Phelles was a King of Tyre and the last of four brothers who held the kingship. The only information available about Phelles comes from Josephus’s citation of 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 ...

, in ''

Against Apion ''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as ...

'' i.18. Here it is said that Phelles slew his brother Aserymus (

Astarymus Astarymus (also called Aserymus; possibly Phoenician: 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤓𐤌 ''‘štrrm'', "Ashtar is great") was a king of Tyre and the third of four brothers who held the kingship. The only information available about him comes from Joseph ...

) and then “took the kingdom, and reigned but eight months, though he lived fifty years: he was slain by Ithobalus (

Ithobaal I 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, and in a citation by Josephus of a list of the kings of Tyre put together ...

), the priest of Astarte.” He and the three preceding kings were brothers, sons of the nurse of

Abdastartus Abdastartus ( Phoenician: 𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 ''’bd’štrt'', possibly pronounced akin to ''’Abd-’Ashtart'') was a king of Tyre, son of Baal-Eser I (Beleazarus) and grandson of Hiram I. The only information available about A ...

, according to Menander. The dates given here are according to the work of F. M. Cross and other scholarsWilliam H. Barnes, ''Studies in the Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel'' (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991) 29-55. 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 classi ...

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

Pygmalion of Tyre Pygmalion (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), was king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BCE and a son of King Mattan I (840–832 BCE). During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the Mediterran ...

article.

References

{{Authority control Kings of Tyre 9th-century BC rulers 929 BC births 870s BC deaths 9th-century BC Phoenician people

See also

References