What was tyre

The Tyrian Baal worship of Melkart seems to have been introduced into the 10 tribe kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab. After this point in history the once good relations enjoyed by Tyre and the people of Judah and Israel soured. The prophet Joel accused the people of Tyre and Sidon of selling the people of Judah into slavery to the Greeks:. The people of Tyre became overly confident in their natural island defenses and overly proud of the wealth and beauty of their city. They developed a feeling of jealousy and rivalry toward Jerusalem and exulted over the misfortunes she faced and hoped to exploit them for commercial opportunity.

For these reasons the prophet Ezekiel was inspired to prophecy against her:. The gateway of the peoples has been broken! They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down her towers, and I will scrape away soil and make her a shining, bare rock.

She will become a drying yard for dragnets in the midst of the sea. According to the first century Jewish historian Josephus, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Tyre for an incredible 13 years:.

Josephus also quotes an account that has not survived til our day by a historian named Philostratus who lived circa to B. Still between Ezekiel, Josephus and certain archaeological records, some conclusions may be drawn. That the siege would be long, Ezekiel adds:. Every head became bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his army received no wages for the labor he expended on Tyre.

During the protracted, multi-year siege, Babylonian soldiers heads became bare from the chafing of their helmets, their shoulders rubbed raw from wearing armour and labouring long in the siege. Evidently, the mainland portion of the city fell to the Babylonians along with associated settlements in the surrounding area. The walls and towers of the mainland city were levelled along with the homes within.

The neighbouring settlements were razed to the ground and their inhabitants cruelly slaughtered. Yet lacking a significant navy, Babylon was incapable of taking the fortified island city. So Nebuchadnezzar choose to lay siege to the island, cutting it off from provisions from the mainland and to the extent they could, cutting it off from resupply by sea.

In this way they hoped to starve the city into submission. Although the historical record of both the Babylonian siege of Tyre and the subsequent invasion of Egypt is limited, archeological evidence does support the Bible record. Other cuneiform tablets show that at some point Tyre was in the hands of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Finally, a cuneiform tablet at the British Museum shows that Nebuchadnezzar did indeed successfully engage the Egyptian forces.

Nebuchadnezzar did not take the island city by force. It seems likely that the city negotiated a surrender after 13 years of siege. Either King Ithobal of Tyre died during the siege or he was surrendered to the Babylonians to be replaced by his son Baal who would become a Babylonian puppet-ruler.

The later theory is supported by an ancient list of foreign kings residing in Babylon who like Judean King Jehoiachin were prisoners dependent on the Babylonian monarch for their lives. At the top of this list is an unnamed king of Tyre. Yet the prophecy concerning Tyre at this point could only be said to be partly fulfilled.

The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy would wait over years for the ascent of Alexander the Great. Ezekiel 3. This Persian empire ruled for two centuries over the former holdings of Babylonia including Tyre until they were taken away by a fierce young king from Macedonia.

By the time of his death shortly before reaching the age of 33, Alexander the Great controlled an empire that stretched from Greece, down south to Egypt and as far east as India. He was never defeated in battle and may have continued his conquests had he not suddenly died in Babylon under circumstances that are controversial still.

Many ancient historians thought he had been poisoned although many but not all modern historians believe he died of natural causes such as malaria or typhoid fever. Shortly after succeeding his father, Alexander turned his eyes eastward toward the ancient rivals of Greece and determined to conquer Persia. First his army marched south, towards Egypt. Alexander had already bested two massive Persian armies before coming to Phoenicia. The king of the Persians, Darius III had eluded capture and fled to the eastern part of his empire, free to fight another day.

Hoping to avoid bloodshed, the king of Tyre sent envoys bearing gifts to meet with Alexander. They greeted Alexander most courteously and while not formally submitting to him, requested a formal alliance.

Alexander countered with a request of his own that made the Tyrians immediately suspicious. Inside the heavily fortified island city there was an old and famous temple to the chief god of Tyre, Melkart or Melqart. The Greeks identified this god with their famous mythic hero Hercacles Hercules. Like many ancient kings, Alexander claimed descent from the gods. Specifically, Alexander claimed descent from Heracles. On statues and images created of Alexander he is depicted wearing or carrying items associated with Heracles.

