Tyre

tir, one of the celebrated cities of antiquity. It was the chief port of the Phoenicians, a seafaring people. It was situated at the eastern extreme of the Mediterranean, about equally distant from Damascus and Jerusalem. Hiram, king of Tyre, it may be remembered, was on excellent terms with King Solomon, and in exchange for wheat gave him cedars of Lebanon to be used in building the temple. Modern Tyre is a place of about 6,000 inhabitants. Tyre was overthrown first by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian, by the Persians, and again by Alexander the Great in 332 B. C. Its final subjection was completed by the Roman Antigonus, 313 B. C. Splendid columns, the ruins of an aqueduct, and other public works attest the former beauty and splendor of the city.

In Ezekiel xxvi and xxvii we have a noble description of Tyre, "situate at the entry of the sea, a merchant of the people for many isles." A few phrases, caught here and there, give some idea of the commerce of this busy city; "Shipboards of fir trees"; "Cedars from Lebanon to make masts"; "Oars of the oaks of Bashan"; "Benches of ivory"; "Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt spread forth to be thy sail"; "Blue and purple covered thee"; "Wise men, thy pilots"; "They of Persia were in thine army"; "Men hanged their shields upon thy walls"; "Tarshish (southwestern Spain), thy merchant, with silver, iron, tin, and lead"; "Vessels of brass in thy market"; "Horses, and horsemen, and mules in thy fairs"; "Horns of ivory and ebony"; "Syria, thy merchant in thy fairs, with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen and coral and agate"; "Judah in thy market, with wheat, and honey, and oil, and balm"; "Damascus, thy merchant, wine and white wool"; "Bright iron, cassia, and calamus in thy market"; "Precious clothes for chariots"; "Arabia, lambs, rams, goats"; "Sheba, spices, precious stones, and gold"; "Blue clothes, broidered work, chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar"; "Thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters."