TIRE (Hebrew-Phoenician Šôr, Šôr; cf. šûr “rock”; Greek Τύρος; modern Šûr). — Principal city of Phoenicia.
The origins of the maritime city of Tyre may perhaps be traced to fishing stations (settled by emigrants from Sidon?) at the beginning of the third millennium; very ancient traces, of unknown origin, have been found further inland.
Tyre soon entered into trade relations with Egypt, as shown by local remains and references in geographical texts, and this continued throughout the city’s period of splendor, between the fourteenth and seventh centuries B.C. In the Amarna age, Egypt’s commercial, more than political, influence over Tyre was very strong; later the city became independent and steadily developed in comparison with its rival Sidon. Various industries flourished in the city, even on a large scale, especially in purple dyeing, goldsmithing, weaving, and dyeing; excavations have revealed traces of the installations, which can, however, be better understood from Byblos, where the remains have been better preserved. Tyrian colonies scattered throughout the Mediterranean (Carthage, Hippo, Bizerte, Utica, Cadiz), and it seems also beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Tarshish), were major outlets for manufactured goods. Thus navigation is but one aspect of Tyre’s grand civilization. Apart from the mention of Tyre in Jos. 19:29 (cf. 2 Sam. 24:7) regarding the division of Canaan, where it is said that the northwestern border of Asher reaches as far as the fortified city of Tyre, or, according to the Septuagint, as far as the spring of Tyre, i.e., Ras el-‘Ayn, 3 km south of the city, where there are ancient artesian wells and an aqueduct, Tyre enters the biblical horizon precisely as an industrial and artistic center, from the Hiram (v.) and of Solomon Hiram (v.).
Subsequently, biblical references to Tyre take on literary and moralizing tones: a complacent, though indirect, allusion to its splendor (Ps. 45:13; its gifts for royal weddings; ibid. 87:4: among the peoples bringing tribute to Zion); a harsh reproach for the capture and trade in slaves, which unfortunately were not lacking among Phoenician exports (Am. 1:9-10; Joel 4:4-5); and a prophetic judgment on the tragic end of the proud city (Is. 23; Ez. 26-28). Ezekiel offers a splendid description of Tyre’s magnificence, its commerce, and its harbor, portraying the city itself as a ship, more allegorically than realistically, as a personification of pride, an insult to other peoples and to God (at Ezekiel’s time, Tyre, which had repeatedly had to defend itself from Assyrian invasions, was in decline), but with reference to the actual history of the city and its colonies.
In the Persian and Hellenistic ages, Tyre’s importance declined; yet the great memory of its past power remained, usually in conjunction with Sidon, as shown by Gospel allusions (Mt. 11:21-22; 15:21; Mk. 3:8; 7:24, 31; Lk. 6:17; 10:13 ff.), along with some activity in its port (Acts 21:3-7).
Tyre became an episcopal see from apostolic times. There, Origen died and St. Athanasius was condemned (335). After falling to the Arabs (638), it shared the fate of Syria (under the caliphs of Damascus, then of Baghdad, then the Seljuks). The city enjoyed a moment of importance again during the Crusades; conquered by Baldwin II (1124), it became the seat of a Latin bishopric, of which the famous hermit William was titular. Abandoned, however, after the fall of St. Jean d’Acre (1291), it dwindled to a small center, inhabited mostly by fishermen, today numbering perhaps about 9,000.
Tyre is currently the seat of: 1) the Melkite bishopric since 1683, with 10 parishes, 9 priests, and 7,945 faithful among 102,500 inhabitants; 2) a Maronite bishopric since 1838, previously a vicariate since August 15, 1819, with 22 churches, of which 20 are parishes, 25 priests, and 11,361 faithful.
Giovanni Rinaldi
ARCHAEOLOGY. — Of the bishops of Tyre, Eusebius mentions in the second century Cassius, who took part in the Synod on the celebration of Easter (Hist. eccl., V, 25); about 250 the bishop Marino is recorded in a letter of Dionysius of Alexandria to Pope Stephen (ibid., VII, 5).
In the great persecution, Bishop Tyrannius (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VIII, 13), the martyr Ulpian (ibid., De martyr. Palaestin., 5, 1), and the martyr Theodosia (ibid., 7, 1) perished. The Hieronymian Martyrology, under July 24, attributes to the city of Tyre the martyr Christina (v.). Eusebius was present in Tyre at the cruel torments to which many Christians were subjected; he records that those exposed to beasts remained unharmed, like five Egyptians who were then beheaded and cast into the sea (Hist. eccl., VIII, 8).
In Tyre, Eusebius found affixed a bronze tablet with a copy of the letter sent by the Emperor Maximinus Daia to congratulate the cities that had issued decrees against Christians (ibid., IX, 7).
The learned priest Dorotheus, an antiochean, of whom Eusebius of Caesarea was a hearer, at the end of the second century was appointed by the Emperor administrator of the purple dyeing works in Tyre (ibid., VII, 32). From Eusebius, in the discourse for the consecration of the new church of Tyre dedicated by him to Bishop Paulinus of Tyre, the new building is called “the most beautiful church in all Phoenicia” (ibid., VIII, 7). Among the precious fabrics donated by the popes to the churches of Rome, those called “Tyrian” are often mentioned; Adrian I (772-95) gave 65 to the basilica of St. Peter and 20 to each title or parish (Lib. Pont., I, pp. 499, 504). Of Tyre is Frumentius (v.), apostle of Abyssinia.
In 1845 excavations were carried out and a baptistery was discovered, accessible by two opposing staircases (S. N. Sepp, Meerfahrt nach Tyros zur Ausgrabung der Kathodele mit Barbarossa’s Grab, Leipzig 1879, pp. 210, 217). The octagonal church of the Theotokos is known from sources. Some decorative mosaics of the Byzantine age are in Paris in the Louvre. Tyre is today also an archiepiscopal titular see of the Latin rite.