s situated on a low peninsula, which is connected by a sandy isthmus with the plain of Phoenicia. The ancient Itineraries accurately place it 24 Roman miles S. of Sidon, and 32 N. of Ptolemais (Vet. Rom. Itin. ed. Wess. 149, 514; Tab. Peut.). It lay within the territory of the Israelites, and was allotted to the tribe of Asher (Josh. xix. 29). It stands in Lat. 33. 16. N., and Long. 35. 12. E. from Greenwich.

The Hebrew name of Tyre is Tsur (תּוֹר), which signifies "a rock," but is also used in Scripture to denote "strength" (Is. xxx. 29; Ps. xviii. 2). As applied to the Tyre.

city, it may perhaps have indicated rather the "strength" of its fortifications than the character of its site; for old Tyre was not built upon "a rock;" and yet it is called emphatically יְרֵם וְיָרֵם, "the strongly fortified Tyre" (2 Sam. xxiv. 7). The domestic name יְרֵם is found on the coins struck at Tyre in the time of the Seleucidae (Miomnet, Deserdes Med. v. 23), and also in several passages of the Old Testament (2 Sam. v. 11, &c.). The Aramaic form was יְרֵם, Tura; hence came the Greek Tépos, and the Latin Tyrus. In one passage of Scripture (Is. xxiii. 12), Tyre seems to be called a "daughter of Zidon," though the reference is doubtful. If Tyre be referred to, the passage is remarkable as contrasted with an inscription on one of her own coins דֶּרֶם אֲנִי זִידוֹן, "of Tyre, mother of the Sidonians" (Gesen. Monum. Phoen. i. 262). The former may denote the origin of Tyre, as founded by a Sidonian colony; the latter, its subsequent advancement to be the capital of Phoenicia.

Tyre was a double city. One part of it originally stood on the mainland, the other on an island. The former has entirely disappeared, and the latter is represented by a miserable village. The island is now a peninsula, Alexander the Great having joined it by a mole to the shore. It was at first a ledge of bare rock, about 1200 yards long by 600 broad; separated from the coast by a channel nearly 1200 yards in width, its greatest depth being three fathoms. The rock was low and flat, not being more than from 15 to 20 feet above the sea-level; but the accumulation of stones and rubbish has made it uneven, and has given it in some places a much greater elevation. The mole, when first made, was only 200 feet broad; but the united action of wind and wave on the loose sand of the coast, aided perhaps by deposits of mud carried up from the mouths of the Nile, has gradually increased it to the width of from 600 to 800 yards. The isthmus joins the peninsula about the middle, and thus leaves promontories on the north and south, which stretch out like the arms of a cross, and from a distance appear to be still farther lengthened by ledges of low insulated rocks. Along the western side of the peninsula is a strip of land cultivated in gardens, and the whole southern section is covered with heaps of rubbish, with deep pits between them, from which building-stones have been taken for the houses of Beyrouth and Acre.

The modern village is situated on the north-east side of the peninsula, where the isthmus joins it. It contains about 3500 inhabitants, one-half being Metawileh, and the other Christians. Most of the inhabited houses are mere hovels, and the streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy; while the walls, and few buildings of a better class, are so shattered by repeated shocks of earthquakes, that one is almost afraid to approach them. There is but one gate; and the numerous breaches in the wall render others unnecessary. The only piece of antiquity worthy of notice is the church. Fragments of the eastern and western ends of it still stand. The intervening space is crowded with wretched cabins, some of which cling like swallows' nests to the massive buttresses. Three huge columns of red granite lie within the ruins; one of them is double, and measures 26 feet in length. These are, doubtless, the remains of the cathedral erected by Paulinus, bishop of Tyre, in the beginning of the fourth century; for which Eusebius the historian wrote a consecration sermon. It was in the same building the historian of the crusades, William, archbishop of Tyre, presided for ten years. Within it the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa was buried; and probably the body of Origen, who died in Tyre, was consigned to the earth in the same spot.

