Hi'ram (\leh.Chii-am','0'^''T\, high-born; generally written '• Huram," DTin, Chiiram', in Chron., and " Hi- rom," wTT^n, Chirom,' in 1 Icings v, 10, 18; vii, 40; Sept. Xsipcqi or Xipai^i ; Joseph. E'(pa/.iog and EVpw/iot,), the name of three men.
1. HuitAM (Sept. makes two names, 'Axipciv Kctl 'Iioi/i), the last named of the sons of Bela, son of Benja- min (1 Chron. viii, 5). B.C. post 1856.
2. Hiram, Hura^f, or Hirom, king of T\Te at the commencement of David's reign. He sent an embassy to felicitate David on his accession, which led to an alli- ance, or strengthened a previous friendship between them. It seems that the dominion of this prince ex- tended over the Avestern slopes of Lebanon ; and when Davitl bnilt himself a palace, Hiram materially assisted the work by sending cedar-wood I'rom Lebanon, and able workmen to Jerusalem (2 Sam. v, 1 1 ; 1 Chron. xiv, 1). B.C. cir. 1044. It was probably the same prince who sent to Jerusalem an embassy of condolence and congratulation when David died and Solomon succeeded, and who contracted with the new king a more intimate alliance than ever before or after existed between a He- brew king and a foreign prince. The alliance seems to have been verj' substantially beneficial to both parties, and without it Solomon would scarcely have been able to realize all the great designs he had in view. In con- sideration of large quantities of corn, wine, and oil fur- nished by Solomon, tlie king of Tyre agreed to supply from Lebanon the timber required for the Temple, to float it along the coast, and deliver it at Joppa, which was the port of Jerusalem (1 Kings v, 1 sq. ; ix, 10 sq. ; 1 Chron. ii, 8 sq.). The vast commerce of Tyre made gold very plentiful there ; and Hiram supplied no less than 500 talents to Solomon for the ornamental works of the Temple, and received in return twenty towns in Galilee, which, when he came to inspect them, pleased him so little that he applied to them a name of con- tempt, and restored them to the Jewish king (2 Chron. viii, 2). See Cabll. It does not, however, appear that the good understanding between the two kings was bro- ken by this unpleasant circumstance, for it was after this that Hiram suggested, or at least took part in, Sol- omon's traffic to the Eastern Seas, which certainh- could not have been undertaken by the Hebrew king without his assistance in providing ships and experienced mari- ners (1 Kings ix, 27; x, 11, etc.; 2 Chron. viii, 18; ix, ] 10, etc.). B.C. cir. 1010. See Ophir ; Solomon. '
Josephus has preserved a valuable fragment of the ' history of Mercander, a native of Ephesus, relating to the intercourse of Hiram and Solomon, professedly taken from the Sj-rian archives (Apion, i, 18). "After the death of Abibalus, Hiromus, his son, succeeded him in his kingdom, and reigned thirty-four years, having lived fifty-three. He laid out that part of the city which is called Eurychoron, and consecrated the golden column which is in the temple of Jujiiter. And he went up into the forest on the mountain called Libanus, to fell cedars for the roofs of the temples; and having demol- ished the ancient temples he rebuilt them, and conse-
crated the fanes of Hercules and Astarte : he constructed that of Hercules first, in the month Peritius; then that of Astarte, when he had overcome the Tityians who had refused to pay their tribute ; and when he had subjected them he returned. In his time was a certain young- man named Abdemonus, who used to solve the jiroblcins which were propounded to him by Solomon, king of Je- rusalem." According to the same authority (ib. i, 17), the historian Dius, likewise from the Tyrian annals, says, "Upon the death of Abibalus, his son Hiromus succeed- ed to the kingdom. He raised the eastern parts of the city, and enlarged the citadel, and joined it to the tem- ple of Jupiter Olympius, which stood before upon an island, by filling up the intermediate space ; and he adorned that temple with donations of gold, and he went up into Libanus to cut timber for the construction of the temples. And it is said that Solomon, who at that time reigned in Jerusalem, sent enigmas to Hiromus, and de- sired others in return, with a proposal that whichsoever of the two was unable to solve them, should forfeit mon- ey to the other. Hiromus agreed to the proposal, but was unable to solve the enigmas, and paid treasiu'es to a large amount as a forfeit to Solomon. And it is said that one Abdemonus, a TjTian, solved the enigmas, and proposed others which Solomon was not able to unrid- dle, for which he repaid the fine to Hiromus" (Cory's Ancient Frugnienis, p. 198.) Some of these riddles, the Jewish historian states {ib. i, 17), were extant in his day; and in A nt. viii, 2, 6, 7, he gives what he declares to be authentic copies of the epistles that passed between the two kings respecting the materials for the Temple. See Lebanon. With the letters in 1 Kings v, and 2 Chron. ii, may be compared not only his copies of the letters, but also the still less authentic letters between Solomon and Hiram, and between Solomon and Yaphies (Apries?), which are preserved by Eupolemon {iip. Eu- sebius, Prcep. Evwifj. ix, 30), and mentioned by Alexan- der Polyhistor (Clem. Alex. Sirom, i, 24, p. 332). Some Phcenician historians {op. Tatian. cont. Grcuc. § 37) re- late that Hiram, besides supph-ing timber for the Tem- ple, gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon. Jew- ish writers in less ancient times cannot overlook Hiram's uncircumcision in his services towards the building of the Temple. Their legends relate (Eisenm. Ent.Jml. i, 808) that because he was a God-fearing man, and built the Temple, he was received alive into Paradise ; but that, after he had been there a thousand years, he sin- ned by pride, and was thrust down into hell. Eupole- mon (Euseb. Prcep. Evung. ix, 30) states that David, af- ter a war with Hiram, reduced him to the condition of a tributary-prince. See David.