February 27th.
Tyre
We have now been two days wandering over the ruins of Tyre, and I understand the topography of the whole neighborhood perfectly; indeed, Dr. Robinson had made me better acquainted with this place and its surroundings than any other which we have yet visited.
Robinson’s Description Amended
His description, though the best we have, will nevertheless bear amendment. For example, the land does not project to the south of the causeway, as he represents, but it does to the north and northwest. The west end of the island is not wholly a ledge of rugged, picturesque rocks; there are a few such, however, at the southwest corner. And again, it does not correspond very closely with fact to represent this as originally a long, narrow island. It was scarcely a mile in length, and not much less in breadth, measuring, from the extreme angle of the island, some four hundred paces to the east of the present wall of the city. To be very accurate, it is thirteen hundred and twenty-five paces one way, and ten hundred and thirty-six the other.
Robinson’s Description
The Causeway
The causeway does not “lie between the shore and the northern part of the island,” and it would not have reflected much credit upon the sagacity of Alexander's engineers to have carried it in that direction, because the strait is broader, and the sea deeper there than toward the south end. Alexander would, of course, build his work where there was the least depth and shortest distance. The point of the island which extended farthest toward the mainland lies directly east of the fountain nearly three hundred paces, as appears from the remains of Tyre's most ancient wall at that place. These very interesting remains were uncovered by quarriers some three years ago, but as the stones were too heavy for their purpose, they left them, and they are now nearly buried again by the shifting sand. From this point the island fell back rapidly toward the northwest, and more gradually toward the southwest. I doubt not but that Alexander's work first touched this projecting angle. The largest part of the causeway, however, lies to the south of it, and the wind from that direction has there thrown up the greatest amount of sand.
Old Seawall
There yet remains one solitary specimen of Tyre's great sea-wall, that mighty bulwark which no enemy could overthrow. At the extreme northern end of the island, a stone nearly seventeen feet long and six and a half thick, rests just where Tyrian architects placed it thousands of years ago. As in every case that I have examined, the foundation laid for these gigantic blocks is made with stone comparatively small. When the sea is quiet we will visit this interesting portion of the old wall.
ILLUSTRATION
Harbor
I do not believe that there ever was an available harbor south of the island. Not only is the water too shallow, but the southwest and west winds render it utterly unsafe to anchor there. When, therefore, authors speak of two, I suppose they must refer to the inner harbor and outer roadstead, both of which are on the north of the island. The natives, it is true, have a tradition that there was a harbor on the south; but their story is connected with incredible fables about a wall built by Alexander through the deep sea to Ras el Baiyod, a distance of eight or ten miles!
Granite Columns
The number of granite columns that lie in the sea, particularly on the north of the island, is surprising. The east wall of the inner harbor is entirely founded upon them, and they are thickly spread over the bottom of the sea on every side. I have often rowed leisurely around the island to look at them when the surface was perfectly calm, and always with astonishment. Tyre must have been a city of columns and temples par excellence. The whole north end appears to have been one vast colonnade.
The land along the western shore, and the entire south half of the island, is now given up to cultivation, pasturage, and the general cemetery of the town; and here are found the remains of those splendid edifices for which Tyre was celebrated. About three years ago, the quarriers who were digging out stone for the government barracks at Beirut uncovered a large hajarîyeh — floor — a few feet below the surface.
Ruins of a Temple
Descending through rubbish some ten feet farther, they came upon a beautiful marble pavement, among a confused mass of columns of every size and variety of rock. I went down and groped about amid these prostrate columns, and found the bases of some still in their original positions — parts of what was once a superb temple. One fragment of verd antique was particularly beautiful. In an adjoining quarry they had just turned out a marble statue of a female figure, full sized, modestly robed, and in admirable preservation. May not this be the site and the remains of the famous temple of Belus, or of Jupiter Olympus, both mentioned by Dios; or of Astarte, or Hercules, described by Menander? It is the center and highest part of the island, and must have been very conspicuous from the sea. The mind becomes quite bewildered with the mighty revolutions and desolations which such excavations reveal.
Great Antiquity
The floor above these remains is the same in kind as those now made in Tyre; but the house to which it belonged has wholly disappeared, and must have been destroyed before the city of the middle ages was built, for it is outside of the walls; and yet the ruins of this temple were then buried so deep below the surface, that the builder probably had not the slightest idea of their existence. This collection of columns and marble floors was again covered up by the quarriers in their search for available stone; and the unconscious tourist now walks heedlessly over wrecks of ancient splendor which astonished and delighted even the well-traveled “Father of History” four centuries before the birth of Christ. The entire southern half of the island is buried deep beneath just such ruins; and I hope the day is not distant when others will explore them besides poor quarriers, rummaging for building-stone at so many piasters per hundred.
The Tyre of the Crusaders.