Tyre has been often desolated. Ruins on the top of ruins cover the whole peninsula, and are strewn beneath the waves round it. There was a Phoenician Tyre, a Roman Tyre, and a mediaeval Tyre; and now there is a modern Tyre standing over them all. This serves to explain the strange and motley aspect of the site. Along the eastern side of the peninsula the line of the ancient ramparts can still be traced, rising here and there in broken masses above the drift-sand. On the south are some huge fragments of the sea-wall, but manifestly of medieval architecture; for the foundation consists of granite and marble columns. Along the whole western coast runs a ridge of ragged rocks from 10 to 15 feet high; and the whole shore beneath them, along the edge of the water and in the water, is thickly strewn with beautiful shafts of red and gray granite. At the north-west angle the writer saw more than fifty thrown together in one spot. Many of them are imbedded in the rock; and we find also fragments of pottery, building-stones, and even bones, all cemented together in one solid mass beneath the waves. They have laid Tyre's "stones and dust in the midst of the water" (Ezek. xxvi. 12).

Tyre had two harbours, one on the north-east, and the other on the south of the peninsula. The former, called the Sidonian port, was in part formed by a little bay in the old island. On the north it was enclosed by two massive piers running parallel, 100 feet distant from each other. On the east side was a heavy wall founded on ridges of rock, having an opening in the centre 140 feet wide, which formed the entrance. It was defended by a boom and two heavy towers. This harbour originally measured about 900 feet by 700. It is now almost filled up with sand; yet fragments of its piers and towers still remain. Without it was an open roadstead, sheltered on the west by ridges of rocks.

The south harbour, called the Egyptian, extended along the whole breadth of the peninsula; but its greatest width scarcely measured 300 feet. It was enclosed by walls, the foundations of which can still be seen beneath the water. Without it was a roadstead, which, according to M. Berrou, was sheltered by a stupendous breakwater, extending from the side of the harbour nearly two miles towards the south-west. The writer can affirm, however, that not a vestige of this can now be seen above the water. It appears that the two harbours were once connected by a canal running through the centre of the city. The diminutive size of these harbours strikes one forcibly, as compared with the ancient commercial celebrity of the city. Tyre was the London of antiquity. For several centuries it stood unrivalled as a seaport. It must be remembered, however, that there was an infancy of commerce, just as of man; and we might as well try to put a man back into his cradle as to put the fleets of modern days into the ports of antiquity. Tyre was the cradle of commerce; and now that commerce has grown into such gigantic proportions, the cradle is entirely useless, and must for ever remain so—"Tyre shall be built no more."

The very ruins of Palætyrus have disappeared. Its exact site is even a matter of doubt. Strabo says it was 30 stadia, or about 3½ miles, south of the island city; but it would appear from the words of Pliny that the two were united. "The circumference of the city," he writes, "including Palætyrus, was 19 miles." It is probable that the main body, or nucleus of the "old city," lay at the distance given by Strabo; while the suburbs and villas of the merchants extended along the shore as far as the island. Anyone who has seen the modern city of Beyrouth will be able to account for the apparent contradiction. About 3 miles south of the peninsula, and a quarter of a mile from the shore, are four of the most remarkable fountains and reservoirs in Syria; and round these, doubtless, once clustered the city of Palætyrus. They stand in a fertile plain, in the centre of rank vegetation. The water gushes up with Tyre.

great force from the bottom of artificial reservoirs, constructed at some remote period in order to raise it to a sufficient height to be carried to a distance. The largest reservoir is octagonal in form, 66 feet in diameter, and 25 feet high. The walls are of enormous strength; 8 feet thick at the top, and with such an easy slope that one might ride up them. The volume of water flowing from it is very great. A Roman aqueduct formerly connected it with two other smaller reservoirs, and then ran across the plain northwards to a mound with ruins upon it, whence it turned west in the direction of Tyre. The long line of its broken arches and shattered piers has still an imposing look. The fourth cistern is small, and has an aqueduct of its own of a modern date. The age of these reservoirs cannot be determined. They were doubtless designed to convey a supply of pure water to the island city; and it was in all probability by cutting off this supply that Shalmaneser thought to reduce Tyre.

