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Tyre (; ar, صور, translit=Ṣūr; phn, 𐤑𐤓, translit=Ṣūr,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''Tyros'', Τύρος) is a city in
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. It was one of the earliest
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 ...
n
metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big ci ...
es and the
legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...
ary birthplace of Europa, her brothers Cadmus and
Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
, as well as
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 ...
's founder
Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...
(Elissa). The city has many ancient sites, including the
Tyre Hippodrome The Tyre Hippodrome is a UNESCO World Heritage site of the city of Tyre in south Lebanon dating back to the Second century CE The Expositio, a description of the world written in the second half of the fourth century by an unknown writer abo ...
, and was added as a whole to
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's list of
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
s in 1984. The historian Ernest Renan noted that "One can call Tyre a city of
ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
, built out of ruins". Today Tyre is the fourth largest city in Lebanon after
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 ...
, Tripoli, and
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. ...
. It is the capital of the
Tyre District The Tyre District is a district in the South Governorate of Lebanon. History Ancient history Founded at the start of the third millennium BC, Tyre originally consisted of a mainland settlement and a modest island city that lay a short distance o ...
in the
South Governorate South Governorate ( ar, الجنوب; transliterated: al-Janub) is one of the governorates of Lebanon. South Lebanon has a population of 500,000 inhabitants and an area of 929.6 km2. The capital is Sidon. The lowest elevation is sea-level ...
. There were approximately 200,000 inhabitants in the Tyre urban area in 2016, including many refugees, as the city hosts three of the twelve
Palestinian refugee camps Camps are set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to accommodate Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestinian ...
in Lebanon: Burj El Shimali, El Buss, and
Rashidieh The Rashidieh camp is the second most populous Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, located on the Mediterranean coast about five kilometres south of the city of Tyre (Sur). Name The name has also been transliterated into Rashidiya, Rashidiy ...
.


Territory

Tyre juts out from the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
and is located about south of
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 ...
. It originally consisted of two distinct urban centres: Tyre itself, which was on an island just offshore, and the associated settlement of
Ushu Ushu (in the Amarna Letters Usu) was an ancient mainland city that supplied the city of Tyre with water, supplies and burial grounds. Its name was based upon the mythical figure Usoos or Ousoüs, a descendant of Genos and Genea whose children all ...
on the adjacent mainland, later called Palaetyrus, meaning "Old Tyre" in
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
.Presutta, David. ''The Biblical Cosmos Versus Modern Cosmology''. 2007, page 225, referencing: Katzenstein, H.J., ''The History of Tyre'', 1973, p.9 Throughout history from prehistoric times onwards, all settlements in the Tyre area profited from the abundance of fresh water supplies, especially from the nearby springs of Rashidieh and Ras Al Ain in the South. In addition there are the springs of
Al Bagbog AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
and
Ain Ebreen Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where i ...
in the North as well as the
Litani River The Litani River ( ar, نهر الليطاني, Nahr al-Līṭānī), the classical Leontes ( grc-gre, Λέοντες, Léontes, lions), is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of B ...
, also known as Alqasymieh. The present city of Tyre covers a large part of the original island and has expanded onto and covers most of the causeway built by
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
in 332 BCE. This
isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...
increased greatly in width over the centuries because of extensive silt depositions on either side. The part of the original island not covered by the modern city of Tyre is mostly of an archaeological site showcasing remains of the city from ancient times. Four municipalities contribute to Tyre city's 16.7 km2 built-up area, though none are included in their entirety: Sour municipality contains the heart of the city, excluding the Natural and Coastal Reserve; Burj El Shimali to the East without unpopulated agricultural lands; Abbasiyet Sour to the North without agricultural lands and a dislocated village; and Ain Baal to the South-East, also without agricultural lands and dislocated villages. Tyre's urban area lies on a fertile coastal plain, which explains the fact that as of 2017 about 44% of its territory was used for intra-urban agriculture, while built-up land constituted over 40%. In terms of geomorphology and
seismicity Seismicity is a measure encompassing earthquake occurrences, mechanisms, and magnitude at a given geographical location. As such, it summarizes a region's seismic activity. The term was coined by Beno Gutenberg and Charles Francis Richter in 19 ...
, Tyre is close to the Roum Fault and the
Yammoune Yammoune is a lake, nature reserve, village and municipality situated northwest of Baalbek in Baalbek District, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon. The village has a few hundred inhabitants. During the 1970s Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur lived in Yam ...
h Fault. Though it has suffered a number of devastating earthquakes over the
millennia A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
, the threat level is considered to be low in most places and moderate in a few others. However, a
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
following an earthquake and subsequent landslides and floods pose major natural risks to the Tyrian population. Vast reserves of natural gas are estimated to lie beneath Lebanese waters, much of it off Tyre's coast, but exploitation has been delayed by border disputes with Israel.


Etymology

Early names of Tyre include Akkadian ''Ṣurru'', Phoenician ''Ṣūr'' (), and
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
''Ṣōr'' (). In
Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
, the name of the city means "rock" after the rocky formation on which the town was originally built. The predominant form in
Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
was ''Týros'' (Τύρος), which was first seen in the works of
Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
but may have been adopted considerably earlier. It gave rise to
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''Tyrus'', which entered
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
during the
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
period as ''Tyre''. The demonym for Tyre is ''Tyrian'', and the inhabitants are ''Tyrians''.


Climate

Tyre has a
Hot-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(classified as ''Csa'' under the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
), characterized by six months of drought from May to October. On average, it has 300 days of
sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
a year and a yearly temperature of 20.8 °C. The average maximum temperature reaches its highest at 30.8 °C in August and the average minimum temperature its lowest at 10 °C in January. On average, the mean annual
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
reaches up to 645 mm. The temperature of the sea water reaches a minimum of 17 °C in February and a maximum of 32 °C in August. At a depth of 70 m it is constantly at 17–18 °C. Meanwhile,
rising sea levels Rising may refer to: * Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique) *Elevation * Short for Uprising, a rebellion Film and TV * "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...
due to
global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
threaten
coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwa ...
to Tyre's peninsula and bay areas.


