Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "TYROS Ancient city LEBANON".
On the Mediterranean coast ca. 72 km S-SW of Beirut, one of the most
important Phoenician cities and a fortified major port. Tyre was a city to be
reckoned with as early as the 14th c. B.C.; it is mentioned in the Tell-el-Amarnah
archives. There is a splendid evocation of its early wealth and magnificence in
Ezekiel 27, but it does not appear in Homer. Tyre's influence was widespread in
the W Mediterranean by 800 B.C., roughly when the Tyrians founded Carthage. The
city capitulated to Alexander in 332 B.C. after a siege, and later it became involved
in Seleucid-Ptolemaic rivalry. In 64 B.C. Pompey assigned it to the new Roman
province of Syria, and Septimius Severus elevated it to the rank of colony late
in the 2d c. A.D. It is frequently mentioned by Josephus, and there are descriptions
of it by Strabo (16.2.22-24) and Pliny (HN 5.17). Trade is often the reason for
mentioning it (Luc. Phars. 10.41), and that trade flourished until at least the
late 3d c. A.D. (Hieron. Comm. ad. Ezek. 26.7; 27.2; and see Procop. Secret History
25.14). In the crusading era it was a principal city of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The city was originally on an island ca. 1.6 km long, parallel to
the shore and some 630 m from it. From early times it was connected by a causeway
to the mainland, where another region of Tyre stood. It was this causeway that
Alexander expanded into his famous mole 60 m wide; over the years a sandy isthmus
has built up.
There were two harbors, the Sidonian at the N of the island and the
Egyptian at the S. Aerial photography and both marine and land excavation have
revealed not a little about these harbors, especially the S one; this is significant
information as Tyre was one of the major ports of the ancient Mediterranean, ranking
with Portus, Carthage, and Caesarea. The S harbor was protected by a lofty mole
at least 675 m long and ca. 7.5 m wide. A system of broad terraces ran along its
inner face, and there were at least two passages through it, one of them zigzag.
Both the mole and the city proper were fortified with towers, some of them of
considerable size. Docks lined the harbors; there was even a paved dry dock. Here
lay the headquarters of a major merchant fleet that maintained offices in both
Puteoli and Rome during the Early Empire, here also was the seat of the Roman
fleet in the E Mediterranean.
Remains N of the S harbor have been uncovered; what can be seen today
is almost entirely Roman Imperial and Early Byzantine in date. Septimius Severus
was responsible for much construction here, for Tyre supported him in his struggle
with Pescennius Niger, and after his victory he rewarded the city appropriately.
The main urban element so far revealed is a colonnaded street which originally
ran the length of the island to connect the two ports (cf. Lepcis' grand colonnaded
boulevard to the Severan port). It has been partially excavated: doubled columns
flanked a street some 10.5 m wide, paved at least in part with mosaic of geometric
patterns; it was repaired at some late date with roughly-cut stone blocks. There
is a theater of Hellenistic date, rectilinear not only in outline but also in
the arrangement of the tiers of seats; there are similarities to the bouleuterion
of Priene. Nearby are cisterns of Roman date. A massive triumphal arch, with a
single opening and rather simple architectural treatment for its late 2d c. date,
has been partly restored, and this is the most visible of Tyre's monuments so
far recovered. The Roman forum has been located SE of the Cathedral, and remains
of the Hippodrome include the base of the spina and the canonical obelisk of Roman
times.
The city, once a center of philosophy, embraced Christianity enthusiastically.
It was the seat of a bishop as early as the 2d c. A.D.; Origen died there about
the middle of the 3d c. There are remains of a Byzantine basilica. The Venetian
Cathedral, begun early in the 12th c. and built partly of ancient stones, was
on the site of an early 4th c. church; it is traditionally the burial place of
Frederic Barbarossa.
There is a considerable necropolis, including a long avenue flanked
in part by late antique and early Byzantine sarcophagi (some are now in the National
Museum in Beirut). About 9.6 km SE of Tyre is the so-called Tomb of Hiram, which
would date from the 10th c. B.C. if it were his; it is celebrated as such in Freemasonry,
but it cannot be of so early a date.
W. L. Macdonald, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Tyrus (Turos, Herod. ii. 44, &c.: Eth. Turios, Tyrius), the most celebrated
and important city of Phoenicia. By the Israelites it was called Tsor (Josh. xix.
