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 Tyre was a
Phoenician island city founded around the third millennium BC and known as Queen
of the Seas. In history it grew wealthy from its far-reaching Phoenician
colonies and its industries of
purple-dyed textiles in the first millennium BC.
But it also attracted great conquerors such as the
Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great.
In the 10th century BC, King of
Tyre, Ahiram, joined two islets by landfill and extended the city further
by
reclaiming a considerable area from the sea and built two ports and a temple to Melkart, the city's
god. Recent excavations have uncovered Crusader, Arab,
Byzantine and Graeco-Roman remains.
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