Tyre

Tyre was one of the great Phoenician cities, the founder of Carthage and the source of the purple dye that gave the colour its association with royalty, and it sat on an island until Alexander built a causeway to take it in 332 BC, permanently joining it to the mainland. The archaeological remains split into two areas. Al-Mina, on the peninsula, has a colonnaded street, baths and a Roman arena beside the water. Al-Bass, inland, holds a monumental arch, an aqueduct and one of the largest Roman hippodromes known, its long track and turning posts still legible, with a necropolis of carved sarcophagi alongside. The modern town has a working fishing harbour and a Christian quarter of old houses.

History

The site has been occupied since the Bronze Age; the Roman historian Justin says its founders came from nearby Sidon in search of a new harbour, and Herodotus, visiting around 450 BC, was told by the priests that the city had been founded 2,300 years earlier as a walled place on the mainland, now called Paleotyre. Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC Tyre was a leading Phoenician city-state and settled colonies around the Mediterranean, among them Carthage and Leptis Magna, trading through its two harbours. It came under Babylonian rule in 572 BC, and in 332 BC Alexander the Great took it after a siege, after which 8,000 Tyrians were killed and 30,000 sold into slavery. Its monumental Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and medieval remains led to its inscription as a World Heritage Site in 1984 (Wikipedia, Tyre, Lebanon).

The main sights

• The hippodrome at Al-Bass - one of the largest Roman chariot-racing tracks surviving.
• The monumental arch and aqueduct - on the ancient road into the city.
• Al-Mina - colonnaded street, baths and arena beside the sea.
• The fishing harbour - the working port and old Christian quarter in the modern town.

When to go

Spring and autumn for comfortable walking; summer on open archaeological sites here is very hot with almost no shade. The sea light in late afternoon on the Al-Mina columns is the best of the day.

Practical notes

The two site areas are a couple of kilometres apart and need separate tickets and transport between them. There is very little shade at either. Interpretation is sparse. The drive down the coast from Beirut is longer than the distance suggests because of traffic through the southern suburbs.

Nearby

Sidon and its sea castle are on the road back north; the Chouf mountains rise inland.

Key facts