Should any one ask incredulously, Where are the stones of ancient Tyre!—where, at least, the remains of those lofty towers and triple walls which so excited the wonder and admiration of the Crusaders only some seven centuries ago?—the preceding incidents will furnish a satisfactory reply. They are found in this depth of ruins, spread over the island, and over the causeway of Alexander; they are found in her choked-up harbor and at the bottom of her sea. They are at Acre, and Joppa, and Beirût, and in the rubbish, of all those cities. In fact, the only wonder is, that so much still remains to reveal and confirm the ancient greatness of this Phoenician capital.
Do you suppose that the fountain outside of the gate has any connection with Has el 'Ain?
Water Supply on the Island
The period of Tyre's greatest extent and glory was before the causeway was made, and it is not probable that an aqueduct was carried under the sea; and, besides, this fountain is not on the edge of the island nearest the mainland, as it would have been had such an aqueduct been constructed, but three hundred paces farther west, in the interior of the original island. There is no need of such a hypothesis to explain any apparent mystery about this fountain. The strata along the coast dip toward the sea, and pass under it. Where they terminate abruptly at the shore, innumerable streams of water run out on a level with the surface and below it. There are hundreds of such streams along this coast, and some of them very large. A little north of Ruad — the Arvad of the Bible — a fountain bursts up from the bottom of the sea, of such enormous size and power during the rainy months as to make the whole surface boil like a caldron. Now, apply this to our fountain. The strata of the plain opposite the city dip under the sea at a very small angle, and, of course, pass below the island. A shaft sunk only a few feet deep will reach a stratum that extends to the mainland, and water running beneath that stratum will pass under the island. Cut off such a stream by your shaft, and the water will rise as high as the conditions of the strata on the neighboring plain will admit. Accordingly the people will tell you that water can be found on any part of the island by digging to the proper depth. It will generally be somewhat brackish, and this is to be expected from the close proximity to the sea. These facts explain, as I believe, how it was that the Tyrians could sustain such protracted sieges, as we know from history they repeatedly did. They appear never to have been straitened for water, because they had a supply on their own little island which the besiegers could not cut off.
Tyrian Purple
Have you ever seen the shell-fish from which the far-famed Tyrian purple was obtained?
That variety of the murex from which this dye was procured is found all along this coast, but it abounds most around the Bay of Acre. So also the Helix Janthina, from which a blue, with a delicate purple or lilac tinge, may be extracted, is equally abundant. After a storm in winter you may gather thousands of them from the sandy beach south of Sidon. They are so extremely fragile that the waves soon grind them to dust. A kind of Buccinum is found here at Tyre, which has a dark crimson coloring matter about it, with a bluish livid tinge. According to ancient authors, this was used to vary the shades of the purple. Pliny says the Tyrians ground the shell in mills to get at the dye. This could not have been the only process, because the remnants of these shells found in pits along the southeastern shore of our island were certainly broken or mashed, and not ground; and the same is true with the shells on the south of the wall at Sidon.
Sung by Homer
This Tyrian purple was celebrated in Greece even in the remote age of Homer, who sings of
Belts,
That, rich with Tyrian dye, refulgent glowed.”
The references to these colors of red, purple, and scarlet in the Bible, are more ancient still; indeed, from Genesis to Revelation they are so numerous, and so mingled and blended together, that it is almost impossible to particularize them. Nor is it necessary; the merest child can turn to a score of them. And these colors are equally prevalent and popular at the present day among all classes of Orientals.
Age of Tyre
These and other matters, which connect the history of Tyre with that of the people of God, are invested with peculiar interest; and I have long desired to become intimately and accurately acquainted with them. I encounter a difficulty at the very beginning of her story. Isaiah calls Tyre the “daughter of Sidon” (Isa. 23:1212And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest. (Isaiah 23:12)); and Joshua mentions the “strong city Tyre” in describing the boundary of Asher (Josh. 19:2929And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib: (Joshua 19:29)); from which it is certain that she was not a very young daughter even at the conquest of Canaan by the Jews. Yet Josephus, in stating the exact time in which Solomon's temple was built, says there had passed two hundred and forty years from the founding of Tyre to the building of the temple; but Joshua lived more than four hundred years before Solomon. Here is a discrepancy of more than two hundred years.
Josephus and Joshua
There is; and it is possible that Josephus wrote four hundred and forty instead of two hundred and forty. Such errors in copying might easily occur. But Josephus lived after the beginning of the Christian era, and may have had in his mind the city that then existed, and all agree that it was built long after continental Tyre.
Palai Tyrus
This Palai Tyrus had been totally subverted for seven hundred years when the Jewish historian wrote, and he may have dropped it out of view entirely, and spoken only of that city concerning which the Roman world would feel interested. Insular Tyre was very likely not built more than two hundred and forty years before the time of Solomon. At any rate, the testimony of Joshua that there was a Tyre in his day is decisive; and if the statement of Josephus could in no way be reconciled with it, we should not hesitate which to believe. I understand him, however, to refer to different cities, and thus there is no contradiction.