29, &c.), which means a rock but by the Tyrians themselves Sor or Sur (Theodoret.
in Ezek. xxvi.), which appellation it still retains. For the initial letter t
was substituted by the Greeks, and from them adopted by the Romans; but the latter
also used the form Sara or Sarra, said to be derived from the Phoenician name
of the purple fish; whence also the adjective Sarranus. [p. 1249] (Plaut. Truc.
2, 6, 58; Virg. Georg. ii. 506; Juv. x. 38; Gell. xiv. 6, &c.) The former of these
etymologies is the preferable one. (Shaw, Travels, ii. p. 31.) The question of
the origin of Tyre has been already discussed, its commerce, manufactures and
colonies described, and the principal events of its history narrated at some length
[Phoenicia, p. 608, seq.],and this article will therefore be more particularly
devoted to the topography, and to what may be called the material history, of
the city.
Strabo (xvi. p. 756) places Tyre at a distance of 200 stadia from
Sidon, which pretty nearly agrees with the distance of 24 miles assigned by the
Itin. Ant. (p. 149) and the Tab. Peuting. It was built partly on an island and
partly on the mainland. According to Pliny (v. 19. s. 17) the island was 22 stadia,
or 2 3/4 miles, in circumference, and was originally separated from the continent
by a deep channel 7/10ths of a mile in breadth. In his time, however, as well
as long previously (cf. Strab. l. c.), it was connected with the mainland by an
isthmus formed by the mole or causeway constructed by Alexander when he was besieging
Tyre, and by subsequent accumulations of sand. Some authorities, state the channel
to have been only 3 stadia (Scylax, p. 42) or 4 stadia broad (Diodor. Sic. xvii.
60; Curt. iv. 2), and Arrian (Anab. ii. 18) describes it as shallow near the continent
and only 6 fathoms in depth at its deepest part near the island. The accretion
of the isthmus must have been considerable in the course of ages. William of Tyre
describes it in the time of the Crusades as a bow-shot across (xiii. 4); the Pere
Roger makes it only 50 paces (Terre Sainte, p. 41); but at present it is about
1/3 of a mile broad at its narrowest part, near the island.
That part of the city which lay on the mainland was called Palae-Tyrus,
or Old Tyre; an appellation from which we necessarily infer that it existed previously
to the city on the island; and this inference is confirmed by Ezekiel's prophetical
description of the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the particulars
of which are not suitable to an island city. Palae-Tyrus extended along the shore
from the river Leontes on the N., to the fountain of Ras-el-Ain on the S., a space
of 7 miles; which, however, must have included the suburbs. When Strabo says (xvi.
p. 758) that Palae-Tyrus was 30 stadia, or 3 3/4 miles, distant from Tyre, he
is probably considering the southern extremity of the former. Pliny (l. c.) assigns
a circumference of 19 miles to the two cities. The plain in which Palae-Tyrus
was situated was one of the broadest and most fertile in Phoenicia. The fountain
above mentioned afforded a constant supply of pure spring water, which was received
into an octagon reservoir, 60 feet in diameter and 18 feet deep. Into this reservoir
the water gushes to within 3 feet of the top. (Maundrell, Journey, p. 67.) Hence
it was distributed through the town by means of an aqueduct, all trace of which
has now disappeared (Robinson, Palest. iii. p. 684.) The unusual contrast between
the bustle of a great seaport and the more tranquil operations of rural life in
the fertile fields which surrounded the town, presented a striking scene which
is described with much felicity in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus (40, 327, sqq.).
