Editing Tyre, Lebanon (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Tyre, Lebanon}}

The ancient city of Tyre is located along the coast of [[Phoenicia]] in modern Lebanon. The site has been occupied since the [[Bronze Age]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-17 |title=A History of the Ancient & Classical City of Tyre and Its Commerce |url=https://www.thecollector.com/history-of-ancient-classical-city-of-tyre/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=TheCollector |language=en}}</ref> The city became a prominent Phoenician city-state between the 9th and 6th centuries BCE, settling prestigious colonies around the Mediterranean Sea, such as [[Carthage]] and [[Leptis Magna]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-23 |title=Tyre {{!}} Ancient City & Historical Site {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Tyre |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> It went under Persian rule in 572 BCE, before being conquered by [[Alexander the Great]] in 332 BCE. Monumental archaeological remains dated from the subsequent [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]], [[Roman Empire|Roman]], [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]], and [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] periods led to its inscription on its archaeological remains on the [[UNESCO]] World’s Heritage list in 1984.<br>

The Roman historian [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] wrote that the original founders arrived from the nearby city of [[Sidon]] in the quest to establish a new harbour. The famous Greek historian [[Herodotus]] (c. 484–425 BCE), born in the city of [[Halicarnassus]], visited Tyre around 450 BCE at the end of the [[Greco-Persian Wars]] (499–449 BCE), and wrote in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' that according to the priests there, the city was founded 2300 years earlier (around 2750 BCE),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herodotus |title=Histories, Book 2 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_History_of_Herodotus_(Rawlinson)/Book_2 }} [https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Ιστορίαι_(Ηροδότου)/Ευτέρπη Greek original]</ref> as a walled place upon the mainland, now known as ''Paleotyre'' (Old Tyre). <br>

The Phoenician Tyrians' international trade network was based on its two harbours which are mentioned by ancient writers (Arrian, Anabasis, 2, 24; Strabo, Geography, 16,2,23).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arrian, Anabasis, book 2, chapter 24, section 1 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0530:book=2:chapter=24:section=1 |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Strabo, Geography, BOOK XVI., CHAPTER II., section 23 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0239:book=16:chapter=2:section=23 |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> The northern harbour opened toward the Phoenician city of [[Sidon]] and has been therefore referred to as the “Sidonian Harbour” by 19th and 20th century scholars, but it was referred to as the "Port of Astronoe" during Late Antiquity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aliquot |first=Julien |date=2020 |title=The Port of Astronoe in Tyre |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03835979 |journal=Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises |volume=Hors- Série 18 |pages=61–70 |via=HAL}}</ref> The southern harbour opened toward [[Egypt]] and was referred to as the “Egyptian Harbour”. The location of the two harbours has been the subject of speculations since the 17th Century.<ref>Renan, E., 1864-1874. Mission de Phénicie dirigée par Ernest Renan: Texte. Impr. impériale.</ref> The submarine excavation of a large, 4-6th Century BCE breakwater north of the city,<ref>Castellvi, G., Descamps, C., Kuteni, V.P., 2007. Recherches archéologiques sous-marines à Tyr.</ref><ref>Noureddine, I., Mior, A., 2013. Archaeological Survey of the Phoenician Harbour at Tyre, Lebanon.</ref> and the discovery of 250 BCE to 500 CE harbour sediments behind this breakwater<ref>Marriner, N., Morhange, C., Doumet-Serhal, C., Carbonel, P., 2006. Geoscience rediscovers Phoenicia's buried harbors. Geology 34, 1-4.</ref> demonstrated the existence of a northern harbour repeatedly, if not permanently, throughout Antiquity under the modern harbour of Tyre. <br>

