Location: South Governorate Map
Founded: 2750 BC
Tyre is an ancient archaeological site situated in South Governorate in Lebanon. It was originally found in 2750 BC.
Foundation legends
The Phoenician myths (recorded by Philo Biblsky) elevated its
foundation to the gods (they are also heroes or demigods in a
different sense). According to these myths, Usoos sailed on a log to
the island, hoisted two mantras and irrigated them with the blood of
sacrificial animals. According to another legend, the island sailed
along the waves; on it were two rocks and between them an olive tree
on which an eagle sat; he should have stopped when someone sailed to
him and sacrificed an eagle. This was done by the first navigator
Usoos, and the island was attached to the bottom.
Local priests told Herodotus that their city was founded 23
centuries ago, that is, in the middle of the XXVIII century BC. e.
Two ancient historians attributed its foundation to later times -
approx. 1200 BC e.: Josephus Flavius, who placed this event 240
years before the Temple of Solomon, and Mark Unian Justin, who
claimed that Tyr was built shortly after the destruction of Troy.
First historical sources
The oldest written record of Tire ("Surru") is in the Amarna
Archive. In a local diplomatic correspondence, Prince Tira Abimilki
is the author of 10 tablets, from the 146th to the 155th. He reports
on the situation in the region to his overlord, the Egyptian pharaoh
Akhenaten - he approved him as ruler and calls him the rank of
rabisu ("general"). In addition, Abimilki in humiliating terms
(among the plates there is the “Anthem to Pharaoh”) asks Egypt for
help against Prince Sidon Zimrida and the Amorites (including the
hapiru and their leader Asiru); he was locked up on an island, he
has neither water nor firewood. In the papyrus Anastasi I (XIII
century), Tyr is referred to as a large "city in the sea, to which
water is delivered by ship and which is rich in fish more than
sand."
The oldest settlement was really on the island; there were only
suburbs and cemeteries on the mainland; the name of the mainland
Palette ("ancient Tyr") is based on a misunderstanding. There was no
water on the island; it was carried from Ras al-Ain to the shore,
from where it was delivered by ship to the city (the remains of the
water supply still exist between Tell Mashuk and Ras al-Ain); during
the siege, rainwater had to be collected in tanks.
The island had two harbors - Sidon in the north and Egypt in the
southeast; the latter is now covered in sand, and part of the island
is washed out by the sea.
The flourishing of Tire
Tire moved to first place among the Phoenician cities in the 12th
century BC. e. after the destruction of Sidon by the Philistines; in
trade, he began to play a major role. Almost all the Phoenician
colonies in the western half of the Mediterranean Sea (Cadiz, Utica,
Carthage and many others) go back to Tire: they recognized his
hegemony, considered his god Melkart to be their own and sent an
annual tribute to his temple. Utica, who tried to rebel against
Tire, was pacified by King Hiram I (969–936 BC), known as the
organizer and beautician of the city and a wise politician. Hiram
lived 53 years and died after a 34-year reign. In foreign policy, he
approved the hegemony of Tire, which passed to him from Sidon,
fought with the Kittians (inhabitants of Cyprus) and allied with the
kingdom of Israel and Judah, beginning with King David. It was
thanks to the friendship of Hiram with King Solomon that the Tyrants
helped the Jews build the Temple of Solomon.
After him there were troubles until the usurper Itobaal I, brother
of Jezebel, brother-in-law of Ahab of Israel, ascended the throne.
During his reign, the Assyrian king Ashshurnatsirapal II came in his
campaign west to Nar-el-Kelba (876 BC); Tire paid off his gifts.
Ittobaal founded Botris for protection from the Assyrians, entered
into an alliance with the king of Israel, Omri, and sent a colony to
Libyan Avzu. Under his grandson, Mattan I, Salmanasar II received
gifts (842 BC) from Tire, and under the next king, Pygmalion
(ancient sources call the founder of Carthage Elissa, or Didon, his
sister), there was a campaign of Ramman-Nirari (804 and 801 BC), to
whom Tyr also offered gifts. Tiglathpalassar III Tire paid 150
talents; the annals of him mention the kings of Tire Hiram II and
Mattan II (738 and 734 BC). After them sat Elulai, or Puy (728–692
BC), subjugating the retreating Kittians and enduring the victorious
five-year siege of Salmanasar IV.
Sargon II boasted that he had subjugated Tyr, but Sinakherib did not
manage to cope with Elulai, who joined the coalition of the
Nubian-Egyptian pharaoh Taharka and the Jewish king Hezekiah. Only
during the campaign of Sinaheherib 701 BC. e., when the Assyrians
captured the mainland Tyr cities, Elulai fled, was captured and
killed. Under Assarhaddon, King of Tire Baal I first obeyed Assyria,
helped her capture Sidon, and concluded a treaty of 675 BC. e.,
depriving him of the right to make important decisions without an
Assyrian resident overseer and council of elders. However, then Baal
I sided with Egypt, was besieged, but apparently not subjugated,
although Assarhaddon depicted him and Taharka on a rope at his feet
on a Senjirli bas-relief (Berlin Museum). Already Ashurbanipalu Baal
I was forced to obey and give his daughter to the harem, and his son
to the hostages.
