab), which was added on in the existing architectural style. Call (06) 770500 for reservations.
Council of Hardine:
Families of Hardine: