About 1800 BC a man named Ezekial wrote a prophecy concerning this powerful city. He claimed that this prophecy had been given to him by God, and it is recorded in the book of Ezekial in the bible. Some of the major points of the prophecy were:
1) Many nations would be joined together in war against Tyre.
2) The walls and towers would be destroyed and scraped bare from the ground.
3) It would become a place where fishers spread thier nets.
4) Nebuchadnezzar would attack and seize the city.
5) The entire city would be scraped bare and thrown into the water.
6) The coastlands would shake with fear.
7) Old Tyre would never be rebuilt.
Continuing our history lesson we find that Tyre made a pretty good living in trade, especially being a coastal city. Nebuchadezzar, emperor of Babylon (4), coveted the city and laid siege to it for 13 years (586-573 BC). When he finally took the city he was surprised to find that the inhabitants had already transferred everything in the city to an island less than a mile offshore. Disgusted, he withdrew. The new Tyre remained there for about 1,000 years.
Then along came Alexander the Great. Worried that the fleet at Tyre might threaten his homeland, he moved first to take that island. In 332 BC Alexander finally reached Tyre, but it would not be easily taken so he moved against the surrounding, smaller cities and thier fleets. Combining the fleets he seized with his own, he was still unable to win the city (1).
Alexander finally gave up and moved in his ground troops. He decided to have them build a causeway from the coast over to the island, then use it to approach and assault the city. Unable to find enough building material, he literally scraped the ground clean of the old city of Tyre (2), throwing the resulting rubble into the sea to build the bridge (5). Able now to reach the island now with his footsoldiers he was able to take Tyre with relative ease.
The surrounding people and cities were so frightened (6) that they surrendered to Alexander without a fight. Nowadays the old site of Tyre is a place where, you guessed it, fisherman lay their nets (3) out to dry (it being such a large, flat and open space). If you go there today you might tread upon almost a hundred of such nets drying in the sun. You may also find a spring of fresh water, measured and shown to flow at a rate of about 38 million liters per day. More than adequate to supply a modern city with a natural fresh water source. Hmm...fresh water source, coastal location, historical inhabitants, good fishing. It makes you wonder why no one ever rebuilt the city (7).
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