On his coins he is depicted as a youthful and powerful Heracles. The request came during their major annual religious festival to Melkart and they may have felt that to allow Alexander to sacrifice there and at that time would have meant that they acknowledged his sovereignty over the city.

Perhaps they suspected correctly that having invited Alexander and his forces in the front door the Greeks might never leave. Or they may have wanted not to pick a side between the Greeks and the Persians before the war was decided. Therefore I want you to know that I will either enter your city or besiege it. The Tyrians continued to refuse Alexander. Further envoys from Alexander were murdered. He was right in his assessment of them, the Tyrians were over-confident in their natural island defences and in their own military forces.

They may have also thought that if Alexander could be forced into undertaking a difficult and protracted siege, that Darius III of Persia would have time to prepare and come to their rescue.

Another theory is that the people of Tyre may have hoped for help from their greatest colony, Carthage. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar two centuries earlier, Alexander was not content to simply wait and starve the Tyrians into submission. Nebuchadnezzar did not have the imagination to do what Alexander would do next. Alexander had empires to conquer and the island of Tyre was in his way. Delay was intolerable! Further, if he let Tyre alone, the Persians could safely harbor their fleet there and Alexander would continue to have an enemy at his back as he ventured east.

Though the sea barred his path Alexander was able to see past this obstacle. True to his word, he would turn the island of Tyre into mainland. Their material was timber from the famous cedar forests of Lebanon and the abundant stone and even soil from the old city of Tyre that had lain in ruins since its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar over two centuries before.

As the water deepened, the progress of the causeway began to slow. The men of Tyre would approach the workers in boats so that they would be close enough to be heard but far enough away to avoid danger. Did you imagine when you enlisted that you would be carrying baskets of rock and dirt on your backs?

What is less certain, is what or who caused these successes. The problem is that the main evidence for their activities can be found in the Bible , especially the books of Samuel and Kings , and in sources that are derived from the Biblical account. The general impression is that Hiram had good relations with king David and king Solomon, helped building Jerusalem 's temple and palace, and contributed to naval expeditions.

The Jewish author Flavius Josephus already understood the problem: although he loved the Bible, he realized that non-Jews might reasonably ask questions about its reliability. Therefore, when Josephus wrote his Jewish Antiquities , he supported the Biblical account with quotes from one Menander of Ephesus , who claimed to have studied Tyrian sources.

This appears to have been a real religious revolution. The problem is still with us today. It is far from clear how much the author s of Samuel and Kings knew about the Early Iron age - this is the debate about minimalism and maximalism - and we cannot establish how reliable Menander of Ephesus was. So, we do not really know how important king Hiram was. It is likely that he was, like king Solomon, a really existing person, but some of his deeds may be legendary. The colonization movement was stimulated by external pressure.

From the northeast, Tyre and the other Phoenician cities were threatened by the Assyrians. In order to buy them off, Tyre needed to obtain precious articles from the west. Of course, its prosperity made the city attractive to attack, but the island could not be captured. This created a situation in which Tyre flourished, expanded its influence to the western colonies, but was often watched its possessions on the land being looted and pillaged. An Assyrian king would boast that he had defeated Tyre, and after some time, more peaceful conditions arose, allowing Assyro-Tyrian trade to flourish.

So, in both war and peace, Assyria benefitted from Tyre's trade network. According to the text published as ANET 3 , he reached the Mediterranean, and accepted tribute from the coastal cities, including Tyre, where the people understood that they had to pay or face their land being looted. Probably, the Tyrian guest was king Ithoba'al I, whose reign was, according to Menander of Ephesus, also remembered for a great famine.

The Bible mentions him as the father of Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab of Israel. This verse note [ 1 Kings This would be a necessary precondition is Tyre was indeed, as Menander of Ephesus states, the mother city of Bathrun and the unidentified Libyan city of Auza text.

