Ithobaal I ', 1 Kings 16:31; grc, Εἰθώβαλος ''Eithobalos'') is the name of a 9th-century BCE king of Tyre mentioned in the story of Jezebel from the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

of a list of the kings of Tyre put together by the Phoenician author

Menander of Ephesus Menander of Ephesus ( grc-gre, Μένανδρος; fl. c. early 2nd century BC) was the historian whose lost work on the history of Tyre was used by Josephus, who quotes Menander's list of kings of Tyre in his apologia for the Jews, ''Against Ap ...

(2nd century BCE). Ithobaal is listed as the founder of a new dynasty. During his reign, Tyre expanded its power on the mainland, making all of

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

its territory as far north as

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, including

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

, and even a part of the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. At the same time, Tyre also built new overseas colonies: Botrys (now

Batrun Batroun ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرُون '; Syriac script: ܒܬܪܘܢ ') is a coastal city in northern Lebanon and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is the capital city of Batroun District. Etymology The name ''Ba ...

) near

Byblos Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 8 ...

, and Auza in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

Sources and chronology

Primary information related to Ithobaal comes from Josephus's citation of the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus, in ''Against Apion'' i.18. Here it is said that the previous king, Phelles, “was slain by Ithobalus, the priest of Astarte, who reigned thirty-two years, and lived sixty-eight years; he was succeeded by his son Badezorus ( Baal-Eser II).” The dates given here are according to the work of F. M. Cross and other scholars who take 825 BC as the date of Dido's flight from her brother Pygmalion, after which she founded the city of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

in 814 BC. See the chronological justification for these dates in the Pygmalion article.

Relations to Ahab of Israel

Ithobaal held close diplomatic contacts with king

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bib ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. relates that his daughter

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

married Ahab (874 – 853 BC), and Phoenician influence in

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

and the other Israelite cities was extensive. In the First Kings passage, Ithobaal is labeled king of the Sidonians. At this time Tyre and Sidon were consolidated into one kingdom. Menander's comment that Ithobaal had been a priest of

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart ( Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name ...

before becoming king explains why his daughter Jezebel was so zealous in the promotion of the Phoenician gods, thus leading to the conflicts between Elijah and Jezebel's forces described in and 19. Menander's further statement that her father was a murderer sheds some light on her choice of a way to solve the "

Naboth Naboth ( he, נבות) was a citizen of Jezreel. According to the Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible, he was executed by Queen Jezebel so that her husband Ahab could possess his vineyard. Narrative 1 Kings 21:1-16 states that Naboth owned a vine ...

problem" in .

Indirect Assyrian sources

Tyre is not mentioned as an opponent of

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campai ...

at the

Battle of Qarqar The Battle of Qarqar (or Ḳarḳar) was fought in 853 BC when the army of the Neo-Assyrian Empire led by Emperor Shalmaneser III encountered an allied army of eleven kings at Qarqar led by Hadadezer, called in Assyrian ''Adad-idir'' and possi ...

in 853 BC, but twelve years later, in 841, Ithobaal's son Baal-Eser II gave tribute to the Assyrian monarch.

Doubts on historicity

For decades, it was believed Ithobaal was mentioned in the inscription found on the

Ahiram sarcophagus The Ahiram sarcophagus (also spelled Ahirom, in Phoenician) was the sarcophagus of a Phoenician King of Byblos (c. 850 BC), discovered in 1923 by the French excavator Pierre Montet in tomb V of the royal necropolis of Byblos. The sarcophagus is ...

as the titular king's heir; however, more recentReinhard G. Lehmann: ''Die Inschrift(en) des Ahirom-Sarkophags und die Schachtinschrift des Grabes V in Jbeil (Byblos)'', 2005, p. 38Reinhard G. Lehmann, Wer war Aḥīrōms Sohn (KAI 1:1)? Eine kalligraphisch-prosopographische Annäherung an eine epigraphisch offene Frage, in: V. Golinets, H. Jenni, H.-P. Mathys und S. Sarasin (Hg.), ''Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Fünftes Treffen der ArbeitsgemeinschaftSemitistik in der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft vom 15.–17. Februar 2012 an der Universität Basel'' (AOAT 425), Münster: Ugarit-Verlag 2015, pp. 163-180 transcriptions of the text reconstruct the heir's name as ''Pilsibaal'' and not ''Ithobaal'' — which has raised questions about Ithobaal's paternity and historicity.

Notes

References