Where do you find the site of continental Tyre?
Site of Continental Tyre
It extended, I suppose, from the great fountains of Ras el 'Ain northward, included the long, low Tell Habeish as its acropolis, and in its greatest prosperity probably reached the shore opposite the island. The whole of the Tell is full of buried foundations.
Bought by Reschid Pasha
Reschid Pasha, the present grand vizier, has purchased this neighborhood, and within two years has planted fifty thousand mulberry-trees, besides olives and fruit-trees, and seems determined to revive the place again. But the people say the enterprise must fail, because God has declared that Tyre shall never be rebuilt. Thus far the success is not very satisfactory. The mulberry-trees flourish well enough, but the place has proved so unhealthy that the peasants refuse to reside there. Last summer the pasha's agent had workmen erecting houses on Tell Habeish, and I was greatly interested to see that wherever the men dug for foundations, they came upon old works, which must have belonged to what Diodorus called Palai Tyrus in his day. Pliny says that it was thirty furlongs from insular Tyre to the south, which agrees with this locality, and with no other.
This was that joyous city, “whose antiquity is of ancient days,” even when Isaiah sang the burden of Tyre, “the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth” (Isa. 23:7-87Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. 8Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose trafficers are the honorable of the earth? (Isaiah 23:7‑8)). The Lord of Hosts proposed by this utter overthrow to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
Never Likely to Be a City Again
It is of this city that Ezekiel says, “Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more” (Ezek. 27:3636The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more. (Ezekiel 27:36)). And, so far as one can judge, it will never be a city again. Alexander, as Arrian relates, scraped off the very dust of old Tyre to build his causeway, and now you can find none of the remains except by digging below the surface. Even this feeble attempt of Reschid Pasha to revive the site of old Tyre has proved a losing speculation. It is so sickly that not even a village of any size can be established there, and, should the plain become again densely peopled, the villages will be built at a distance from this fatal spot.
The Two Tyres in Prophecy
In the prophecies relating to Tyre, there seems to be a blending together of the continental and the insular city, so that it is often difficult to distinguish which of the two is meant. There is; but this is in entire accordance with the general method of prophetic announcements. Those of our Savior in regard to the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem are mixed up with other matters connected with, or analogous to that great event, and it is impossible now to assign to each its proper part. There is, in reality, a propriety in thus joining together continental and insular Tyre. The same people — guilty, of the same vices — they deserved and received the same judgments, though in different degrees and at various times. The one was totally destroyed, never to rise again; the other repeatedly overwhelmed, but again partially reviving, just as the whole drift of the prophecies would lead us to expect. Indeed, it is nearly certain that the two cities were actually connected long before Alexander joined the island to the coast, and thus there would be no impropriety in speaking of them as one great whole. Josephus, in his controversy with Apion, states distinctly, on the authority of Dius, who, he says, wrote the Phoenician history accurately, that Hiram joined the temple of Jupiter Olympus, which stood before on an island by itself, to the city by raising a causeway between them. There never has been more than one island here, and the causeway must have joined that to the mainland.
Ancient Extent
Thus the ancient city and the island were connected even in the time of Solomon; nor would the work be very difficult, owing to the shallowness of the water. This, with other notices of Tyre by Menander the Ephesian, render it highly probable that continental Tyre extended along the shore from Has el 'Ain to the island; and this, again, agrees with the statement of Pliny, that Tyre was nineteen miles in circumference, including old Tyre, but without it about four. A line which would now include the island and Has el 'Ain might easily be so drawn as to be nineteen miles long, while the utmost extent of the walls around the island alone would be nearly four miles, as Pliny has it. The history of this fallen representative of ancient wealth, commerce, and civilization spreads over so many ages of stirring activity — there is so much to be seen, and so many are the reflections suggested by what is no longer to be seen, that one becomes quite bewildered.
It is, indeed, long since Joshua divided yonder hills and valleys between Asher and Naphtali, and during a large portion of this time, Tyre was the most splendid city, perhaps, in the world.
Ancient Glory
In the days of David and Solomon she was able not merely to maintain her independence in presence of these mighty conquerors, but by her unrivaled skill in arts and architecture she became an honored ally and necessary partner in the enterprise of building a temple for the Most High to dwell in. From this time she is associated, more or less intimately, with the history of God's chosen people for a thousand years. They had, in general, the same enemies, and, to a certain extent, shared the same fortunes. When the kings of Nineveh, or Babylon, or of Egypt came against the land of Israel, they attacked Tyre also. Yet, in spite of all her enemies, she flourished beyond a parable. The Hebrew historians, prophets, and poets constantly allude to her power, wealth, luxury, and vices; and Ezekiel seems to tax the entire geography of the known world to set forth the extent of her commerce and the multitude of her riches.