History

Roman historian
Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
wrote that the original founders arrived from the nearby city of
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. ...
in the quest to establish a new harbor. Doric Greek historian
Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
(c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of
Halicarnassus Halicarnassus (; grc, Ἁλικαρνᾱσσός ''Halikarnāssós'' or ''Alikarnāssós''; tr, Halikarnas; Carian: 𐊠𐊣𐊫𐊰 𐊴𐊠𐊥𐊵𐊫𐊰 ''alos k̂arnos'') was an ancient Greek city in Caria, in Anatolia. It was located i ...
under the Achaemenid Empire, visited Tyre around 450
BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
at the end of the
Greco-Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of t ...
(499–449 BC), and wrote in his '' Histories'' that according to the priests there, the city was founded around 2750 BCE, as a walled place upon the mainland, now known as ''Paleotyre'' (Old Tyre). Archaeological evidence has corroborated this timing.


Coast Nature Reserve

Tyre enjoys a reputation of having some of the cleanest beaches and waters of Lebanon. However, a UN HABITAT profile found that "seawater is also polluted due to waste water discharge especially in the port area". There is still also considerable pollution by solid waste. The Tyre Coast Nature Reserve (TCNR) was decreed in 1998 by the Ministry of Public Works. It is long and covers over . The TCNR is within the best preserved stretch of sandy coastline in southern Lebanon and divided into two section zones: a 1.8-km sand lined beach, 1.8 km long and 500 meters wide-ranging from the Tyre Rest House in the north to the Rashidieh Refugee Camp in the South, and a stretch of 2 km with agriculture lands of small family farms and the springs of Ras El Ain with three constantly flowing
artesian wells An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...
, ranging from Rashidieh to the village of Chaetiyeh in the South. The former is divided into two zones: one for tourism that features a public beach of some 900 m and restaurant tents during the summer season hosting up to 20,000 visitors on a busy day, and another 900 m of conservation zone as a sanctuary for sea turtles and migrating birds. Due to its diverse
flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
and
fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...
, the reserve was designated a Ramsar Site in 1999 according to the international
treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pe ...
for the conservation and sustainable use of
Wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
s, since it is considered "the last bio-geographic
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
in Lebanon". It is an important nesting site for
migratory birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...
, the endangered Loggerhead and green sea turtle, the
Arabian spiny mouse The eastern spiny mouse or Arabian spiny mouse (''Acomys dimidiatus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. They have a wide range, having been found in Middle Eastern deserts, as well as being prevalent in riverine forests in Africa. ...
and many other creatures (including wall lizards,
common pipistrelle The common pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus pipistrellus'') is a small pipistrelle microbat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, South Asia, and may extend into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the Brit ...
, and
European badger The European badger (''Meles meles''), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to almost all of Europe. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List as it has a wide range and a large stab ...
). Also, there are frequent sighting of dolphins in the waters off Tyre. Altogether, the TCNR includes
275
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
distributed over 50 families. In addition, the reserve is home to seven regionally and nationally
threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depen ...
, 4
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
and 10 rare species, whilst 59 species are restricted to the Eastern Mediterranean area. It is also worthy to indicate that, several bio-indicator species as well as 25
medicinal Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
species were recognized. TCNR encloses flora species belonging to the various habitats: the sandy shore, rocky shore,
littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal a ...
and
Freshwater ecosystem Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs, bogs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content. Freshwater habitats ...
s. A wide number of
Gramineae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...
, Fabaceae,
Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
and Umbellifereae families dominate the floristic resources.
However, the biodiversity of the TCNR is threatened as shown by a strong decrease in the numbers of the caspian
terrapin Terrapins are one of several small species of turtle (order Testudines) living in fresh or brackish water. Terrapins do not form a taxonomic unit and may not be closely related. Many belong to the families Geoemydidae and Emydidae. The name ...
Mauremys caspica, the green
toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scient ...
Bufo viridis and the
tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not closely rela ...
Hyla savigny. Also, since the 2000s, the North American camphorweed '' Heterotheca subaxillaris'' has invaded the TCNR as a
neophyte A neophyte is a recent initiate or convert to a subject or belief. Neophyte may also refer to: Science * Neophyte (botany), a plant species recently introduced to an area As a proper noun Arts and entertainment * Neophyte, a character class ...
from Haifa across the Blue Line. During the 2006 war, turtle breeding areas were affected when the IDF bombed the conservation site. The oil spill which devastated the coast north of Ashkelon in February 2021 also contaminated Tyre's beaches.


Cultural heritage

Arguably the most lasting Phoenician legacy for the Tyrian population has been the linguistic mark that the
Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
and Akkadian languages have left on the Arabic spoken in the region of Tyre. Most notably, the widely used term "Ba'ali" – which is used especially to describe vegetables and fruits from rain-fed, untreated agricultural production – originates from the Baal religion. The Tyrian municipality of Ain Baal is apparently also named after the Phoenician deity. The most visible part of ancient and medieval history on the other side have been the archaeological sites though: The first archaeological excavations were by Ernest Renan in 1860 and 1861. He was followed in the 1870s by Johannes Nepemuk Sepp. His most notable work was excavating at the cathedral in an attempt to find the bones of Frederick Barbarossa. More work was undertaken in 1903 by the Greek archaeologist Theodore Makridi, curator of the Imperial Museum at Constantinople. Important findings like fragments of marble sarcophagi were sent to the Ottoman capital. In 1921, an archaeological survey of Tyre was done by a French team under the leadership of Denyse Le Lasseur in 1921. It was followed by another mission between 1934 and 1936 that included aerial surveys and diving expeditions. It was led by the Jesuit missionary
Antoine Poidebard Antoine Poidebard (Lyon, 12 October 1878 – Beirut, 17 August 1955) was a French archaeologist and Jesuit missionary. He pioneered aerial archaeology in the Middle East. References