If we adopt a tradition preserved by Herodotus, we must look upon Tyre as far more ancient than any other city of Phoenicia. Having come to Tyre to visit a celebrated temple of Hercules, he inquired of the priests how long it had been built. They replied that it was built when the city was founded, 2300 years before (II. 44). According to this, Tyre was founded in the year 2750 B.C., or 400 years before the Flood! This must be regarded as a myth, quite characteristic of its authors. Tyre is not once mentioned by Homer, though he frequently speaks of Sidon and the Phoenicians; nor is it referred to in Scripture before the time of Joshua. Ancient writers generally represent it as having been founded by a colony from Sidon. Josephus says that Tyre was founded 240 years before the building of Solomon's temple (Ant. viii. 3, 1). The temple was begun in B.C. 1011, and consequently Tyre was built in B.C. 1250. Justin states that the Sidonians, many years after the building of their city, were defeated by the King of Ascalon, and fled in their ships to Tyre, which they founded, one year before the capture of Troy (xviii. 3). This agrees with the date of Josephus, and both the statements evidently refer to the same event; but there is evidence to show that Tyre existed as a "strong city" more than two centuries before that time (Josh. xix. 29). The historians may either refer to the time when the present city was built, or, more probably, to an event which raised Tyre suddenly to such a pitch of power as gave it the ascendancy over all Phoenicia. We have some ground for believing that, though the principal part of the ancient city stood at first on the mainland, yet the island was, from the very earliest period of its history, used as a sanctuary in time of danger—as a naval station—and as the great seat of the worship of the national deities.

From the time of the Sidonian immigration till the reign of Hiram, we have no annals of Tyre. The city seems to have increased rapidly in population, in commercial enterprise, and in power. Hiram succeeded his father, Abibal, during the reign of David in Israel. The island being now too small for the increasing population, he reclaimed ground from the sea on the eastern side; and by embankments he joined a small island, on which the great temple of Hercules stood, to the large one (Joseph. c. App. I. 7 and 13). He also built splendid temples, and enriched them with costly ornaments of gold, pearls of gold and glass. Hiram was the friend and ally of King David. When the latter built his palace, Tyrian workmen were chiefly employed; and when Solomon began the erection of the temple, the carpenters and masons were taken from Tyre. The elaborate internal ornamentation and costly furniture were also executed or designed by a Tyrian artist, who was "skilful to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple and blue, and in fine linen; also to grave any manner of graving" (2 Chron. ii. 14). At this period the Tyrians must have attained to great skill in navigation, for they made regular voyages not only to the coasts of Spain and Britain, but to eastern Africa and India.

The descendants of Hiram ruled Tyre for nearly half a century. The last of the royal line was murdered by Ethbaal, priest of Ash- taroth, whose infamous daughter, Jezebel, is well known in Bible history. The fourth in descent and succession from Ethbaal was Pygmalion, whose sister Elisa, or Dido, founded Carthage (Joseph. c. App. I. 18) about B.C. 850. During the internal dissensions in the Jewish kingdoms, the Tyrians seem to have grievously oppressed the Israelites, and to have sold many of them into slavery. Hence the origin of most of their own calamities, and of the final destruction of their city, as predicted by the prophets (Joel iii. 4, ap.; Amos i. 9, &c.)

The next remarkable event in the history of Tyre was its siege by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, in the year B.C. 720. Having overrun all Phoenicia and captured Palmyra, he attempted to reduce the island city by cutting off the supplies of water. During five years he guarded the fountains, but the inhabitants found sufficient in their cisterns, and he was at length obliged to retire (Joseph. Ant. ix. 14). About 130 years later, Tyre stood another siege. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, while engaged in the war with the Jews, sat down before it, and established a strict blockade on the land side. Strange to say, history is silent both as to the incidents of the siege and its issue. Josephus merely notices the fact, and says the siege lasted thirteen years (Ant. x. 11, 1). The prophecy of Isaiah regarding Tyre, uttered 25 years previously, evidently refers primarily to this event, as he states that the predicted destruction would be accomplished by the Chaldeans (Isa. xxvi. 18). When Isaiah wrote, the Assyrians were the rulers of Western Asia; but in this prophecy the conquest of Phoenicia is ascribed to a people then scarcely known, and who did not attain to power for a century later. The words of the prophet plainly imply that the city was to be taken, and so also do those of Jeremiah (xxviii. 3–6), and Ezekiel (xxvi.). It seems probable, however, that Palmyra alone was sacked and destroyed, and that the island city capitulated on favourable terms; for Ezekiel, writing at the period, describes the attack upon the city as not having been either so successful, or so fruitful in spoil as had been anticipated (ch. xxix. 18). Apparently referring also to a time subsequent to the siege, he gives a most graphic account of the splendour of the old city, and yet more terrible, and final overthrow. In fact, it is evident that both Isaiah and Ezekiel connect the immediate consequences of the siege, which they specially refer to with remoter and more gradual developments. Their prophetic vision saw a succession of terrible calamities in the long perspective of the city's history. "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up;" that is, in succession (Ezek. xxvi. 3). The prophets give a panoramic view of Tyre's overthrow, from the beginning to the end of the destroying process—complete, and strictly accurate as a grand whole, but unintelligible, and even contradictory, if we attempt to confine the references to any one particular epoch or event (see Hengstenberg, de Rebus Tyr.).