The location of the southern harbour is more elusive. Renan (1864–1874) envisioned it as an extensive structure now located offshore, south of the former island. Subsequent diving surveys identified submerged man-made structures on the seafloor within 150 m of the former island.<ref>El-Amouri, M., El-Hélou, M., Marquet, M., Noureddine, I., Seco Alvarez, M., 2005. Mission d'expertise archéologique du port sud de Tyr, résultats préliminaires. Baal Hors Série II, 91-110.</ref><ref>Frost, H., 1971. Recent observations on the submerged harbourworks at Tyre. Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth 24, 103-111.</ref> Antoine Poidebard, who was the first to have them explored by divers in 1939, saw in these structures former breakwaters enclosing a harbour with two entrances.<ref>Poidebard, A., 1939. Un grand port disparu: Tyr: recherches aériennes et sous-marines: 1934-1936. P. Geuthner.</ref> The geographic area enclosed within these structures is therefore often referred to as the “Southern Harbour”. These structures have also been interpreted as a polder-like area protecting an urban district (El-Amouri et al., 2005; Frost, 1971; Renan, 1864–1874). A Phoenician-style breakwater was recently found within this area, but excavation is needed to confirm its age ascription.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Goiran |first1=Jean-Philippe |last2=Brocard |first2=Gilles |last3=De Graauw |first3=Arthur |last4=Kahwagi-Janho |first4=Hany |last5=Chapkanski |first5=Stoil |date=2021 |title=Evolution of sea level at Tyre during Antiquity |journal=Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaise |volume=21 |pages=305–316}}</ref> Harbour sediments found behind the structure suggest that the breakwater was part of the Egyptian harbour.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Brocard |first1=Gilles |last2=Goiran |first2=Jean-Philippe |last3=de Graauw |first3=Arthur |last4=Chapkanski |first4=Stoil |last5=Dapoigny |first5=Arnaud |last6=Régagnon |first6=Emmanuelle |last7=Husson |first7=Xavier |last8=Bolo |first8=Aurélien |last9=Pavlopoulos |first9=Kosmas |last10=Fouache |first10=Eric |last11=Badawi |first11=Ali |last12=Yon |first12=Jean-Baptiste |date=2024-01-15 |title=Growth of the sandy isthmus of tyre and ensuing relocation of its harbors |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379123005115 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=324 |pages=108463 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108463 |bibcode=2024QSRv..32408463B |s2cid=266282297 |issn=0277-3791}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archeorient.hypotheses.org/26907 | title=Where is the Phoenician harbour of Tyre? | date=26 January 2024 | doi=10.58079/vom2 | last1=Arthur de Graauw, Gilles Brocard et Jean-Philippe Goiran. }}</ref> Harbour sediments found near Hiram's Tower, further north, mark an early location of the Sidonian Harbour.<ref name=":0" /> <br>

The development of Tyre was profoundly affected by the construction of a [[causeway]] built by [[Alexander the Great]] in 332 BCE to seize the city.<ref name=":1" /> This reportedly 750 metre (820 yard) long<ref>four stades acc. to Diodorus Siculus, Hist, 17, 7 and to Quintus Curtius Rufus, Hist, 4, 2, but 700 paces acc. to Pliny, Natural History V, 17</ref> and 60 metre (200 ft.) wide causeway was laid over a submarine [[shoal]] less than 5.4 metres (18 ft.) deep.<ref>three fathoms acc. to Arrian, Anabasis, 2, 18</ref> This shoal was interpreted as a sandbank (also called a ‘salient’), formed by the accretion of sand in the lee of the island, under the effects of the refraction and diffraction of waves around the island. The causeway interrupted longshore sand transport, forcing sand to accumulate along the causeway, rapidly creating an emerged sandy isthmus (or [[tombolo]]), linking the island to the mainland.<ref>Marriner, N., Goiran, J., Morhange, C., 2008. Alexander the Great's tombolos at Tyre and Alexandria, eastern Mediterranean. Geomorphology 100, 377-400.</ref><ref>Nir, Y., 1996. The city of Tyre, Lebanon and its semi‐artificial tombolo. Geoarchaeology 11, 235-250.</ref>

This sandy isthmus rapidly inflated during the centuries following the construction of the causeway. By early Imperial Roman times, monumental buildings had been built over most of its surface. Their layout implies that the isthmus was by then nearly as wide as today. Therefore, the isthmus had completely reshaped the eastern coast of Tyre Island within 6&ndash;10 centuries after the construction of the causeway, spurring a radical transformation of the city.{{fact|date=September 2024}}