The island on which the new city was built is the largest rock of
a belt that runs along this part of the coast. We have no means of determining
the origin of the island city; but it must of course have arisen in the period
between; Nebuchadhezzar and Alexander the Great. The alterations which the coast
has undergone at this part render it difficult to determine the original size
of the island. Maundrell (p. 66) estimated it at only 40 acres; but he was guided
solely by his eye. The city was surrounded with a wall, the height of which, where
it faced the mainland, was 150 feet. (Arrian, Anab. ii. 18.) The foundations of
this wall, which must have marked the limits of the island as well as of the city,
may still be discerned, but have not been accurately traced. The measurement of
Pliny before cited must doubtless include the subsequent accretions, both natural
and artificial. The smallness of the area was, however, compensated by the great
height of the houses of Tyre, which were not built after the eastern fashion,
but story upon story, like those of Aradus, another Phoenician island city (Mela,
ii. 7), or like the insulae of Rome. (Strab. l. c.) Thus a much larger population
might be accommodated than the area seems to promise. Bertou, calculating from
the latter alone, estimates the inhabitants of insular Tyre at between 22,000
and 23,000. (Topogr. de Tyr, p. 17.) But the accounts of the capture of Tyre by
Alexander, as will appear in the sequel, show a population of at least double
that number; and it should be recollected that, from the maritime pursuits of
the Tyrians, a large portion of them must have been constantly at sea. Moreover,
part of the western side of the island is now submerged, to the extent of more
than a mile; and that this was once occupied by the city is shown by the bases
of columns which may still be discerned. These remains were much more considerable
in the time of Benjamin of Tudela, in the latter part of the 12th century, who
mentions that towers, markets, streets, and halls might be observed at the bottom
of the sea (p. 62, ed. Asher).
Insular Tyre was much improved by king Hiram, who in this respect
was the Augustus of the city. He added to it one of the islands lying to the N.,
by filling up the intervening space. This island, the outline of which can no
longer be traced, previously contained a temple of Baal, or, according to the
Greek way of speaking, of the Olympian Jupiter. (Joseph. c. Apion, i. 17.) It
was by the space thus gained, as well as by substructions on the eastern side
of the island, that Hiram was enabled to enlarge and beautify Tyre, and to form
an extensive public place, which the Greeks called Eurychorus. The artificial
ground which Hiram formed for this purpose may still be traced by the loose rubbish
of which it consists. The frequent earthquakes with which Tyre has been visited
(Sen. Q. N. ii. 26) have rendered it difficult to trace its ancient configuration;
and alterations have been observed even since the recent one of 1837 (Kenrick,
Phoenicia, p. 353, &c.).
The powerful navies of Tyre were received and sheltered in two roadsteads
and two harbours, one on the N., the other on the S. side of the island. The northern,
or Sidonian roadstead, so called because it looked towards Sidon (Arrian, ii.
20), was protected by the chain of small islands already mentioned. The harbour
which adjoined it was formed by a natural inlet on the NE. side of the island.
On the N., from which quarter alone it was exposed to the wind, it was rendered
secure by two sea-walls running parallel to each other, at a distance of 100 feet
apart, as shown in the annexed plan. Portions of these walls may still be traced.
The eastern side of the harbour was enclosed by two ledges of with the assistance
of walls, having a passage between them about 140 feet wide, which formed the
mouth of the harbour. In case of need this entrance could be closed with a boom
or chain. At present this harbour is almost choked with sand, and only a small
basin, of about 40 yards in diameter, can be traced (Shaw, Travels, vol. ii. p.
30); but in its original state it was about 300 yards long, and from 230 to 240
yards wide. part of the modern town of Sur, or Sour, is built over its southern
portion, and only vessels of very shallow draught can enter.
The southern roadstead was called the Egyptian, from its lying towards
that country, and is described by Straho (l. c.) as unenclosed. If, however, the
researches of Bertou may be relied upon (Topogr. de Tyr. p. 14), a stupendous
sea-wall, or breakwater, 35 feet thick, and running straight in a SW. direction,
for a distance of 2 miles, may still be traced. The wall is said to be covered
with 2 or 3 fathoms of water, whilst within it the depth is from 6 to 8 fathoms.
Bertou admits, however, that this wall has never been carefully examined; and
if it had existed in ancient times, it is impossible to conceive how so stupendous
a work should have escaped the notice of all the writers of antiquity. According
to the same authority, the whole southern part of the island was occupied by a
cothon, or dock, separated from the roadstead by a wall, the remains of which
are still visible. This harbour, like the northern one, could be closed with a
boom; whence Chariton (vii. 2. p. 126, Reiske) takes occasion to compare the security
of Tyre to that of a house with bolted doors. At present, however, there is nothing
to serve for a harbour, and even the roadstead is not secure in all winds. (Shaw,
ii. p. 30.) The northern and southern harbours were connected together by means
of a canal, so that ships could pass from one to the other. This canal may still
be traced by the loose sand with which it is filled.
