man the soil; the lowing of oxen and the song of birds answer the deep roar of the main ; the hamadryad among the tall trees hears the voice of the nereid call- ing to her from the waves; the breeze from Lebanon, while it cools the rustic at his midday labor, speeds the sailor seaward." " O Tyrus," exclaims the ])rophet (Ezck. xxvii, 3, etc.), " thou hast said, I am of perfect beaiUy; thy borders are in the midst of the sea, thy builders have perfected thy beauty." The poets call her "a virgin bathing in the sea, a Tartessus-ship swimming upon the ocean, an island on shore, and a city in the sea withal," etc. Above all, however, Non- nus makes his Indian hero get into ecstasies at the " primeval fountains, especially those where the water . . . gushing out of the depths of the earth, returns every hour;" and he mentions three distinct sources or water-nymphs — " Abarberea, the fertile; Kallirrhoe,the sweet; and Drosera, the rich and bridal one."
The description of Tyre in the prophecy of Ezckicl (xxvii, 10) receives striking illustration from what we believe to be its earliest coins. These coins were held to be most probably of Tyre or some other Phoenician city, or possibly of Babylon, on nimiismatic evidence alone, by INIr. Burgon, of the British Jlnscum. They probably date during the 5th century B.C. — they may possibly be a little older — but it is most reasonable to consider them as of the time of, and issued by, Darius Hystaspis. The chief coins are octodrachms of the earlier Phoenician weight, bearing, on the obverse, a war-galley beneath the towered walls of a city, and, on the reverse, a king in a cliariot. with an incuse goat be- neath. This comliination of galley and city is exactly what we find in the description of Tyre in Ezckiel,
Eaily Coin of Tyre.
which maiidy portrays a state-galley, but also refers to a port, and speaks of towers and walls. See Naviga- tion.
III. Ili.^toi-i/, — 1. The early history of Tyre is so com- pletely shrouiUcl in mythical mystery that a rational reconstruction of it is next to impossible. We hear of kings of Phoenicia whose very names mostly prove them to be mere types of deities, or special tribes, such as Agenor, Pliauiix, Phalis, Sidon, Tetramnestus, Ten- nes. Strato, Abdalomiiius (a word spelled in many differ- ent ways, the only reasonable orthography of which, however, must be Abd - Alonim [ Heb. Elyonim ], CiTiP" 13", " servant pf the highest ones, or gods"). Abibal, however, is called the first king of Tyre, and the predecessor of Hiram (Hierom, Siiram, etc.), the Biblical Chiram, with whom, indeed, begins what to us is approximately the historical period of Phoenicia. We have already mentioned the calamity in consequence of which the Sidonians, hitherto the mightiest power of Phoenicia, were obliged to leave their capital and seek refuge in neighboring Tyre. This took place about B.C. 1200, and very soon after that period Tyre assumed the hegemony. Before the time of Samuel we already hear of the princes (Suffetes) of Tyre ojipressing the Israelites (Judg. x, 12).
In the Bible, Tyre is named for the first time in the book of Joshua (xix, 29), where it is adverted to as a fortified city (in the A. Y. " the strong city"), in refer- ence to the boundaries of the tribe of Asher. Nothing historical, hov/ever, turns upon this mention of Tyre;
TYRE
615
TYRE
for it is indisputable tliat the tribe of Asher never pos- sessed the Tvrian territory. According to tlie injunc- tions of the Pentateuch, indeed, all the Canaanitisli na- tions ought to have been exterminated; but, instead of this, the Israelites dwelt among the JSidonians or I'hoe- iiicians, who were inhabitants of the land (Judg. i, 31, 32), and never seem to have had any war with that in- telligent race. Subsequently, in a passage of Samuel (2 Sam. xxiv, 7), it is stated that the enumerators of the census in the reign of David went in pursuance of their mission to Tyre, among other cities, which must be understood as implying, not that Tyre was subject to David's authority, but merely that a census was thus taken of the Jews resident there.
2, But the first passages in the Hebrew historical writings, or in ancient history generally, which afford glimpses of the actual condition of Tjtc are in the book of Samuel (2 Sam. v, 11), in connection with Hiram king of Tyre ( B.C. 980-947 ) sending cedar-wood and workmen to David, for building hira a palace ; and sub- sequently in tlie book of Kings, in connection with the building of Solomon's temple. One point at this (jeriod is particularly worthy of attention. In contradistinc- tion from all the other most celebrated independent commercial cities out of Phoenicia in the ancient and modern world, Tyre was a monarchy, and not a repub- lic; and, notwithstanding its merchant princes, who might have been deemed likely to favor tlie establish- ment of an aristocratical commonwealth, it continued to preserve the monarchical form of govenmient until its final loss of independence. Another point is the skill in the mechanical arts which seems to have already been attained by the Tyrians. Under this head, al- lusion is not specially made to the excellence of the Tyrians in felling trees; for, through viciinty to the forests of Lebanon, the)' would as naturally have be- come skilled in that art as the backwoodsmen of Amer- ica. But what is peculiarly noteworthy is that Tyrians had become workers in brass or copper to an extent which implies considerable advancement in art. In the enumeratimi of the various works in brass executed by the Tyrian artists whom Solomon sent for, there are lilies, palm-trees, oxen, lions, and cherubim (1 Kings vii, 13-45). The manner in which the cedar-wood and tir-wood were conveyed to Jerusalem is likewise interest- ing, partly from the similarity of the sea voyage to what may commonly be seen on the Khine at the pres- ent day, and partly as giving a vivid idea of the really short distance between Tyre and Jerusalem. The wood was taken in floats to Joppa (2 Chron. ii, 16; 1 Kings v, 9), a distance of less than seventy-four geographical miles. In the Mediterranean, during summer, there are times when this voyage along the coast would have been perfectly safe, and when the Tyrians might have reckoned confidently, especially at night, on light winds to fill the sails which were probably used on such occa- sions. From Joppa to Jerusalem the distance was about thirty-two miles, and it is certain that by this route the whole distance between the two celebrated cities of Jeru- salem and Tyre was not more than IOC geographical, or about 122 P2nglish, miles. Within such a comparatively short distance (which by land, in a straight line, was about twenty miles shorter), it would be easy for two sovereigns to establish personal relations ^vith each other, more es- pecially as the northern boundary of Solomon's kingdom, in one direction, was the southern boundary of Piiceni- cia. Solomon and Hiram may frequently have met, and thus laid the foundations of a political alliance in personal friendship. If by messengers they sent riddles and problems for each other to solve (Josephus, -4»//. viii, 5, 3 ; Cont. Apion. i, 17 ), they may previously have had, on several occasions, a keen encounter of wits in convivial intercourse. In this waj', likewise, Solomon may have become acquainted with the Sidonian women who, with tliose of other nations, seduced him to poly- theism and the worship of Astarte in his old age. Sim- ilar remarks apply to the circumstances which may