Subsequent History
It would take a volume to trace the varied fortunes of Tyre through Egyptian, Chaldean, Macedonian, Roman, Saracenic, Frank, and Turkish dynasties, down to the present wretched representative of so much greatness and glory. With but few exceptions, it is now a cluster of miserable huts, inhabited by about three thousand five hundred impoverished Metawelies and Arab Christians, destitute alike of education, of arts, and of enterprise, carrying on with Egypt a small trade in tobacco from the neighboring hills, and of lava mill-stones from the Hauran. This is a sorry schedule for the name of Tyre, but it is about all she can exhibit:
Present State
“Dim is her glory, gone her fame,
Her boasted wealth has lied;
On her proud rock, alas: her shame,
The fisher's net is spread.
The Tyrian harp has slumbered long,
And Tyria's mirth is low;
The timbrel, dulcimer, and song
Are hushed, or wake to woe.”
It is, indeed, a fearful falling off from the catalog in the 27th chapter of Ezekiel. Can you follow the geography of the prophet with ally degree of certainty?
Extent of Commerce
Not in all cases, but we can make a nearer approximation than might be supposed. It well deserves a careful study; for, judged by its undoubted antiquity, it is the most important geographical document, and by far the most suggestive commercial tariff in existence; and now is the time, and this the place, to examine it with pleasure and profit. Undeterred, therefore, by its length, let us read over this 27th chapter of Ezekiel, and a few very brief additions to the text will show how many of the countries named are now known, and how far the commodities and the characteristics ascribed to them still hold good.
Ezekiel 27
“O thou that are situate at the entry of the sea” — beautifully significant of continental and insular Tyre united — “a merchant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God: O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. They have made all thy ship boards of fir-trees from Senir [Mount Hermon], and of cedars from Lebanon have they made thy masts. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars, and thy benches of ivory brought out of the isles of Chittim [Cyprus and the Grecian islands]. Fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail [and Egypt still deals largely in linen, though not remarkably fine]; purple and scarlet from Elishah [Greek islands and neighboring nations] was that which covered thee. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy mariners [Arvad is now wholly inhabited by mariners]” (Eze. 27:3-83And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. 4Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. 5They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. 6Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. 7Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. 8The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. (Ezekiel 27:3‑8)).
Ancient Geography
“The ancients of Gebal were thy caulkers [and their city is still found on the shore north of Ruad; or, if Jebeîl be meant, tar and pitch for calking is now made on the mountains above it]. They of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut were in thine army [Phud and Lud were in Mesopotamia [Judith 2:23]. Tarshish [Tarsus in Spain] was thy merchant, with silver, iron, tin, and lead [and in both these regions rich mines of these metals abounded in ancient days, and are still found].
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech [Northern Asia Minor, Georgia, and Circassia] traded the persons of men [as they still do, or more frequently the persons of women]. They of the house of Togarmah [Armenia] traded in thy fairs with horses and mules [and this country is still celebrated for its horses]. The men of Dedan [Ethiopia and along the Red Sea] brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. Syria occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. Judah and the land of Israel traded in thy market wheat of Minnith and Pannag [in the Howran [Jose. 5:7,10], and honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was thy merchant in wine of Helbon [Aleppo, or more probably from a city some twenty miles north of Damascus] and white wool. Dan and Javan going to and fro [Arabs from the Persian Gulf] occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus. Dedan in South Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, occupied with thee in lambs, rams, and goats [and Southern Palestine is now supplied with them from the same regions]. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones and gold. [The Abyssinians claim Sheba, and Raamah was probably in the same region, where spices grow and precious stones are gathered]. Haran and Canneh, Eden and Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad [which ends the list, were countries and cities along the Euphrates and Tigris], they were merchants in all sorts of things, blue cloths, broidered work, and chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market, and thou wart replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.” (Eze. 27:9-259The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. 10They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness. 11The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. 12Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. 13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. 14They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. 15The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. 16Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. 17Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. 18Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. 19Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. 20Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. 21Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. 22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 23Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. 24These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. 25The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. (Ezekiel 27:9‑25)).
Extent of Commerce
Thus extensive was the commerce of Tyre. From Abyssinia and Arabia on the south, to Armenia and Georgia on the north, and from the frontiers of India to the utmost islands of Greece, and, indeed, far beyond both, came to this little spot — the caravans by land and the ships by sea — a commerce rarely exceeded in extent and variety — a concentration of wealth and luxury which few cities of any age or country could boast. No doubt her merchants were princes, and her traffickers the honorable men of the earth. How impressive the change! Well might the “isles shake at the sound of her fall” (Ezek. 26:15-2115Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? 16Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee. 17And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! 18Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. 19For thus saith the Lord God; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee; 20When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living; 21I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 26:15‑21)). Her present utter prostration and poverty are abundantly sufficient to meet the demands of prophecy, even without reference to continental Tyre, which has been literally wiped off the map of the earth. She has sunk down to the dust beneath the heavy “burden” of prophecy; nor can she ever recover her ancient glory without a succession of mighty physical, moral, and political miracles, such as the world has never seen, and which we have no reason to expect.