Not be denied, after only a seven-month siege of the island city, he did what no one else had ever considered possible. Utilizing stones, timber, dirt and debris from the mainland, Alexander constructed a causeway out into the Mediterranean. At last he reached the island, breached the city wall and slew or put into slavery the defiant Tyrians.

An amazing feat, Tyre was changed forever. The city of Tyre was originally an island which Alexander the Great later joined to the mainland by a causeway. In time the causeway was enlarged by rubble and sand deposits washed up by waves. This map shows Tyre as it was in BC, and later as a peninsula stretching out into the Mediterranean Sea.

Evidence of Tyre's ancient harbors can still be seen on the peninsula's north and south sides. Ezekiel referred to this event long before it happened. While also mentioning that God would send Nebuchadnezzar against the city Ez , he spoke of the LORD's promise to destroy Tyre, scrape her dust from her, make her smooth like the top of a rock and a good place for spreading out nets to dry Ez , Ezekiel also pointed out that Tyre's world-wide trade would cease with this event Ez 27 and Illustrating Ezekiel's description of Tyre's destruction, Jidejian noted that over the past three centuries, Tyre has served as a 'quarry' for the whole coast.

Her stones may be found as far away as Beirut 40 mi north and Akko 25 mi south in Israel. Ezekiel also prophesied of God's judgment against Sidon Ez God promised pestilence, blood in her streets and death by sword Ez Sidon incurred the wrath of the Persian King Artaxerxes who beat the city into submission. This may have been the event Ezekiel described. By virtue of its submission to Alexander, Sidon under the Greeks enjoyed relative freedom and an advanced cultural life. In the early days of the Roman Empire, Sidon even had enough autonomy to have its own senate and mint its own coins.

Unfortunately for archaeologists, the area of ancient Sidon remains occupied today and only minimal archaeological evidence for New Testament Sidon is available.

Meanwhile, Tyre also recovered from Alexander's devastation. The site of the ancient mainland city became a large and ornate Roman necropolis. Here also was built a typical Roman hippodrome, the best preserved in the world today. An east-west colonnaded street, a huge triple-bay triumphal arch and a water aqueduct also extended from this area toward the sea. On the island of Tyre, near the site of the ancient Egyptian southern port today sits impressive ruins from the Roman and Byzantine periods.

These include a western extension of the colonnaded street from the mainland site, the agora market place , an unusual arena, and a huge bathhouse. Yet there was great spiritual hunger in the region. Early in Jesus' ministry, people from Sidon and Tyre heard about the things He did. They came to see Him Mk and be healed by Him Lu Later in His ministry, Jesus visited the region of Sidon and Tyre.

This was the same area where God sent Elijah when the widow fed him 1 Kgs Elijah's visit was to the port city of Zaraphath Serepta to the Greeks and modern Sarafand , almost mid-way between Sidon and Tyre.

Both these Old and New Testament visits to the region may be a reminder that the Promised Land extended as far north as Sidon. While full of non- Israelites, it was still part of Israel's inheritance. Jesus pronounced judgment on Chorazin and Bethsaida suggesting that if the pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon had experienced what Chorazin and Bethsaida did, they would have long ago repented in sackcloth and ashes Mt While both were significant Roman cities on the eastern Mediterranean, their leaders felt the need to keep in Herod's favor.

This visit was the occasion of Herod's death at God's hand Acts When Paul returned to Palestine from his third missionary journey, he sailed into Tyre. He met with a group of disciples there and spent seven days in the city Acts He probably walked the colonnaded street, passing the hippodrome. After his arrest in Jerusalem and imprisonment in Caesarea, Paul was taken as a prisoner to Rome.

From Caesarea his ship stopped at Sidon and Paul was allowed to meet with a group of disciples in that city Acts The hippodrome at Tyre is the best preserved in the world. Once seating 20, spectators, the course is m yds long. Primarily constructed for chariot races, as in the movie Ben Hur, the ends of this racing oval were marked by turning stones called metae which still sit in place.

The tight high-speed turns at the metae created the most exciting and dangerous part of the race, often leading to dramatic collisions and spills. Modern Tyrians use the hippodrome today as a jogging course.