FIVE MILLENNIA OF HISTORY

Founded at the start of the third millennium B.C., Tyre originally consisted of a mainland settlement and a modest island city that lay a short distance off shore. But it was not until the first millennium B.C. that the city experienced its golden age.

In the 10^th century B.C. Hiram, King of Tyre, joined two islets by landfill. Later he extended the city further by reclaiming a considerable area from the sea. Phoenician expansion began about 815 B.C. when traders from Tyre founded Carthage in North Africa. Eventually its colonies spread around the Mediterranean and Atlantic, bringing to the city a flourishing maritime trade.

But prosperity and power make their own enemies. Early in the sixth century B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, laid siege to the walled city for thirteen years. Tyre stood firm, but it is probable that at this time the residents of the mainland city abandoned it for the safety of the island.

In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great set out to conquer this strategic coastal base in the war between the Greeks and the Persians. Unable to storm the city, he blockaded Tyre for seven months.

It is said that Alexander was so enraged at the Tyrian’s defense and the loss of his men that he destroyed half the city. The town’s 30,000 residents were massacred or sold into slavery.

Tyre and the whole of ancient Syria fell under Roman rule in 64 B.C. Nonetheless, for some time Tyre continued to mint its own silver coins. The Romans built a great many important monuments in the city, including an aqueduct, a triumphal arch and the largest hippodrome in antiquity.

Christianity figures in the history of Tyre, whose name is mentioned in the New Testament. During the Byzantine era, the Archbishop of Tyre was the primate of all the bishops of Phoenicia. At this time the town witnessed a second golden age as can be seen from the remains if its buildings and the inscriptions in the necropolis.

Taken by the Islamic armies in 634, the city offered no resistance and continued to prosper under its new rulers, exporting sugar as well as objects made of pearl and glass.

With the decline of the Abbasid caliphate, Tyre acquired some independence under the dynasty of the Banu’ Aqil, vassals of the Egyptian Fatimides. This way a time when Tyre was adorned with fountains and its bazaars were full of all kinds of merchandise, including carpets and jewelry of gold and silver.

Thanks to Tyre’s strong fortifications it was able to resist the onslaught of the Crusaders until 1124. After about 180years of Crusader rule, the Mamlukes retook the city in 1921,then it passed on to the Ottomans at the start of the 16^th century. With the end of World War I Tyre was integrated into the new nation of Lebanon.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TYRE

For a period of nearly 50 years the general Directorate of Antiquities excavated in an around Tyre, concentrating on the three major Roman archaeological sites in the town, which can be seen today.

The most important recent archaeological find is a Phoenician cemetery from the first millennium B.C. Discovered in 1991 during clandestine excavations, this is the first cemetery of its kind found in Lebanon. Funerary jars, inscribed steles and jewelry were among the objects retrieved from the site.

View of Tyre (19th century engraving)

The importance of this historical city and its monuments was highlighted in 1979 when UNESCO declared Tyre a World Heritage Site.

In the meantime, government efforts have stopped much of the wartime pillaging that Tyre’s archaeological treasures suffered because of economic stress in the area and international demand for antiquities. Grassroots campaigns have also drawn attention to the importance of the city’s antiquities.

VISITING TYRE’S ANCIENT SITES

Area One-located on what was the Phoenician island, is a vast district of civic buildings, colonnades, public baths, mosaic streets and a rectangular arena.

Walk to beach at the far end of the site. The columns to the left belong to a Palaestra, an area where athletes trained. Other excavated remains on this site date to the Hellenistic, Roman , and Byzantine periods. A short distance from the shore you will see “islands” which are, in fact, the great stone breakwaters and jetties of the ancient Phoenician port, called the “Egyptian port “ because it faced south towards Egypt.

Area Two-is a five-minute walk to the west. Its major point of interest is a Crusader cathedral. Only the lowest foundations and a few re-erected granite columns remain intact but these are nevertheless impressive. The area below it has revealed a network of Romano-Byzantine roads and other installations. Visitors are not allowed inside the site, but the ruins can be viewed from the road.

Area three -is a thirty-minute walk from Areas one and two and consists of an extensive necropolis, a three-bay monumental arch and one of the largest Roman Hippodromes ever found. All date from the 2^{nd century A.D. to the 6th} century A.D.

The necropolis, excavated in 1962, yielded hundreds of ornate stone and marble sarcophagi of the Roman and Byzantine periods. Foundations of a Byzantine church can also be seen .

The archway stands astride a Roman road that led into the ancient city. Alongside the road are the remains of the aqueduct that assured the city its water supply. (See reference to Ras El-Ain below).

South of the necropolis is the partially reconstructed Roman hippodrome excavated in 1967. The 480-meter structure seated twenty thousand spectators who gathered to watch the death-defying sport of chariot racing. Each end of the course was marked by still existing stone turning posts (metae).

Charioteers had to make this circuit seven times. Rounding the metae at top speed was the most dangerous part of the race and often produced spectacular spills. The walk to Area three takes you through a residential part of Tyre called Hay Er-Raml or the Quarter of sand. You are in fact walking on what once was Alexander the Great’s causeway. Accumulating sands and extensive landfill have expanded this old land link to the extent that modern visitors have the impression that Tyre is built on a peninsula.

TYRE TODAY

Tyre has a colorful souk (covered market) well worth exploring. Look for the Ottoman khan, or inn, just inside the market entrance. On a side street is the “Mamluke House” an Ottoman period residence that is being restored as a cultural heritage and information center by the General Directorate of Antiquities. Also in the souk area is a white, double-domed Shia mosque of great interest.

Near the market you will see a busy fisherman’s port, in Phoenician times referred to as the “Sidonian” port because it faced north towards Sidon. Walk along the port with the sea on your right and you enter the city’s Christian Quarter, a picturesque area of narrow streets, traditional architecture, and the seat of the Maronite Bishop of Tyre and the Holy Land.

One medieval tower still stands in a small garden. A second one is visible under the little lighthouse. During crusader times towers similar to these ringed the city.

AMENITIES

The archaeological sites are open daily. Several seafood restaurants and pubs are located in the port area and fast food places have opened in the Hay Er-Raml area. Local restaurant fare is good.

The seaside Elissa Hotel is the only tourist-standard hotel in Tyre and is located near the hippodrome/necropolis.

Skin Diving: Basic equipment is sufficient for exploring the ancient Phoenician breakwaters and jetties. Look for the Murex, still living along Tyre’s shores among the rocks a sunken archaeological remains.

Ras el-Ain: 6 kilometers south of Tyre has been Tyre’ main source of water since Phoenician days. Its artesian wells gush up into stone reservoirs that have been maintained through the ages. One of the reservoirs fed the arched aqueducts of the Roman period that once stretched all the way to Tyre. Remains of these aqueducts can be seen along the Roman road running under the monumental arch on the necropolis at area three. A short stretch of the original aqueduct near the reservoirs continues to serve as part of Tyre’s present day waterworks.

Sarafand: is the site of ancient Serepta, mentioned in the Bible. Excavations here revealed the remains of Canaanite-Phoenician structures and Roman port installations. Modern Sarafand still has a workshop where the ancient Phoenician art of glass blowing is practiced.