Comprehensive Expressions
Must we not allow a very wide application to some of Ezekiel's names, in order to compass the entire range of Tyrian commerce?
No doubt; and therefore great latitude must be given westward to Eli-shah, Chittim, and Tarshish, and northward to Javan, Tubal, and Togarmah; to Aram, Persia, and Dedan eastward, and to Sheba and Raamah toward the south. Many of these names were probably applied in a loose way to regions but little known and of vast extent. Hiram had ships that traded from Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, out into the Indian Ocean, and brought from Ophir, once in three years, almug-trees, precious stones, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks (1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:11,2226And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. 27And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 28And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon. (1 Kings 9:26‑28)
11And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones. (1 Kings 10:11)
22For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. (1 Kings 10:22)). And so, also, through Carthage and Cadiz, their commerce spread along the whole northern coast of Africa and southern shores of Europe, and even to Ireland and England. Ezekiel could not have been ignorant of this, and it is fair to explain his catalog according to this large interpretation.
Commerce Limited Compared With Modern
After all, the commerce of Tyre was very limited in variety as compared with that of modern times — neither cotton, nor silk, nor rice, nor Indian corn, nor sugar, nor coffee, nor tea, nor tobacco, nor potatoes, nor oranges, nor any of the almost countless fruits and nuts which enrich our markets of the present day. It is fair to conclude that there has been a very great advance in all the arts of life since that early day.
Ras El Ain
28th.
It has taken just an hour to ride from our tent to this celebrated Ras el 'Ain.
And, as our pace has been more rapid than usual, the distance is full thirty furlongs, and our ride has thus corroborated the statement of Strabo in regard to the central site of continental Tyre, though the whole distance from this to the island most have been occupied by the city and suburbs in the days of her greatest prosperity and largest extent.
These pools — birkehs, you call them — are, indeed, extraordinary structures, and appear to be very ancient.
As old, perhaps, as the pools of Solomon, in which case they may have been erected by Hiram himself, the friend and ally of the wise king. These vast masses of tufaceous deposit bear convincing evidence of extreme antiquity. They mark the line of the aqueduct which connected this lowest birkeh with the canal which led the water from the other two northward over the plain. It must have taken hundreds, if not thousands of years, to deposit such hills of tufa, and yet this canal itself has been entirely broken away for centuries, no one knows how many. The supposition that Alexander built these pools cannot be maintained with any probability. He was here too short a time, and in no mood of mind to benefit or adorn the place with such noble cisterns. They are much more ancient than his day. I have the impression that the old aqueduct, which we shall trace out on our return along the upper edge of the plain northward to that fine Tell called Mashûk, describes the circuit, in that direction, of the ancient city in its largest extent. In the meanwhile, you observe that this most seaward cistern is octagonal, about eighty feet in diameter, and twenty deep. This large volume of water is now of no further use than to drive those mills attached to its walls, after which it flows down directly into the sea. Anciently, however, it was connected with the great canal which carried the water of all three birkehs to the city and over the plain. The other two cisterns are some twenty rods farther east, and close together.
These fountains rise from the bottom of this shallow vale, which descends toward the sea. The geological cause I suppose to be the obtrusion here of a thick formation of that unstratified sandstone which abounds all along this coast. The water, descending from the eastern mountains, meets at this point with this formation, and is compelled to rise to the surface to find a passage to the sea. These pools were built around the separate fountains to elevate the water sufficiently high to irrigate the plain; and it might be raised still higher, I presume, if there was any occasion to do so. These two are not so large as the one below, and the water of both is not equal to that alone. The upper of these is fifty-two feet by forty-seven, and twelve deep, and the other fifty-two by thirty-six, and sixteen deep; and the channel connecting them is forty-three feet long. The water enters the canal from the second, and is carried over the whole plain northward to Tell M'ashûk, and in ancient days to the city itself. At present, however, as there is no need of irrigation, it passes out by three separate channels, and drives as many mills. From the upper one, also, the water is let into the aqueduct, which crosses the wady southward on that row of arches. This is not a very ancient work; and, indeed, the birkeh itself seems more modern than the other two. The walls of the second birkeh vary in thickness from twenty-three to twelve feet, and much of the heavy casing-stone has been carried away. Still it will stand for thousands of years to come, if not purposely destroyed.
Badness of the Water
The water is largely impregnated with lime and earthy matter, and is called thukîl (heavy) by the Arabs. It is considered unhealthy, and the locality hereabouts is so to a proverb; nevertheless, it is a beautiful place, and might be made a very paradise were it not for this single difficulty. But Eden itself, with ague and jaundice, would be a miserable abode. These fine geese and ducks, however, are more than contented with it; and to see anything so truly American, so clean, and so happy, is quite worth the ride here from the city.