1878 births 1955 deaths Archaeologists from Lyon Clergy ...
, a pioneer of
aerial archaeology Aerial archaeology is the study of archaeological remains by examining them from a higher altitude. In present day, this is usually achieved by satellite images or through the use of drones. Details Aerial Archaeology involves interpretation an ...
. Large-scale excavations started in 1946 under the leadership of
Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
Maurice Chéhab (1904-1994), "the father of modern Lebanese archaeology" who for decades headed the Antiquities Service in Lebanon and was the curator of the
National Museum of Beirut The National Museum of Beirut ( ar, متحف بيروت الوطنيّ, ''Matḥaf Bayrūt al-waṭanī'' or French: Musée national de Beyrouth) is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. The collection begun after World War I, and the m ...
. His teams uncovered most remains in the Al Bass/Hippodrome and the City Site/Roman baths. During the 1960s, Honor Frost (1917–2010) – the Cyprus-born pioneer of
underwater archaeology Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...
initiated several investigations "aimed at identifying and documenting the significant archaeological potential for harbour facilities within coastal Tyre". Based on the results, she suggested that the Al Mobarakee Tower may actually date back to Hellenistic times. All those works stopped though soon after the 1975 beginning of the Civil War and many records were lost. In 1984, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared Tyre a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in an attempt to halt the damage being done to the archaeological sites by the armed conflict and by anarchic urban development. In the late 1980s, "clandestine excavations" took place in the Al-Bass cemetery which "flooded the antiquities market". Regular excavation activities only started again in 1995 under the supervision of Ali Khalil Badawi. Shortly afterwards, an Israeli bomb destroyed an apartment block in the city and evidence for an early church was revealed underneath the rubble. Its unusual design suggests that this was the site of the Cathedral of Paulinus which had been inaugurated in 315 CE. In 1997, the first Phoenician cremation cemetery was uncovered in the Al Bass site, near the Roman necropolis. Meanwhile, Honor Frost mentored local Lebanese archaeologists to conduct further underwater investigations, which in 2001 confirmed the existence of a man-made structure within the northern harbour area of Tyre. In 2003, Randa Berri, president of the National Association for the Preservation of South Lebanon’s Archaeology and Heritage and wife of Nabih Berri, veteran leader of the Amal Movement and longtime Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon, patronized a plan to renovate Khan Sour / Khan Al Askaar, the former Ma'ani palace, and convert it into a museum. As of 2019, nothing was done in that regard and the ruins have kept on crumbling. The hostilities of the 2006 Lebanon War put the ancient structures of Tyre at risk. This prompted
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's Director-General to launch a "Heritage Alert" for the site. Following the cessation of hostilities in September 2006, a visit by conservation experts to Lebanon observed no direct damage to the ancient city of Tyre. However, the bombardment had damaged frescoes in a Roman funerary cave at the Tyre Necropolis. Additional site degradation was also noted, including "the lack of maintenance, the decay of exposed structures due to lack of rainwater regulation and the decay of porous and soft stones". Since 2008, a Lebanese-French team under the direction by
Pierre-Louis Gatier Pierre-Louis or Pierre Louis is a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Pierre-Louis Bentabole (1756–1798), revolutionary Frenchman * Pierre-Louis Billaudèle (1796–1869), priest from, and educated in, Fran ...
of the
University of Lyon The University of Lyon (french: Université de Lyon), located in Lyon and Saint-Étienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 11 members and 24 associated institutions. The three main universities in this center are: C ...
has been conducting archaeological and topographical work. When international archeological missions in Syria came to a halt after 2012 due to the war there, some of them instead started excavations in Tyre, amongst them a team headed by
Leila Badre Leila Badre (born 20 February 1943) is a Lebanese archaeologist and director of the Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut. Biography Badre was born in Beirut and attended the ''"Dames de Nazareth"'' high school there. She ob ...
, director of the Archeological Museum of the American University of Beirut ( AUB), and Belgian archaeologists. Threats to Tyre's ancient cultural heritage include development pressures and the illegal antiquities trade. A highway, planned for 2011, was expected to be built in areas that are deemed archaeologically sensitive. A small-scale geophysical survey indicated the presence of archaeological remains at proposed construction sites. The sites have not been investigated. Despite the relocation of a proposed traffic interchange, the lack of precise site boundaries confuses the issue of site preservation.Toubekis, Georgios (2010). "Lebanon: Tyre (Sour)". In Christoph Machat, Michael Petzet and John Ziesemer (Eds.), . Berlin: hendrik Bäßler verlag, 2010, pg. 118. A 2018 study of Mediterranean world heritage sites found that Tyre's City site has "the highest risk of coastal erosion under current climatic conditions, in addition to 'moderate' risk from extreme sea levels." Like many of the cities in the Levant and in
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, the architecture since the
Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
in the 1970s has been of poor quality, which tend to threaten the cultural heritage in the built environment before the war. Meanwhile, historical buildings from the Ottoman period like Khan Rabu and Khan Sour / Khan Ashkar have partly collapsed after decades of total neglect and lack of any maintenance whatsoever. In 2013, the International Association to Save Tyre (IAST) made headlines when it launched an online
raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are che ...
in association with
Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
to fund the artisans' village Les Ateliers de Tyr at the outskirts of the city. Participants could purchase tickets for 100 euros to win the 1914 ''Man with Opera Hat'' painting by
Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
. The proceeds totaled US$5.26 million. The painting was won by a 25-year-old fire-safety official from
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. IAST president Maha al-Khalil Chalabi is a daughter of feudal lord and politician Kazem el-Khalil. In September 2017, she opened "Les Atelier", which is located in the middle of an orangen grove covering an area of 7.300 m2 at the northeastern outskirts of Tyre.


Biblical description

The city of Tyre appears in many biblical traditions:


Hebrew Bible / Old Testament

* According to Joshua 19, "the fortified city of Tyre" was allotted to the
Tribe of Asher According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Asher was one of the Tribes of Israel descended from Asher (), the eighth son of Jacob. It is one of the ten lost tribes. Biblical narrative According to the biblical Book of Joshua, following the comp ...
. * King Hiram I of Tyre allied himself with
David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
and Solomon in 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles. Hiram provided architects, workmen, cedar wood, and gold to build the royal palace in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, as well as the
Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
. *Tyre is listed among an alliance of ten nations that would conspire against God's people. * Tyre is mentioned in the Book of Isaiah as being forgotten for 70 years when her "fortress is destroyed" and after which "her profit and her prostitute’s wages will be sacred to the Lord." *The
Book of Joel The Book of Joel is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. Content After a superscription ascribing the prophecy to Joel (s ...
groups Tyre, Sidon and
Philistia Philistia (; Koine Greek (LXX): Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''gê tôn Phulistieìm''), also known as the Philistine Pentapolis, was a confederation of cities in the Southwest Levant, which included the cities of Ashdod, Ashk ...
together and it states that the people of Judah and Jerusalem were sold to the Greeks, and there would thus be punishment because of it. *Tyre is also mentioned in the
Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during ...
,
Book of Amos The Book of Amos is the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the second in the Greek Septuagint tradition. Amos, an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alt ...
, the
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
, and the
Book of Zechariah The Book of Zechariah, attributed to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, is included in the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Historical context Zechariah's prophecies took place during the reign of Darius the Great and were contemporary ...
which prophesied its destruction.