Constant sieges and wars weakened the city. At some time, perhaps
in the IX century BC. e., the slaves took advantage of this and made
a riot, the victim of which fell to know. According to the meager
information about this uprising, preserved in the ancient tradition
(Justin), the uprising of the slaves ended in the complete
destruction of the male representatives of the ruling class, and
women and children were distributed among the rebels; Abdastart
(Greek: Straton) was chosen king.
Siege of Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander
Under Nebuchadnezzar, Tire was on the side of Egypt and Judea. The
Babylonian king unsuccessfully besieged him for 13 years (from 587
BC) under King Itobaale II. Fleeing from the Babylonian troops, Tire
was transferred to a rocky island (as a result, the cemetery and
ruins of the old city remained on the mainland, and the new Tire was
surrounded by a high wall around the entire perimeter of the
island). However, in the end, the exhausted citizens decided to make
peace. The king moved to Babylon; Baal II was seated in his place
(until 564 BC), after which there was again a revolution in Tire:
the tsarist government was replaced by “judges” (suffet). Soon,
however, the opposing party asked Tsar Hiram III (552-532 BC) from
Babylon, in which Babylonian dominion was replaced by Persian.
Tire carried this dominion calmly and supplied the kings with a
large fleet. The refusal to let Alexander the Great into the city to
sacrifice Melkart, although initially Tyr promised to conclude an
alliance with the Macedonian conqueror and not help the Persians,
entailed a seven-month siege with a mound of isthmus from coast to
island. The Tyrants defended themselves fiercely and not without
success; the dam would hardly have helped Alexander much if he had
not managed to form a large fleet of Phoenician cities hostile to
Thira. 8,000 citizens died. Few men survived; King Azimilk and the
nobles who survived in the temple were spared. According to Arrian,
30,000 captured inhabitants of Tire were sold into slavery, Diodorus
writes about 13,000 prisoners. Alexander ordered to set fire to all
the buildings of the city. Alexander populated Tyr with the
population from the surrounding places and appointed them a new
king. However, finds of Tyr coins show that Azimilk reigned in Tire
until 309/308 BC. e., that is, remained king even after the assault
of Tire.
Antique and medieval shooting gallery
Obviously, the city was quickly rebuilt, so that already 17 years
later it held on for 15 months against Antigonus, being under the
rule of the Ptolemies. In 126 BC e. the city gained independence
from the Seleucid Empire, preserving it until submission to the
Romans in 64 BC. e. During Hellenism, Tyr was one of the centers of
education (historians Menander, Diy, Neoplatonic philosopher
Porfiry). In the Jewish war he was against the Jews. In 43 BC e.
known tyrant Marius, a protege of the Romans. Christianity appeared
in Tire early; the Apostle Paul lived here for a week (Acts XXI, 3);
the city soon became a bishopric (St. Dorotheus and others). During
the period of persecution, some of the Tyr Christians suffered a
martyrdom; under Diocletian alone, 156 martyrs were injured here. In
Tire, Origen died; his tomb was shown in the VI century.
The preaching of Christianity was brought to Abyssinia by tyrants,
among whom was Frumentius of Aksum. The first remarkable temple
under Constantine the Great was built by the Tyr bishop Pavlin and
solemnly consecrated in 314, Eusebius of Caesarea describes in
detail another Tyr temple, in the south-east of the city,
consecrated by him in 335, and in the same year a council was held
in Tire on the case of the Archbishop of Alexandria .
In the Middle Ages, Tire was one of the main cities of the East and
played a large role, being considered impregnable. Only thanks to
strife among Muslims did Baldwin II manage to subdue him with the
assistance of the Venetian fleet (1124); the Frankish diocese was
founded (Wilhelm, archbishop of Tire, historian). The city was rich
and industrial (glass products).
The two-month siege of the city by Saladin in 1187 was unsuccessful
- Conrad de Monferrat defended Tire from the Ayyubid troops.
In 1190, Frederick Barbarossa was buried here. In 1291, Tire was
recaptured from the Crusaders by the Mameluke Muslims, and at the
beginning of the 16th century the city was included in the Ottoman
Empire.
New time
Later, standing on the site of Tira Sur, a town located in the north
of the former island, connected to the coast, did not have much
economic significance, as trade passed to Beirut. Through Sur,
tobacco, cotton paper and millstones were exported from Khauran. It
was the residence of kaimakama. There were schools and mission
institutions of various monastic orders and Protestant churches. In
1837, Tyr was badly damaged by the earthquake.
According to 2017 estimates, 125,000 people live in the city.