Land of Cabul
Where is the district of Cabul, which Solomon gave to Hiram in return for his cedar and fir trees out of Lebanon?
The account of this matter in 1 Kings 9:11-1311(Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. 13And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. (1 Kings 9:11‑13) is remarkable, and reads like an addition to the history by a later hand. Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee, and as they did not please him, be called the land Cabûl unto this day. What day? that on which the record was made, I suppose. These twenty cities were mere villages, of course, and it is a genuine Eastern trick to dignify a small present with a pompous name. And so the remonstrance of Hiram with Solomon is very natural, “What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother” and then he fastens upon the gift a name of contempt — Cabûl, vile or displeasing; a mode of expressing and of perpetuating dissatisfaction eminently Oriental. Josephus says that these cities were not far from Tyre; but this throws very little light on the locality. There is a village in Wady Shaghûr, east of Acre, bearing this very name. This may have been the largest, and the other nineteen were probably small places immediately adjacent to, and dependent upon it. Cahill certainly belonged to Galilee, and this is the only place in that district bearing that name. This identification seems to make the dominion of Hiram extend southward at least to Acre; nor is this unlikely, for the sea-coast was never in actual possession of the Jews. And so Hiram must have ruled over Lebanon above Sidon, and even much farther north; for the cedar and fir which he furnished to David and Solomon grew on the mountains east and northeast of Sidon. We may safely conclude that at that early day Tyre had entirely eclipsed the mother city, if she had not actually reduced Sidon to a mere dependency of her own.
Cathedral of Tyre
I have been out examining the remains of the cathedral mentioned by most visitants to Tyre. It must have been a noble edifice. Is there any reason to doubt that these ruins belonged to that grand basilica built by Paulinus, and so pompously described by Eusebius in his speech at the consecration of the edifice?
None that I know of or can suggest. He says it was by far the most noble in Phenicia, and the present remains justify the assertion. The foundation of no other ancient church in this country can compare with it. The whole consecration speech of Eusebius is well worth a careful study, not so much for its inflated oratory, as for the light which it throws on the style of ecclesiastical architecture at the beginning of the fourth century.
Its Antiquity
“It appears to be superfluous,” says he, “to describe the dimensions, length, and breadth of the edifice, the grandeur that surpasses description, and the dazzling aspect of works glittering in the face of the speaker, the heights rising to the heavens,” and so forth. Now I wish he had performed just this superfluous work. It is not easy to ascertain these facts at present. My measurements give for the length two hundred and twenty-two feet, and for the breadth a hundred and twenty-nine and a half; and by estimation from the spring of the arch at the east end, the height to the dome must have been at least eighty feet. Native ecclesiastical traditions assign a far greater elevation, probably suggested by the words of Eusebius, “the height rising to the heavens.” I have been gravely assured that Cyprus could be seen from the top, which, under the most favorable circumstances, requires a stand-point not lower than eighteen hundred feet. The tradition is therefore incredible and absurd.
Its Size
Our largest dimensions I understand to include that “wider space, the outer enclosure, strengthened with a wall to compass the edifice, that it might be a most secure bulwark to the whole work.”The south and east of this outer bulwark can still be measured quite accurately. The entrance was, of course, from the west., and into” a large and lofty vestibule.”Passing through this, the worshipper found himself in a” quadrangular space, having four inclined porticos, supported and adorned with pillars on every side”; and there stood those noble rose-granite columns, specimens of which now lie half buried beneath the ruins at the west end. I suppose others would appear if the modern huts, and hills of rubbish which now choke up the whole area, were cleared away. We cannot follow Eusebius through all the intricacies of an ancient cathedral, but, having noticed so much as still remains for the tourist to examine and compare with his description, we take our leave, commending the oration to the study of the curious about such matters.
Church at Tyre Founded Early
We may, of course, infer that Tyre early became a Christian city?
No doubt. Indeed, it is clear from Acts 21:3-73Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden. 4And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 5And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed. 6And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again. 7And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day. (Acts 21:3‑7) that Paul found a considerable number of disciples here on his visit to Jerusalem from Greece. He remained with them a week, and when he left, “they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed.” I have often been reminded of this interesting scene when taking leave of my Tyrian friends outside of the city, on the same seashore. These people of modern Phœnicia are especially given to such external manifestations of friendship. Leaving, they accompany you; returning, they go forth to meet and welcome you. It is, in fact, a stringent and tyrannical custom, the neglect of which is felt as an insult, remembered long, and paid back with interest on the first favorable occasion.
What does “yukta ámmrû” mean?
Hah! what are you driving at now?
Nothing in particular, only Salim was dealing it out very plentifully just now in the market. The fact is, I have, for the first time in my life, come in personal contact with that very ancient law concerning things clean and unclean, and have been surprised, and somewhat scandalized, to find myself classed among the latter.
