Tyre

Tyre's role in supplying Solomon's Temple and the remarkable fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy in Alexander's siege make it one of the most archaeologically relevant prophetic sites.

Tyre (modern Sur) is one of the great cities of Phoenician antiquity, located on the Mediterranean coast of southern Lebanon about 80 kilometers south of Beirut. The ancient city occupied both an offshore island and a mainland settlement (called Ushu or Palaetyrus, "Old Tyre"). The island city, which was the primary settlement, was connected to the mainland by a causeway constructed by Alexander the Great during his famous siege in 332 BCE. Over the centuries, sand accumulation around the causeway has turned the former island into the peninsula visible today.

Archaeological investigation of Tyre has been conducted intermittently due to political instability and the challenges of working in a densely populated urban area. The pioneering excavations were led by Maurice Chehab of the Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities in the 1930s and 1940s. A major excavation project by Patricia Bikai of the American University of Beirut in 1973 focused on the harbor area and produced an important stratigraphic sequence. Further work was interrupted by the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). More recently, Lebanese and international teams have conducted salvage excavations and documentation projects, and a comprehensive survey of the Tyrian necropolis has been underway.

Tyre's history extends back at least to the Early Bronze Age, though the earliest settlement levels are difficult to access because they lie beneath the modern city and below the current water table. Egyptian texts from the Execration Texts (19th century BCE) and the Amarna Letters (14th century BCE) mention Tyre, and the king of Tyre, Abimilki, wrote several letters to the Egyptian pharaoh requesting aid against regional enemies. These texts establish Tyre as an important political entity from at least the second millennium BCE.

Tyre reached its zenith during the Iron Age (c. 1200-332 BCE) as the leading Phoenician city-state and one of the most powerful maritime trading empires in the ancient Mediterranean. King Hiram I of Tyre (c. 980-947 BCE) is described in 1 Kings 5 and 2 Chronicles 2 as Solomon's ally and trading partner, supplying cedar timber, gold, and skilled craftsmen for the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Hiram also expanded Tyre's harbor and built temples to Melqart and Astarte, according to the ancient historian Menander of Ephesus as quoted by Josephus.

The Tyrians were the greatest navigators and colonizers of the ancient Mediterranean. They founded Carthage in North Africa (traditionally 814 BCE), established colonies in Cyprus, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, and possibly even beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. The purple dye industry was perhaps their most famous product: Tyrian purple, extracted from the murex sea snail, was the most expensive colorant in the ancient world and was reserved for royal and priestly garments. Archaeological evidence of the dye industry, including crushed murex shells and dye vats, has been found along the Tyrian coast. The very name "Phoenicia" may derive from the Greek phoinix, meaning "purple-red."

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Tyre for thirteen years (586-573 BCE) according to the ancient sources, though the outcome of the siege is debated. The prophet Ezekiel devoted extensive prophecies to Tyre's judgment: Ezekiel 26-28 contains some of the most vivid oracles in the Hebrew Bible, describing Tyre's wealth, commerce, pride, and coming destruction. Ezekiel 27 provides a detailed catalog of Tyre's trading partners and merchandise that reads like a commercial atlas of the ancient world.

Alexander the Great's siege of Tyre in 332 BCE was one of the most remarkable military operations in ancient history. When the island city refused to surrender, Alexander ordered the construction of a mole (causeway) from the mainland to the island, using rubble from the destroyed mainland city. The siege lasted seven months and included naval assaults and the use of siege towers mounted on ships. The causeway that Alexander built remains the foundation of the peninsula that connects ancient Tyre to the mainland today.

The Roman city of Tyre was extensive and prosperous. Excavations have uncovered a large hippodrome (chariot-racing track), one of the best-preserved in the Roman East, along with colonnaded streets, a monumental arch, Roman baths, and an elaborate necropolis with hundreds of carved stone sarcophagi. The Al-Bass archaeological area contains the hippodrome and the Roman road leading to it, lined with funerary monuments. The Roman and Byzantine city also contains one of the largest Crusader cathedrals in the Levant, where the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was buried in 1190.

Tyre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1984. The archaeological remains are scattered across several areas of the modern city, including the Al-Bass site and the peninsula area.

• Alexander the Great's causeway (332 BCE) transformed the island city into a peninsula, still visible in the modern geography
• Evidence of the Tyrian purple dye industry (crushed murex shells, dye vats) confirming the most famous product of Phoenician commerce
• Large Roman hippodrome, one of the best-preserved chariot-racing tracks in the eastern Mediterranean
• Amarna Letters (14th century BCE) from King Abimilki documenting Tyre's political role under Egyptian suzerainty
• Patricia Bikai's 1973 harbor excavation produced the fundamental stratigraphic sequence for the site
• Biblical accounts of King Hiram I supplying materials and craftsmen for Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 5, 2 Chronicles 2)
• Extensive Roman necropolis with hundreds of carved stone sarcophagi and funerary monuments

Tyre appears at major turning points throughout the biblical narrative. The alliance between King Hiram of Tyre and King David, and later Solomon, is recorded in 2 Samuel 5:11 and 1 Kings 5:1-12. Hiram supplied cedar logs, cypress logs, and skilled craftsmen for the construction of Solomon's palace and Temple in Jerusalem. First Kings 9:11 records that Solomon in turn gave Hiram twenty towns in Galilee as payment. This trade relationship placed Tyre at the center of the most celebrated building project in Israelite history. First Kings 16:31 identifies Jezebel, the notorious queen who married King Ahab of Israel, as the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, a ruler associated with Tyre and Sidon. Jezebel's promotion of Baal worship in Israel is linked to her Phoenician heritage and her city's religious culture. The prophet Ezekiel devoted three full chapters, Ezekiel 26 through 28, to a prophecy against Tyre. Ezekiel 26:3-5 predicted that many nations would come against Tyre and that it would be made bare like a rock, with its stones and timber cast into the sea. The siege by Nebuchadnezzar II and especially the siege by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, when Alexander demolished the mainland city and threw its stones and rubble into the sea to build his causeway, has been widely discussed as a fulfillment of this prophecy. Isaiah 23 also contains a prophecy against Tyre and its commercial glory. In the New Testament, Matthew 11:21-22 records Jesus comparing the unrepentant towns of Galilee unfavorably to Tyre and Sidon, saying that if the miracles done in Chorazin and Bethsaida had been done in Tyre and Sidon, those cities would have repented long ago.