New Testament

* Jesus visited the region or "coasts" (
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
) of Tyre and
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 from this region many came forth to hear him preaching, leading to the stark contrast in Matthew 11:21 to his reception in
Korazin Chorazin ( gr, Χοραζίν ; also Chorazain) or Korazim ( he, כורזים; also Chorizim) was an ancient village in the Roman and Byzantine periods, best known from the Christian Gospels. It stood on the Korazim Plateau in the Upper Galilee on ...
and Bethsaida. *Herod was said to be angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon and he delivered a public address upon which he was struck down by God after not giving glory to him once he received praise arrogantly according to the Book of Acts. The same book describes Paul's voyage to Tyre where he stayed for seven days. * In the
Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
, chapter 18 alludes extensively to the mercantile description of Tyre in Ezekiel 26–28.


Other writings

* ''
Apollonius of Tyre Apollonius of Tyre is the subject of an ancient short novella, popular in the Middle Ages. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, the text is thought to be translated from an ancient Greek manuscript, now lost. Plot summary In most versi ...
'' is the subject of an ancient short novella, popular in the Middle Ages. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, the text is thought to be translated from an ancient Greek manuscript, now lost. * ''
Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was p ...
'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and
George Wilkins George Wilkins (died 1618) was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his probable collaboration with William Shakespeare on the play ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre''. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently invo ...
. It is included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship. * In 19th-century Britain, Tyre was several times taken as an exemplar of the mortality of great power and status, for example by
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
in the opening lines of '' ''The Stones of Venice'''' and by
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
's Recessional. * Tyrus is the title and subject of a poem by the Cumbrian poet Norman Nicholson in his collection 'Rock Face' of 1948. * The French comic book artist Albert Uderzo published in 1981 ''
Asterix and the Black Gold ''Asterix and the Black Gold'' (French: ''L'Odyssée d'Astérix'' literally "Asterix's Odyssey") is the twenty-sixth volume of Asterix comic book series, originally published in 1981. It is the second book to be both written and drawn by Albert ...
'' which describes
Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book book series, series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight th ...
's and
Obelix Obelix (; french: Obélix) is a cartoon character in the French comic book series ''Asterix''. He works as a menhir sculptor and deliveryman, and is Asterix's best friend. Obelix is noted for his obesity, the menhirs he carries around on his bac ...
's voyage to the Middle East featuring
James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
and biblical themes: in their quest for petroleum they sail on board a Phoenician ship, but the Roman regime closes off the ports of Tyre in order to deny their landing. * In 2015, the French-Lebanese artist Joseph Safieddine published the
graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
drama ''Yallah Bye'' which offers an account of his family's fate during the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah, when they sought refuge in the Christian quarter of Tyre. An English version followed in 2017 and an Arabic one in 2019.