We have already adverted to the sieges sustained by Tyre at the hands
of Shalmaneser, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, and Antigonus. [Phoenicia, pp. 610-613].
That by Alexander was so remarkable, and had so much influence on the topography
of Tyre, that we reserved the details of it for this place, as they may be collected
from the narratives of Arrian (Anab. ii. 17-26), Diodorus Siculus (xvii. 40-45),
and Q. Curtius (iv. 4-27). The insular situation of Tyre, the height and strength
of its walls, and the command which it possessed of the sea, seemed to render
it impregnable; and hence the Tyrians, when summoned by Alexander to surrender,
prepared for an obstinate resistance. The only method which occurred to the mind
of that conqueror of overcoming the difficulties presented to his arms by the
site of Tyre, was to connect it with the mainland by means of a mole. The materials
for such a structure were at hand in abundance. The deserted buildings of Palae-Tyrus
afforded plenty of stone, the mountains of Lebanon an inexhaustible supply of
timber. For a certain distance, the mole, which was 200 feet in breadth, proceeded
rapidly and successfully, though Alexander's workmen were often harassed by parties
of Tyrian troops, who landed in boats, as well as by the Arabs of the Syrian desert.
But as the work approached the island, the difficulties increased in a progressive
ratio. Not only was it threatened with destruction from the depth and force of
the current, often increased to violence by a southerly wind, but the workmen
were also exposed to the missiles of the Tyrian slingers and bowmen, aimed both
from vessels and from the battlements of the city. To guard themselves from these
attacks, the Macedonians erected two lofty wooden towers at the extremity of the
mole, and covered them with hides as a protection against fire. The soldiers placed
on these towers occasioned the Tyrians considerable annoyance. At length, however,
the latter succeeded in setting fire to the towers by means of a fire-ship filled
with combustibles; and afterwards, making a sortie in their boats, pulled up the
stakes which protected the mole, and destroyed the machines which the fire had
not reached. To complete the discomfiture of the Macedonians, a great storm arose
and carried away the whole of the work which had been thus loosened.
This misfortune, which would have damped the ardour of an ordinary
man, only incited Alexander to renew his efforts with greater vigour and on a
surer plan. He ordered a new mole to be constructed, broader than the former one;
and in order to obviate the danger of destruction by the waves, he caused it to
incline towards the SW., and thus to cross the channel diagonally, instead of
in a straight line. At the same time he collected a large fleet from Sidon, whither
he went in person, from Soli, Mallus, and other places; for, with the exception
of Tyre, all Phoenicia was already in the hands of Alexander. He then made an
incursion into Coelesyria, and chased away the Arabs who annoyed his workmen employed
in cutting timber in Antilibanus. When he again returned to Tyre with his fleet,
which he had joined at Sidon, the new mole had already made great progress. It
was formed of whole trees with their branches, covered with layers of stone, on
which other trees were heaped. The Tyrian divers, indeed, sometimes succeeded
in loosening the structure by pulling out the trees; but, in spite of these efforts,
the work proceeded steadily towards completion.
The large fleet which Alexander had assembled struck terror into the
Tyrians, who now confined themselves to defensive measures. They sent away the
old men, women, and children to Carthage, and closed the mouths of their harbours
with a line of triremes. It is unnecessary to recount all the incidents which
followed, and we shall therefore confine ourselves to the most important. Alexander
had caused a number of new machines to be prepared, under the direction of the
ablest engineers of Phoenicia and Cyprus. Some of these were planted on the mole,
which now very nearly approached the city; others were placed on board large vessels,
in order to batter the walls on other sides. Various were the devices resorted
to by the Tyrians to frustrate these attempts. They cut the cables of the vessels
bearing the battering rams, and thus sent them adrift; but this mode of defence
was met by the use of iron mooring chains. To deaden the blows of the battering
engines, leathern bags filled with sea-weed were suspended from the walls, whilst
on their summit were erected large wheel-like machines filled with soft materials,
which being set in rapid motion, either averted or intercepted the missiles hurled
by the Macedonians. A second wall also was commenced within the first. On the
other hand, the Macedonians, having now carried the mole as far as the island,
erected towers upon it equal in height to the walls of the town, from which bridges
were projected towards the battlements, in order to take the city by escalade.
