Tyre: The History of the Ancient Trade Center under Phoenician, Greek, and Roman Rule
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Tyre: The History of the Ancient Trade Center under Phoenician, Greek, and Roman Rule
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of Tyre written by ancient historians *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents
“Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers… And she shall become plunder for the nations, and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.†- Book of Ezekiel 26: 1 – 14
Across the eastern Mediterranean there has been discovered a great number of objects whose appearance or materials are extraneous to local cultures, whether it was an Egyptian amulet in Greece, a Greek vase in Africa, or thousands of strange amulets in Gibraltar. The remains are evidence that a huge amount of goods was once moved from one land to another, systematically transported and traded across the Mediterranean by the ancient commercial network of the Phoenicians. Beginning in the 13th century BCE, and lasting for more than a millennium, this civilization dominated the most important body of water known to the ancients. With their formidable ships and skills in trading, they made a name for themselves by trading between Egypt, Greece, Rome, Carthage, Sardinia, Spain, and eventually all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, establishing themselves as the undisputed lords of the sea.
A network of this size, with hundreds of colonies and thousands of ships, had to be well-coordinated, and it was thanks to important cities along the Mediterranean coast. One of the most crucial cities in the system was hidden beneath the Greek, Roman, and Crusader ruins of Lebanon: the ancient city of Tyre. "Seated at entrance to the sea," according to the prophet Ezekiel, Tyre was constructed on a purportedly impenetrable island. When Herodotus of Halicarnassus visited it in the 5th century BCE, Tyre was considered to be one of the oldest and wealthiest metropolises of the world, and indeed, the city can be directly associated with some of the most important stages in the history of mankind: the discovery of the alphabet; that of the purple pigment known as Tyrian Purple; the construction in Jerusalem of the Temple of Solomon; and the exploration of the seas by hardy navigators who sailed as far as the Western Mediterranean and founded trading centers at Utica, Cadiz and Carthage – a city that would ultimately assure a monopoly of Phoenician control over the maritime commerce in the region but eventually surpass the power of its founder. Today, Tyre is best known because of the famous siege conducted by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, who blockaded the straits between the island and mainland before his final assault. Then a Greek city, it was followed in 64 BCE by Roman rule, and later a Crusader stronghold was constructed on this historically charged site.
Attached to their traditions, yet open to so many cultures, the city of Tyre has an incomparable narrative. Much of what was originally known of this island city came from the damning words of their rivals, and for this reason it was almost lost to history thanks to developments made to the modern-day Lebanese coastal town. However, thanks to the efforts of historians and archaeologists, the entire story of Tyre can now be told.
Tyre: The History of the Ancient Trade Center under Phoenician, Greek, and Roman Rule chronicles the tumultuous history of one of the most important cities of antiquity. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Tyre like never before.
