Tyre

Cast of the Zincirli Stela of Esarhaddon. Pergamonmuseum, Berlin (Germany). Photo Jona Lendering.

Esarhaddon with two defeated kings: Taharqo of Nubia and Ba'al of Tyre. Cast a stela from Zincirli (Pergamonmuseum, Berlin)

Tyre (Phoenician רצ, ṣūr, "rock"; Greek Τúρος; Latin Tyrus): port in Phoenicia and one of the main cities in the eastern Mediterranean.

History

Photos

Texts

In the first quarter of the seventh century BCE, king Esarhaddon (r.680-669) tightened the Assyrian grip on Phoenicia. Sidon was sacked in 677/676, its people deported, and in 676/675, the cities of Syria and Cyprus were ordered to contribute building materials for a monument in Nineveh. The inscription has attracted much attention because it mentions Manasseh, king of Judah from 687 to 642. It is interesting to notice that in this list, Sidon is absent.

The translation is by Leo Oppenheim and can be found in ANET³ 291.

Esarhaddon's Prism B

I called up the kings of the country Hatti and (of the region) on the other side of the river Euphrates:

Ba'al, king of Tyre,
Manasseh, king of Judah,
Qawsgabar, king of Edom,
Musuri, king of Moab,
Sil-Bel, king of Gaza,
Metinti, king of Ashkelon,
Ikausu, king of Ekron,
Milkiashapa, king of Byblos,
Matanba’al, king of Arvad,
Abiba'al, king of Samisimuruna,
Puduil, king of Beth-Ammon,
Ahimilki, king of Ashdod

- twelve kings from the seacoast.

Ekishtura, king of Idalion,
Pythagoras, king of Chytros,
Kisu, king of Soli,
Ituander, king of Paphos,
Erisu, king of Silli,
Damasu, king of Curium,
Atmesu, king of Tamesi,
Damusi, King of Carthage,
Unasagusu, king of Lidir Ledra,
Bususu, king of Nuria,

- ten kings from Cyprus amidst the sea.

Ancient-Warfare.com, the online home of Ancient Warfare magazine

Together twenty-two kings of Hatti, the seashore, and the islands. All these I sent out and made them transport under terrible difficulties, to Nineveh, the town of my rulership, as building material for my palace: big logs, long beams and thin boards from cedar and pine trees, products of the Sirara and Lebanon mountains, which had grown for a long time into tall and strong timber, also from their quarries in the mountains, statues of Lamassu and Shedu protective dietiesmade of ašnan stone, statues of abzaztu, thresholds, slabs of limestone, of ašnan stone, of large and small grained breccia, of alallu-stone and of gi.rin.hi.li.ba-stone.