v45_0159 - PHOENICIA - TYRE Tétradrachme ou shekel

PHOENICIA - TYRE

(2nd - 1st century BC)

Tyre, according to tradition, seems to have been founded by settlers from Sidon, its great rival. Tyrian settlers founded Carthage in 814 BC. Tire was one of the main ports of Phenicia and one of the most important trading places in the Eastern Mediterranean. Tire refused to submit to Alexander the Great in 332 BC. The siege of the city lasted seven months from January to August under very difficult conditions. Alexander was ruthless and had the population massacred or enslaved. Tire did not disappear and was rebuilt. After the death of Alexander, it often changed masters: Perdiccas in 321 AC., Ptolemy the following year, then it was the turn of Antigone le Borgne in 314 before returning to Ptolemy's hands two years later. In 294 BC, Tire entered Seleucid orbit. After 274 BC, a new era seems to begin for Tyr. The city will be autonomous after 126 BC and will experience a new political, economic and monetary boom that will continue under Roman domination.