Indeed! so you have been among the Metāwely shopkeepers?
Yes; and a queer set they are. Walking through the market, I picked up a specimen of dried figs to examine, when the owner shouted out something very savage at me, which I took to mean put it back, and, in all haste, was going to do so, to avoid a brawl in the streets, but at this he was more furious than before.
Yukta Ámmrû
I looked to Salim for an explanation, and he said, “Yukta ámmrû!” half a dozen times, and then told me that the owner says you have “nejest” it. “And what is that?” “Why, only, sir, that you make it dirty—no, not that, you make him unclean, sir.” “How! I make him unclean?” “Yukta ámmrû: he tink so by his religion.” “Oh, I understand. According to his creed, I have defiled his figs by touching them.” “Yes, sir; yukta ámmrû!” and he kept on growling to himself as he walked the street, “You one gentleman Amelican defile this Metāwely beast! yukta ámmrû!”
Profanity of the People
There, that will do. This is a favorite form of cursing, which Master Salim would not have used so freely if I had been present. This people are fearfully profane. Everybody curses and swears when in a passion. No people that I have ever known can compare with these Orientals for profaneness in the use of the names and attributes of God. The evil habit seems inveterate and universal. When Peter, therefore, began to curse and to swear on that dismal night of temptation (Matt. 26:7474Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. (Matthew 26:74)), we are not to suppose that it was something foreign to his former habits. He merely relapsed, under high excitement, into what, as a sailor and a fisherman, he had been accustomed to all his life. The people now use the very same sort of oaths that are mentioned and condemned by our Lord (Matt. 5:34-3634But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: 35Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. (Matthew 5:34‑36)).
Oaths
They swear by the head, by their life, by heaven, and by the temple, or, what is in its place, the church. The forms of cursing and swearing, however, are almost infinite, and fall on the pained ear all day long.
Ceremonial Defilement
If the laws of Moses concerning things and persons unclean were intended to keep the Jews from mingling with the surrounding nations, nothing more effectual could have been devised for this purpose. I know by experience that it even renders it very unpleasant to reside in a Metāwely village, and is an effectual barrier against forming any intimate relations with them. You never contract friendships with persons who will neither eat, drink with, nor visit you, and into whose houses you cannot enter without contracting or imparting defilement. The law must be broken down before people thus situated can either unite in religious ceremonies or contract family alliances.
The MetāWelies
These Metawelies do thus live separated, both in fact and feeling, from their neighbors, hating all, bated by all. Of course, they refuse to eat with all classes except themselves; and so it was with the Jews. Even the apostles esteemed it a thing unclean to associate or to eat with one of another nation. Peter said to Cornelius, “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation” (Acts 10:2828And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (Acts 10:28)); and it required a voice from heaven thrice repeated to convince him that he should not call any man common or unclean. Nor did this divine vision permanently cure him of this deeply-rooted feeling, for not long after it he separated himself, and refused to eat with Gentile converts at Antioch, and was led into a guilty dissimulation in consequence, which Paul openly and sternly rebuked (Gal. 2:12-1312For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. (Galatians 2:12‑13)). We need not, therefore, he surprised at the strength of this custom among these poor Metāwelies.
From whom did they derive this law?
It is impossible to ascertain. In its details it so closely resembles the Mosaic precepts concerning ceremonial defilements, as to suggest the idea that they have borrowed it from the Jews.
Their Rules
Their rules are almost exactly the same as those found in the 11Th chapter of Leviticus, even to the breaking of earthen vessels which have become defiled. And this resemblance is carried into many other things besides clean and unclean meats, drinks, apparel, and vessels for household use. The law which obliged persons affected with loathsome diseases to dwell without the camps (Lev. 13:4646All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be. (Leviticus 13:46)) is still in force, not merely among tent-dwelling Arabs, but also with these people.
We spent the hot summer months of 1852 in a village above Sidon. The inhabitants are nearly all Metāwelies, and very fanatical.
A Woman Separated
On a rocky hill south of our house, a poor woman was thus separated, living in a booth of green branches. She was not allowed to leave her solitary shelter, and no one was permitted to visit her but the person who carried her daily allowance of food. There she passed her wretched days and nights until death delivered her from this dismal solitude. We remonstrated with the people against this barbarity, and the men consented to have her brought into a room hired for the purpose, where we could provide suitable food, and Dr. Van Dyck prescribe for her disease.