Cultural life

The first cinema in Tyre opened in the late 1930s when a café owner established makeshift film screenings. Hamid Istanbouli – a fisherman by profession, who was also a traditional storyteller (''hakawati'') and thus interested in cinema – projected films on the wall of a Turkish hammam. In 1939 the Roxy opened, followed in 1942 by the "Empire".
By the mid-1950s there were four cinemas in Tyre, and four more soon opened in nearby
Nabatieh Nabatieh ( ar, النبطية, links=no, ', ), or Nabatîyé (), is the city of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon. The population is not accurately known as no census has been taken in Lebanon since the 1930s; estimates range from ...
. Many also hosted live performances by famous actors and musicians, serving as community spaces where people from different backgrounds came together.
In 1959, the "Cinema Rivoli of Tyre" opened and quickly became one of the prime movie theatres of the country. According to UNIFIL, it was visited "by celebrity who's whos of the time, including Jean Marais,
Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...
,
Rushdi Abaza Rushdy Saiid El Bughdady Abaza ( arz, رشدي سعيد البوغدادي أباظة) (3 August 1926 – 27 July 1980) was an Egyptian film and television actor. He was considered one of the most charming actors in the Egyptian film industry. He ...
and Omar Hariri." In 1964, the "Dunia" opened, two years later followed by the "Al Hamra Cinema", which became a venue for some of the Arab world's most famous performers, like
Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish ( ar, محمود درويش, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine ...
, Sheikh Imam, Ahmed Fouad Negm, Wadih el-Safi, and
Marcel Khalife Marcel Khalifé ( ar, مرسيل خليفة; born 10 June 1950 in Amchit) is a Palestinian- Lebanese musical composer, singer, and oud player. Biography In 1983, Paredon Records (later acquired by Smithsonian Folkways) released ''Promises ...
. Meanwhile, two Tyrian artists had a major impact on the development of Lebanese music: Halim el-Roumi (1919–1983) and Ghazi Kahwaji (1945–2017). Some sources claim that the famous musician, composer, singer and actor el-Roumi was born in Tyre to Lebanese parents. However, others suggest that he was born in Nazareth and moved to Tyre from Palestine. For some time, he worked as a teacher at the Jafariya High School there. In 1950 he became director of Radio Lebanon's music department, where he discovered the singer
Fairuz Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...
and introduced her to the Rahbani brothers. Roumi composed music for and with them in close collaborations. Kahwaji was Lebanon's first scenographer and for three decades the artistic general director for the
Rahbani brothers The Rahbani brothers (Arabic: الأخوان رحباني), Assi Rahbani (4 May 1923 – 21 June 1986) and Mansour Rahbani (1925 – 13 January 2009) were Lebanese sibling musicians, composers, songwriters, authors, and playwrights/dramatists, be ...
and
Fairuz Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...
. He used this prominent position to promote "against confessionalism and
fundamentalism Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguish ...
". Kahwaji, who was also a professor at the Lebanese University (LU) and the Saint Joseph University in Beirut, published between 2008 and 2010 the sarcastic three-volume book series "Kahwajiyat" about
social injustice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals f ...
in the Arab world. By then, cultural life in Tyre had been severely affected by armed conflict as well. In 1975, the commercial "Festivals de Tyr" – organised by Maha al-Khalil Chalabi, the daughter of feudal landlord and politician Kazem al-Khalil – were supposed to debut but stopped at the outbreak of the Civil War. Some cinemas were damaged by Israeli bombardment in 1982 and all of them eventually closed down, the last ones in 1989: the Hamra and the AK2000. In the mid-nineties though, first the idea of a commercial Tyre International Festival was revived. It has been organised since then annually in the ancient site of the Roman hippodrome, featuring international artists like Elton John and Sarah Brightman, as well as Lebanese stars
Wadih El Safi Wadih El Safi ( ar, وديع الصافي, born Wadih Francis; November 1, 1921 – October 11, 2013) was a Lebanese singer, songwriter, composer and actor. He was a Lebanese icon and the forefather of the country's musical culture. He was the ...
,
Demis Roussos Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...
,
Kadim Al-Saher Kadim Jabbar Al Samarai (born September 12, 1957), better known by his stage name Kadim Al Sahir ( ar, كاظم الساهر}), is an Iraqi singer and composer. He typically performs with an orchestra of twenty to thirty musicians on Arabic ...
,
Melhem Barakat Melhem Barakat ( ar, ملحم بركات‎; 15 August 1945 – 28 October 2016), also known as Melhim Barakat, or Abou Majd was a Lebanese singer, songwriter, and melodist. Barakat was a well-renowned singer in Lebanon and the wider Arab wor ...
,
Julia Boutros Julia Boutros ( ar, جوليا بطرس; born April 1, 1968) is a Lebanese singer rose to prominence in the 1980s with a series of songs like "Ghabet Shams El Haq" and "Wein el Malayeen". She is also the sister of Ziad Boutros and the wife of t ...
, and
Majida El Roumi Majida El Roumi Baradhy ( ar, ماجدة الرومي برادعي; born 13 December 1956) is a Lebanese soprano singer and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Early life Majida El Roumi Al Baradhy was born on 13 December 1956 in Kfarshima ...
, the daughter of Halim el-Roumi. The pop singer,
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers * Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Athlete * Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Circus performer * Clown * Club Hostess/Host * Co ...
,
sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' b ...
-
lyric poet Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...
, concert dancer, fit model and Muslim humanitarian
Layal Abboud Layal Mounir Abboud ( ar, ليال منير عبود, ; is a Lebanese pop singer, folk music entertainer, Sound poetry, sound-Lyric poetry, lyric poet, concert dancer, fit model and Muslim humanitarian. Born to a musical family in the South Govern ...
(born 1982) was born and raised in the Tyrian village of Kniseh. She has returned occasionally to perform in Tyre as well. In 2006, the "Centre de Lecture et d’Animation Culturelle" (C.L.A.C.) was opened by Tyre's municipality as the first public library of the city, with support from the Lebanese Ministry of Culture and the French Embassy in Beirut. It is located in the historical building of the "Beit Daoud" next to the "Beit El Medina", the former Mamluk House, in the old town. In 2014, the NGO Tiro Association for Arts rehabilitated the defunct cinema Al Hamra under the leadership of "Palestinian-Lebanese street theater performer, actor, comedian, and theater director" Kassem Istanbouli (*1986). His grandfather was one of the founders of cinema in Tyre and his father used to repair cinema projectors. The Tiro Association launched the Lebanese International Theater Festival (alternating for storytelling, contemporary dance, and women
monodrama A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character. In opera In opera, a monodrama was originally a melodrama with one role such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's '' Pygmalion'', which w ...
), the Lebanese International
Short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
Festival, the Tyre International Music Festival, the Palestinian Culture Festival, Tiro Arts Festival, and a number of other festivals. In 2018, the Istanbouli Theatre troupe rehabilitated and moved to the Rivoli Cinema, which had been closed since 1988, to establish the non-commercial Lebanese National Theater as a free cultural space with free entrance and a special focus on training children and youth in arts. It also runs the "Mobile Peace Bus", which is decorated with
graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
of Lebanese cultural icons, to promote arts in the villages of the neighbouring countryside. Istanbouli has argued:
In Tyre, we have 400 shops for shisha, one library, and one theatre. But if there are places, people will come.
In 2019, the film ''Manara'' (Arabic for "lighthouse") by Lebanese director
Zayn Alexander Zayn Alexander is a Lebanese film director and actor based in New York City. He is known for his work on the short films '' Abroad'' and '' Manara''. Life and career Alexander was born and raised in Lebanon. Alexander studied psychology at the A ...
, who shot the movie at the Al Fanar resort in Tyre, won the Laguna Sud Award for Best Short Film at the
Venice Days The Giornate degli Autori or simply the Giornate, formerly also known in English as Venice Days, is an independent film festival section held in parallel to and in association with the Venice Film Festival. It is modeled on the Directors' Fortnight ...
Strand festival.