Ezekiel's gorgeous description of the wealth, beauty, influence, and far-reaching commerce of Tyre, deserves the attention of every scholar. For graphic power, high poetic imagery, and historic accuracy of detail, the passage is unequalled in the whole compass of literature. Appropriately he represents the sea-girt city—whose celebrity, whose very existence depended on its commerce—as a noble ship, built of the choicest wood—"fir trees from Senir," and "cedars from Lebanon;" propelled by the strongest oars—propelled from the "oaks of Bashan;" seated with the costliest benches—(even out of the isles of Chittim;) rigged with the finest sails—"fine linen with broidered work from Egypt;" manned by the best sailors—of Zidon and Arvad;" steered by the most skilful pilots—her own "wise men;" defended by the most valiant soldiers from Persia and Lud; laden with the richest products of every country under heaven (Ezek. xxvii. 3–25).

The siege and capture of the city by Alexander the Great was the next and most remarkable episode in Tyre's history. After the battle of Issus, while the conqueror was marching along the coast, a deputation from Tyre met him, offering submission. Alexander would only be satisfied with possession of the city and fleet. The Tyrians refused, and prepared to defend their stronghold. Their fleet had complete command of the sea. Their city was separated from the shore by a wide and deep channel, and defended besides by walls 150 feet high. To any man but Alexander the place would have seemed impregnable. He, however, resolved to capture it. In the year B.C. 332 he encamped on the plain opposite the island, and immediately commenced a scheme of military engineering, which for magnitude and skill is unequalled in the annals of ancient warfare. He determined to construct a solid embankment from the shore to the island. The extensive remains of Palmyra, which had probably lain desolate from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, afforded ample materials; the forests of Lebanon supplied timber, and the inhabitants of the surrounding country were pressed as labourers. The work was easy at first, but as the water became shallow; but as the mole lengthened, the water became deeper, the current more rapid, the waves more destructive, and the assaults of the Tyrian war-vessels more formidable. Alexander now, by immense labour, collected a fleet which served to keep the Tyrians in check. The mole was at length completed. The Tyrians, now seeing that long resistance was hopeless, began to transport their children and women to Carthage. After seven months of increasing toil, the wall was breached, and the city taken by storm. Of the inhabitants, 8000 were killed, 2000 were crucified in revenge for the murder of some Greek prisoners, and 30,000 sold as slaves. The king and chief magistrates took refuge in the temple of Hercules, and were spared. Alexander replaced the population by a colony of Greeks or Carians (Quin. Curt. iv.; Arrian ii.; Diod. Sic. xvii.). With this memorable siege terminated the glory of Phoenician Tyre; and by it were strikingly fulfilled some of the predictions of the Hebrew prophets (Ezek. xxvi. 3-12).

Tyre appears to have speedily revived; for only eighteen years after its capture by Alexander it stood a siege of fifteen months against a combined army and fleet under the command of Antigonus. During this time still the Roman empire the city frequently changed masters; but its commerce prospered alike under the sway of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. The only serious check its traffic sustained was when Ptolemy Philadelphus established the port of Berenice on the Red Sea, and opened the canal uniting the Gulf of Suez with the Nile; and thus drew the commerce of the Indian Ocean, formerly in the hands of the Phoenicians, through Egypt.

