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I’m from a town nearby. It’s a shame how the ruins have been left filthy and unattended. A Phoenician king’s tomb from multiple millenia BCE is littered with cans of soda and plastic bottles.

When I brought friends from Europe to see Lebanon, we saw, I kid you not, the tour guide throwing an empty plastic water bottle down the crater that held sarcophagi.

Phoenicians as well. And the Canaanites [1] before them. Byblos is indeed an ancient city. It's believed that the first inhabitants were there around 8000BCE. Today's vestiges in Byblos are maybe younger than 500BCE though..

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan

as a native German, I can say you might want to skip Neuss, you won't miss out on a lot :P

Don't forget Phoenicians, Assyrians & such. They were the local cultures. Those others were imperial rulers.