Education

The Jafariya School was founded in 1938 by Imam Abdul Hussein Sharafeddin. It soon expanded thanks mainly to donations from rich émigrés and thus was upgraded in 1946 to be a Secondary School, the first in Southern Lebanon (see above). It has remained one of the main schools in Tyre ever since. An important role in the Tyrian education landscape is played by the charity organisation of the vanished Imam
Musa al-Sadr Musa Sadr al-Din al-Sadr ( ar, موسى صدر الدين الصدر; 4 June 1928 – disappeared 31 August 1978) was an Iranian-born Lebanese scholar and political leader who founded the Amal Movement. Born in the Chaharmardan neighborhood o ...
, which has been headed since his disappearance in 1978 by his sister
Rabab al-Sadr Rabab al-Sadr Charafeddine (Arabic: رباب صدر; born 4 April 1944) is a Lebanese activist and president of the Imam al-Sadr Foundation. She is the sister of disappeared Shia imam and political leader Musa al-Sadr. Early life Rabab al-Sadr ...
. While the foundation operates in various parts of the country, its main base is a compound on the southern entry of the Tyre peninsula close to the sea. A major focus are its
Orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...
s, but it also runs adult educational and
vocational training Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an in ...
programmes, especially for young women, in addition to health and development projects. Musa Sadr also laid the groundwork for establishing the Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) which was finally licensed in 1996 and opened a branch on the seafront,in Tyre. Its board of trustees is dominated by representatives of the Supreme Shiite Council, founded by Sadr in 1967. The Lebanese Evangelical School in Tyre with a history of more than 150 years is arguably the largest school in town. Collège Élite, a French international school opened in 1996, is another one of a host of private schools in Tyre. The Cadmous College - a pre-kindergarten to grade 12 school, run by the Maronite missionaries - has about 10% Christian and 90% Muslim pupils. In August 2019, the 17-year-old Ismail Ajjawi – a Palestinian resident of Tyre and graduate of the UNRWA Deir Yassin High School in the El Bass refugee camp – made global headlines when he scored top-results to earn a scholarship to study at Harvard, but was
deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
upon arrival in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
despite valid visa. He was readmitted ten days later to start his studies in time.


Demographics

An accurate statistical accounting is not possible, since the government of Lebanon has released only rough estimates of population numbers since 1932. However, a 2016 calculation by UN HABITAT estimated a figure of 201,208 inhabitants, many of them refugees: The Lebanese nationality population of Tyre is predominantly Shia Muslim with a small but noticeable Christian community. In 2010, it was estimated that Christians accounted for 15% of Tyre's population. In 2017, the
Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre (in Latin: Archeparchia Tyrensis Maronitarum) is an Archeparchy of the Maronite Church immediately subject to the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch. In 2014 there were 42,500 baptized. It is currently ruled by Arch ...
counted about 42,500 members. Most of them live in the mountains of Southern Lebanon, while there are just some 500 Maronites in Tyre itself. The Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre – which not only covers the District of Tyre in the
South Governorate South Governorate ( ar, الجنوب; transliterated: al-Janub) is one of the governorates of Lebanon. South Lebanon has a population of 500,000 inhabitants and an area of 929.6 km2. The capital is Sidon. The lowest elevation is sea-level ...
but also neighbouring areas in the
Nabatieh Governorate Nabatieh Governorate ( ar, محافظة النبطية, ') is one of the nine governorates of Lebanon. The area of this governorate is 1,058 km2. The capital is Nabatieh. Districts The governorate is divided into four districts (Aqdiya, sing ...
– registered 2,857 members in that year. The city of Tyre has become home to more than 60,000 Palestinian refugees who are mainly Sunni Muslims with some Christian families. Tyre hosted Shias from the seven villages that were depopulated in 1948, they settled in suburbs like Shabriha. As of June 2018, there were 12,281 registered persons in the Al Buss camp, 24,929 in Burj El Shimali and 34,584 in
Rashidieh The Rashidieh camp is the second most populous Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, located on the Mediterranean coast about five kilometres south of the city of Tyre (Sur). Name The name has also been transliterated into Rashidiya, Rashidiy ...
. In the ramshackle "gathering" of Jal Al Bahar next to the coastal highway, the number of residents was estimated to be around 2,500 in 2015. Many Palestinians contributed to the society in Tyre especially in the education field, photography and trading. In all camps, the number of refugees from Syria and Palestinian refugees from Syria increased in recent years. Tensions developed since these new arrivals would often accept work in the citrus and banana groves "for half the daily wage" that local Palestinian refugees used to earn. In early 2019, some 1,500 Syrian refugees were evicted from their informal settlements around the Litani river for allegedly polluting the waters which are already heavily contaminated. Tyre is known as "Little West Africa". Many families in Tyre have relatives in the Western Africa diaspora, especially in Senegal,
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. In Senegal, most immigrants originated from Tyre. Member of the Tyrian communities there are "primarily second-, third-, and fourth-generation migrants, many of whom have never been to Lebanon." One of Tyre's main promenades is called "Avenue du Senegal". As there were an estimated 250,000 foreign workers – mostly female Ethiopians – under the discriminatory
Kafala system The kafala system (also spelled "kefala system"; ar, نظام الكفالة, niẓām al-kafāla; meaning "sponsorship system") is a system used to monitor migrant laborers, working primarily in the construction and domestic sectors in Gulf ...
of sponsorship in Lebanon by 2019, there is also a large community of African migrants in Tyre. They are mainly Ethiopian women who work as domestic servants. Some of them celebrate church service at the Greek-Catholic Cathedral of Saint Thomas, which has devoted a chapel on its compound to Tyre-born Saint Frumentius, the first bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In April 2014 one Ethiopian made sad headlines in an apparent suicide in Tyre:
Media reports said the woman had fled last week from her employer's home. Security forces later detained the Ethiopian and returned her to her employer
The 2016 UN HABITAT profile found that
Approximate calculations suggest that 43% of Lebanese in Tyre urban area are living in poverty.