Yet, after all the labour bestowed upon the mole, Tyre was not captured by means
of it. The Tyrians annoyed the soldiers who manned the towers by throwing out
grappling hooks attached to lines, and thus dragging them down. Nets were employed
to entangle the hands of the assailants; masses of red-hot metal were hurled amongst
them, and quantities of heated sand, which, getting between the interstices of
the armour, caused intolerable pain. An attempted assault from the bridges of
the towers was repulsed, and does not appear to have been renewed. But a breach
was made in the walls by battering rams fixed on vessels; and whilst this was
assaulted by means of ships provided with bridges, simultaneous attacks were directed
against both the harbours. The Phoenician fleet burst the boom of the Egyptian
harbour, and took or destroyed the ships within it. The northern harbour, the
entrance of which was undefended, was easily taken by the Cyprian fleet. Meanwhile
Alexander had entered with his troops through the breach. Provoked by the long
resistance of the Tyrians and the obstinate defence still maintained from the
roofs of the houses, the Macedonian soldiery set fire to the city, and massacred
8000 of the inhabitants. The remainder, except those who found shelter on board
the Sidonian fleet, were sold into slavery, to the number of 30,000; and 2000
were crucified in expiation of the murders of certain Macedonians during the course
of the siege. The lives of the king and chief magistrates were spared.
Thus was Tyre captured, after a siege of seven months, in July of
the year B.C. 332. Alexander then ordered sacrifices, and games in honour of the
Tyrian Hercules, and consecrated to him the battering ram which had made the first
breach in the walls. The population, which had been almost destroyed, was replaced
by new colonists, of whom a considerable portion seem to have been Carians...
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Turos: Aram. Tura: O. T. Tsor). Now Sur; one of the greatest and most famous cities of the ancient world, standing on the coast of Phoenice, about twenty miles south of Sidon. It was a colony of the Sidonians, but gradually eclipsed the mother city, and came to be the chief place of all Phoenice for wealth, commerce, and colonizing activity. Respecting its colonies and maritime enterprise, see Phoenice and Carthago. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser laid siege to Tyre for five years, but without success. It was again besieged for thirteen years by Nebuchadnezzar, and there is a tradition that he took it, but the matter is not quite certain. At the period when the Greeks began to be well acquainted with the city, its old site had been abandoned, and a new city erected on a small island about half a mile from the shore and a mile in length, and a little north of the remains of the former city, which was now called Old Tyre (Palaituros). This island, which Pliny estimated at two and three-quarter miles in circumference, was separated from the mainland by a channel seven-tenths of a mile broad, or according to Diodorus and Curtius, four stadia. At present the breadth is only one-third of a mile. With the additional advantage of its insular position, this new city soon rose to a prosperity scarcely less than that of its predecessor; though under the Persian kings it seems to have ranked again below Sidon. There were two harbours: one on the north of the island, known as the Sidonian Harbour, and the other on the south side, known as the Egyptian Harbour, the names expressing the direction in which they faced. In B.C. 322 the Tyrians refused to open their gates to Alexander, who laid siege to the city for seven months, and united the island on which it stood to the mainland by a mole constructed chiefly out of the ruins of Old Tyre. This mole has ever since formed a permanent connection between the island and the mainland. After its capture and sack by Alexander, Tyre never regained its former consequence, and its commerce was for the most part transferred to Alexandria. It was subject to the Syrian kings, but became a free city with its own coinage in B.C. 126, and till the time of Augustus, when it lost its independence. Septimius Severus made it a Roman colony. It was the see of a Bishop, and St. Jerome calls it the most beautiful city of Phoenicia. It was a place of considerable importance in mediaeval history, especially as one of the last points held by the Christians on the coast of Syria.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
City of Syria.
Tyre was one of the main cities of the Phoenicians, a Semitic people
settled along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean that is part of today's Syria.
Along with Sidon, another
Phoenician city a few miles north, Tyre is often mentioned in the Bible.
In biblical times, Tyre was one of the busiest harbours of the whole
Mediterranean, an extremely wealthy city, due to Phoenicians' heavy involvment
in maritime trade.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
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