Under the Romans, we learn from Strabo that Tyre was a large and strong city, with safe and capacious harbours, and a flourishing trade. Its inhabitants were famous as manufacturers, and not a few of them had made great advances in science and literature. Marius of Tyre, who lived in the early part of the second century, was the first who constructed maps according to latitude and longitude. Another native of Tyre, Paulinus the rhetorician, was honourably received at the court of the Emperor Hadrian (Kenrick's Phoenicia, p. 440). In the fourth century the city had again attained much of its ancient renown; Jerome speaks of it as the noblest city of Phoenicia, trading with all the world. But it is its connection with the history of the Crusaders that gives Tyre its chief interest in more modern times. Its strength and splendour are minutely described by its archbishop, William. Towards the sea was a double wall, with the north a triple harbour, with a distance between massive towers; on the east, where Alexander's mole joined the island, was a triple wall of great height and strength. On the 11th of February 1124 the Christian army encamped before it, and on the 15th of the following June it fell into their hands. The strength of its fortifications, the splendour of its houses, and the excellence of its harbours, excited their admiration. For more than a century and a half it remained in their possession. The entrance of the harbour was shut every night by a chain. The city was then celebrated for its manufactories of glass and sugar. Its commerce was mainly in the hands of the Venetians. On the evening of the day on which Acre was taken by the Mohammedans (May 19, 1291), Tyre was abandoned by the Crusaders, and the Saracens entered it the following morning. Under the withering influence of Islamism its commerce rapidly declined, and the sources of its wealth and power were dried up. From the fourteenth till the beginning of the seventeenth century it was entirely desolate. At the latter period a Druze chief called Fakhr-ed-Din attempted to restore it; but the houses he erected soon fell to ruin. When Maundrell visited it in 1697, there was not one house left entire; and its few occupants were a few poor wretches who harboured themselves in ruins. In the year 1766 it was occupied by Metawilch, a fanatical sect of Shitites from Lebanon, who built a wall round it. Some Christian families joined them, and a little trade was carried on in the export of grain, cotton, and tobacco. It is now again on the decline; and as its commerce is irretrievably gone, it will probably ere long be abandoned.

In surveying the ruins of Tyre, the writer was especially struck with the brevity of the site. He could not help wondering, as he looked over that bleak peninsula and sandy isthmus, what had become of Tyre's double and triple walls, her lofty towers, her spacious temples, and her splendid palaces. Not only have they been completely overthrown, but the very materials of them have, in a great measure, disappeared. For a century and more the ruins of Tyre have been used as a quarry for the new buildings of Beyrouth and Acre. The columns of porphyry, marble, and granite, which were too heavy for removal, now lie in confused heaps round the shores, "in the midst of the waters;" the sites once occupied by her temples and palaces are now covered with heaps of rubbish, or are "bare as the top of a rock;" fishermen "spread their nets" on the fallen ruins of her ramparts; her harbours are filled up with drift-sand; her commerce and her wealth have long deserted her. "What city is like Tyre, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?"

The most important product of Phoenicia, and that which has given the greatest fame to the manufactures of Tyre, was the purple dye. The dye was obtained from two little shell-fish, the Buccinum and Muricis, which are only found in perfection along the rocky coast of Phoenicia. The unanimous voice of antiquity assigns to Tyre the discovery of the mode of obtaining two most beautiful tints of purple from these animals, and of employing it in dyeing wool. "The mollusks which inhabit these shells have a receptacle or sac behind the head, in which a very minute portion of a colourless creamy fluid is contained, which has a strong smell of garlic. If it be carefully extracted by a hook, or a pointed pencil, and applied to wool, linen, or cotton, which is then exposed to a strong light, it successively becomes green, blue, red, deep purple, and, by washing in soap and water, a bright crimson, which is permanent. The Buccinum is found on rocks near the shore; the Purpura or Murex inhabits deeper waters (Kenrick's Phoenicia, p. 230). Pliny gives an account both of the modes of taking the fish, and preparing the dye (Hist. Nat. ix. 61, sq.). The best season for taking them was early spring. Immediately after their capture the liquor was extracted from the Murex; but the Buccinum being small was crushed with the shell, and the dye obtained by boiling down. Robes dyed in this preparation were worn by princes and nobles in every land. Although they were made in other places, yet those of Tyre were so highly esteemed that their manufacture formed a principal source of its wealth, and contributed much to preserve its prosperity, long after its political power had gone. Tyre had the advantage of an inexhaustible supply of fish, and probably its merchants also possessed some chemical secret, by which the colour was made more brilliant. In order to produce the true Tyrian purple, the liquor of both animals was used—the Murex first to give depth and fastness, and then the Buccinum to enliven by its lighter reddish tint. The most costly fabrics were twice dyed. The colour of the imperial Tyrian purple was not less durable than beautiful; and in the days of Roman luxury robes of it were eagerly sought after, and bought at prices that would now seem fabulous.