Economy

The economy of urban Tyre mostly depends on tourism, contracting services, the construction sector, and remittances from Tyrians in the diaspora, especially in West Africa. UNIFIL contributes greatly to the purchasing power in the Tyrian economy as well, both through spending by its individual members as well as through "quick-impact projects" like gravelling road, rehabilitating public places etc. As of 2016, Olive trees were reported to comprise 38% of Tyre's
agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with ...
, but producers lacked a collective
marketing strategy Marketing strategy allows organizations to focus limited resources on best opportunities to increase sales and achieve a competitive advantage in the market. Strategic marketing emerged in the 1970s/80s as a distinct field of study, further buil ...
. While
Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...
reportedly comprised 25% of the agricultural land, 20% of its harvest ended up
waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...
d. Tyre houses one of the nation's major ports, though much smaller than the ports of Beirut, Tripoli, and also Sidon/Saida. Its cargo traffic has been limited to the periodical import of used cars. One day after the 2020 Beirut explosion which devastated the Port of Beirut and much of the national capital on 4 August the national government reportedly decided to use the Port of Tyre as a back-up for the Port of Tripoli. In the harbour area, the Barbour family of shipbuilders continues to build wooden boats. Tyre is thus one of only a few cities in the Mediterranean that has kept this ancient tradition, although the Barbour business has been struggling to survive as well. By 2004, there were "over 600 fishermen .striving to make ends meet in Tyre alone". Lebanon's General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (GDLRC) recorded for Tyre a 4.4 percent growth rate for land transactions between 2014 and 2018, the highest rate in the country during that period. This increase in real estate prices has been largely attributed to the inflow of remittances from diaspora Tyrians. Off the Tyrian coast, block 9 has been awarded for
deepwater drilling Deepwater drilling, or deep well drilling, is the process of creating holes in the Earth's crust using a drilling rig for oil extraction under the deep sea. There are approximately 3400 deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico with depths greater ...
of natural gas to a consortium of French company
TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...
, Italy-based Eni, and Russian
Novatek Novatek (russian: ПАО «НОВАТЭК», , ) is Russia's second-largest natural gas producer (behind Gazprom), and the seventh-largest publicly traded company globally by natural gas production volume. The company was originally known as OAO F ...
.


Sports

Tadamon Sour Sporting Club, or simply Tadamon (meaning "Solidarity"), nicknamed "The Ambassador of the South", was founded in 1946 and is thus the historically most established football club of Tyre. They play their home matches at the Tyre Municipal Stadium, and have won one
Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is a Lebanese football annual cup competition. The first edition, held in 1937, was won by Nahda. The most successful club in the competition is Ansar with 15 titles, followed by Nejmeh ...
(2000–01) and two Lebanese Challenge Cups (2013 and 2018). Tadamon's traditional rivals, Salam Sour Sports Club, are also based in Tyre. According to BBC reports, Tadamon SC was stripped of its
Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the league, ...
championship title in 2001 following
match-fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...
allegations. In the same year the club scored arguably one of its biggest transfers when
Roda Antar Roda Abdelhassan Antar ( ar, رضا عبد الحسن عنتر; born 12 September 1980) is a Lebanese professional football manager and former player. Formerly captain of Lebanon, Antar scored 20 goals for his country as a midfielder. Antar sta ...
from its own youth teams was loaned to
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
's
Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...
for two seasons. After eight years in Germany with Hamburg,
SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...
and 1. FC Köln he played another six years in the
Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...
and then returned to Tadamon for one final season before retirement. A number of Lebanese Premier League professional footballers, who have also played for the Lebanon national team, originate from Tyre, namely Rabih Ataya, and
Nassar Nassar Nassar Mahmoud Nassar ( ar, نصار محمود نصار, ; born 1 January 1992) is a Lebanese footballer who plays as a right-back for club Ansar and the Lebanon national team. Club career In summer 2016, Nassar joined Ansar. On 2 Februa ...
.


Twin towns – sister cities

Tyre is twinned with: * Algiers, Algeria *
Dezful Dezful ( fa, دزفول, pronounced , Dezfuli dialect: Desfil, pronounced ) also Romanized as Dezfūl and Dezfool; also known as Dīzfūl and Ab I Diz is a city and capital of Dezful County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its popu ...
, Iran * Málaga, Spain * Perpignan, France *
Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...
, Tunisia