Conduct of the Women Before and After Death
But the women rose in furious clamor and rebellion against the proposal, and we were obliged to abandon it. We did this more willingly when we ascertained that the dying wretch herself would neither take the medicines nor taste our food; and yet she was being devoured by that horrid disease generated by vice and pollution. I was amazed at the barbarity and hypocrisy of the women. Sternly they passed her by, day after day, until she died; but then they assembled in troops, and screamed, and tossed their arms, and tore their hair in boisterous grief. There is a sad callousness in the composition of this people; at least they lack those beautiful traits of kindness and sympathy with the diseased and wretched which so adorn Christian countries, and fill them with hospitals, societies, and committees, to shelter, aid, and cure them. Religion makes the difference; not that the Metawelies are without religion, and plenty of it too. While the above tragedy was slowly enacting before our eyes, the feast of Ramadan was kept in its utmost stringency, though it was blazing midsummer, and the people nearly perished with thirst. They neither ate, drank, nor smoked for more than fourteen hour's of fierce sunshine, and even young children were forced to go through this long fast. There was public prayer, too, in abundance, a sort of Metāwely protracted meeting.
Women Praying
Even the women assembled daily at the fountains, performing their ablutions, and going through their genuflections and prostrations beneath the noble walnut-trees which adorn the hill sides of beautiful Jebaah. Nowhere else have I seen Moslem women thus pray in public, and the whole performance is immodest and disgusting. They are a sallow, forlorn, and ill-conditioned generation, every way inferior to the Christian women who dwell by their side. It is religion that makes the difference, even though the Christianity known there is little better than a caricature of the religion of Jesus.
Before leaving these Metawelies, I must call your attention to the remarkable resemblance between them and the Jews. They have the Jewish contour and countenance, and even cultivate their love-locks after the same fashion. They are also alike in one other respect: though both are afraid to associate with you lest you contaminate and pollute them, they are both so intolerably filthy in all their habits and habitations that it is no great trial to avoid and be avoided by them.
In the 11Th chapter of Leviticus and the 14th of Deuteronomy we have an extended enumeration of things clean and unclean, of what might be eaten and what not: are these laws and customs still in force in this country to any considerable extent?
Animals Clean and Unclean
Those distinctions are still kept up among various classes of people, but not exactly as Moses ordained. The camel was forbidden to the Jews, and it is still rejected by all except the wild Arabs. The cony is so rare that I have not heard of its being eaten, but suppose it would be allowed, as it resembles the rabbit, which few, except Jews, hesitate to eat. Swine are still held in abomination by Moslems, Jews, Druses, and most Orientals. Even some Christians refuse swine's flesh.
Modern Jewish Practice
Except by the Jews, there is no attention, apparently, paid now to the distinction between what has and what has not scales, but anything from the sea fit to eat is used without hesitation. The eagle, ossifrage, and osprey, vultures, hawks, kites, owls, ravens, and crows, after their kinds, are all rejected. The stork is sometimes eaten by Druses. Swans, geese, ducks, snipes, and all kinds of pigeons, doves, partridges, quails, larks, and an endless variety of small birds, are highly prized. The locust is still eaten by Bedawin Arabs; so is the snail; but I have never heard that beetles were used for food, and suppose it to be a mistranslation in Leviticus 11:2222Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. (Leviticus 11:22). Bats, rats, mice, the tortoise, hedgehog, squirrels, ferrets, and lizards of all varieties, are rejected. “Whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean” (Lev. 11:2727And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even. (Leviticus 11:27)); and they are generally so to this day.
How Defended
We have one curiosity of Old Tyre yet to examine, and had better devote this fine morning to it. I wish to show you some of her most ancient walls. They lie buried beneath those sand-heaps where the causeway is joined to the island. The workmen sent to open the entrance for us say they have found the place; and while they are clearing away the sand we will trace the line of the wall from sea to sea. This large mass of old rubble — work marks the southeast angle, and from it the direction of the original wall along the margin of the island, toward the north, is easily followed to the opposite bay; and by descending into this vault we can see what sort of workmanship it was. Take off your coat, and slide down after me, crab-fashion, and with as much caution as you have at command; and now you stand beneath the most ancient vault that ever spread its arch over your head. Stop a moment until we light our tapers, for the interior is as dark as the center of a tar-barrel.
We are nearly on the water-line, and are passing along the extreme eastern ledge of the island. The main wall is on our left, protected outside by this strong arched culvert, which rests against it, forming a vast vault, which probably extended the whole length of the island from south to north. In it thousands of soldiers could stand in safety and shoot through these lancet loop-holes. Here were congregated those bold Tyrians who so long and so desperately resisted the fierce Macedonian, and so often thwarted his efforts by destroying his works. Give your particular attention to the bevel of these great stones in the main wall. Let your eye become familiar with it, for you will learn to look with the respect due to most venerable antiquity upon every stone that has this mark upon it.
Fosse of Tyre
It would be easy to open a ditch along the line of this wall from south to north, and thus again make Tyre an island. Indeed, William of Tyre says that in his time this was actually done. He calls the ditch a “vallum late patens,” — something more than an ordinary fosse; and into it the sea could be introduced from both sides. I regard this section of the old wall as by far the most interesting relic of ancient Tyre.