Notable people

*
Hiram I Hiram I ( Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤌 ''Ḥirōm'' "my brother is exalted"; Hebrew: ''Ḥīrām'', Modern Arabic: حيرام, also called ''Hirom'' or ''Huram'') was the Phoenician king of Tyre according to the Hebrew Bible. His regnal years have b ...
, Biblical King of Tyre * Pygmalion of Tyre, King of Tyre * Belus, King of Tyre in the
Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...
*
Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...
, founder-heroine of Carthage * Diodorus of Tyre (late 2nd century BCE), Peripatetic philosopher and
scholarch A scholarch ( grc, σχολάρχης, ''scholarchēs'') was the head of a school in ancient Greece. The term is especially remembered for its use to mean the heads of schools of philosophy, such as the Platonic Academy in ancient Athens. Its fir ...
(head) of the
Peripatetic school The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristo ...
of
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
*
Antipater of Tyre Antipater of Tyre ( grc-gre, Ἀντίπατρος ὁ Τύριος; fl. 1st century BC) was a Greek Stoic philosopher and a friend of Cato the Younger and Cicero. Life Antipater lived after, or was at least younger than, Panaetius. Cicero, in spe ...
(1st century BCE), Stoic philosopher *
Adrianus Adrianus of Tyre (Ancient Greek: , c. 113 – 193 AD), also written as Hadrian and Hadrianos, was a sophist of ancient Athens who flourished under the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Adrianus was the pupil of Herodes Atticus, and obt ...
, a sophist * Apollonius of Tyre (philosopher) (c. 50 BCE), philosopher *
Marinus of Tyre Marinus of Tyre ( grc-gre, Μαρῖνος ὁ Τύριος, ''Marînos ho Týrios'';  70–130) was a Greek geographer, cartographer and mathematician, who founded mathematical geography and provided the underpinnings of Claudius Ptolemy' ...
, Hellenic
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
, cartographer and
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
whose works greatly influenced
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
's famous ''
Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
'' as acknowledged by Ptolemy *
Ulpian Ulpian (; la, Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus; c. 170223? 228?) was a Roman jurist born in Tyre. He was considered one of the great legal authorities of his time and was one of the five jurists upon whom decisions were to be based according to ...
(early 3nd century CE), Famous Roman jurist who taught at the renowned Law school at
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 ...
* Meropius of Tyre (Μερόπιος), a philosopher, traveled together with two of his relatives, Frumentius (Φρουμέντιος) and Edesius (Εδέσιος) to ancient India. * Saint Christina of Tyre (3rd century CE) Martyr * Porphyry, Neoplatonic philosopher and writer, he edited and published
The Enneads The ''Enneads'' ( grc-gre, Ἐννεάδες), fully ''The Six Enneads'', is the collection of writings of the philosopher Plotinus, edited and compiled by his student Porphyry (270). Plotinus was a student of Ammonius Saccas, and together the ...
of
Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos'';  – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher wa ...
and his
Isagoge The ''Isagoge'' ( el, Εἰσαγωγή, ''Eisagōgḗ''; ) or "Introduction" to Aristotle's "Categories", written by Porphyry in Greek and translated into Latin by Boethius, was the standard textbook on logic for at least a millennium after his ...
, an introduction to logic and philosophy, was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages *
William of Tyre William of Tyre ( la, Willelmus Tyrensis; 113029 September 1186) was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from his predecessor, William I, the Englishman, a former ...
, (12th century CE), historian and
Archbishop of Tyre The see of Tyre was one of the most ancient dioceses in Christianity. The existence of a Christian community there already in the time of Saint Paul is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Seated at Tyre, which was the capital of the Roman provi ...
* Abdel Hussein Sharafeddine, Shi'a reformer *
Musa Sadr Musa Sadr al-Din al-Sadr ( ar, موسى صدر الدين الصدر; 4 June 1928 – disappeared 31 August 1978) was an Iranian-born Lebanese scholar and political leader who founded the Amal Movement. Born in the Chaharmardan neighborhood o ...
, Shi'a leader *
Rabab al-Sadr Rabab al-Sadr Charafeddine (Arabic: رباب صدر; born 4 April 1944) is a Lebanese activist and president of the Imam al-Sadr Foundation. She is the sister of disappeared Shia imam and political leader Musa al-Sadr. Early life Rabab al-Sadr ...
, Activist, sister of former * Halim el-Roumi, singer and composer * Ghazi Kahwaji, scenographer and writer *
Nabih Berri Nabih Berri ( ar, نبيه مصطفى بري, translit=Nabīh Muṣṭafā Barriyy, links=hh; born 28 January 1938) is a Lebanese Shia politician who has been serving as Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon since 1992. He heads the Amal Moveme ...
, leader of the Amal movement *
As'ad AbuKhalil As'ad AbuKhalil ( ar, أسعد أبو خليل) (born 16 March 1960) is a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. AbuKhalil is the author of ''Historical Dictionary of Lebanon'' (1998), ''Bi ...
, anarchist and professor of
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at
California State University, Stanislaus California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, Stanislaus County, California. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and is also the only cam ...
* Zaki Chehab, founder and editor-in-chief of ArabsToday.net * Alaa Zalzali, singer * Joe Barza, chef and television personality * Périhane Chalabi Cochin, TV host * Rabih Ataya (born 1989), Lebanese football player *
Nassar Nassar Nassar Mahmoud Nassar ( ar, نصار محمود نصار, ; born 1 January 1992) is a Lebanese footballer who plays as a right-back for club Ansar and the Lebanon national team. Club career In summer 2016, Nassar joined Ansar. On 2 Februa ...
(born 1992), Lebanese football player * Bilal Najdi (born 1993), Lebanese football player


Astronomical objects

A multi-ring structured region on Europa, the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
, is named after Tyre, the legendary birthplace of princess Europa. Originally called "Tyre
Macula The macula (/ˈmakjʊlə/) or macula lutea is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and in other animals. The macula in humans has a diameter of around and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal av ...
", it is some 140 kilometers in
diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...
(about the size of the
island of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii ) is the largest island in the United States, located in the state of Hawaii. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of , it has 63% of th ...
) and thought to be the site where an asteroid or
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...
impacted Europa's ice crust. The asteroid 209 Dido is named after the legendary Tyrian-Carthaginian princess. It is a very large
main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
asteroid, classified as a
C-type asteroid C-type (carbonaceous) asteroids are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids. They are volatile-rich and distinguished by a very low albedo because their composition includes a large amount of carbon, in addition to rocks ...
which is probably composed of
carbonaceous Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes up ...
materials. 209 Dido was discovered in 1879 by C. H. F. Peters.


See also

*
Kings of Tyre The King of Tyre was the ruler of Tyre, the ancient Phoenician city in what is now Lebanon. The traditional list of 12 kings, with reigns dated to 990–785 BC, is derived from the lost history of Menander of Ephesus as quoted by Josephus in ''Ag ...
*
List of cities founded by Alexander the Great Alexander the Great founded, substantially re-established, or renamed numerous towns and cities. Below are some of these cities (with present-day locations): Modern Bulgaria * Alexandropolis Maedica Modern Turkey * Alexandria by the Latmus, ...
*
Tyrian shekel Tyrian shekels, tetradrachms, or tetradrachmas were coins of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, which in the Roman Empire took on an unusual role as the medium of payment for the Temple tax in Jerusalem, and subsequently gained notoriety as a likely mode of Th ...
* Tyre in Biblical Prophecy


References

; Attribution


Further reading

* Bikai, Patricia Maynor. ''The Pottery of Tyre''. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1978. * Bullitt, Orville H. ''Phoenicia and Carthage: A Thousand Years to Oblivion''. Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1978. * Joukowsky, Martha, and Camille Asmar. ''The Heritage of Tyre: Essays On the History, Archaeology, and Preservation of Tyre''. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 1992. * Woolmer, Mark. ''Ancient Phoenicia: An Introduction''. London: Bristol Classical Press, 2011.


External links


360 Panorama of Tyre's Archeological Site

Lebanon, the Cedars' Land: Tyre

photo 2u


entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith with picture of Tyrian silver shekel.
Alexander's Siege of Tyre at World History Encyclopedia
by Grant Nell
American University of Beirut (AUB) Museum team discovers first Phoenician Temple in Tyre; only complete one in Lebanon

Mission archéologique de Tyr
in French {{Authority control Populated places in Tyre District Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon Populated coastal places in Lebanon Mediterranean port cities and towns in Lebanon 28th-century BC establishments Amarna letters locations Archaeological sites in Lebanon Cities founded by Alexander the Great Coloniae (Roman) Former islands Hebrew Bible cities Phoenician cities Phoenician sites in Lebanon Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC Roman sites in Lebanon States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC States and territories established in the 14th century BC Torah cities Tourism in Lebanon Tourist attractions in Lebanon World Heritage Sites in Lebanon Former kingdoms