![]() It was predicted that the island would cease floating, when the bird was sacrificed to the gods. A snake was wrapped around its trunk and an eagle was perched in it. An Olive tree of the goddess Ashtart rose there, protected by a curtain of Flames. “Originally the island was not attached to the sea floor, but rose and fell with the waves. ![]() The deity Melqart and the goddess Ashtart were worshipped for millennia on the island. Figure 2: Map of eastern Mediterranean Sea. Tyre itself was on an island about 1.700 m. This founding date has been corroborated by archaeological evidence. The Greek historian Herodotus who visited Tyre around 450 BC heard from the local priests that the city was founded around 2750 BC as a walled place upon the mainland, now known as Paleotyre (Old Tyre). The first inhabitants of Tyre were the priests of the Temple of Melqart. The Greek historian Eusebius of Caesarea (third century AD) tells us that the city, by the local population called Sour (Sur), was built by the deity Melqart as a favour for the mermaid Tyros 1 and named it after her. The Roman historian Marcus Iunianus Iustinus (2e century AD.?) wrote that the original founders came from the nearby city of Sidon to establish a new harbour. How important can it be, the small island of Tyre, located along the eastern bank of the Mediterranean, 83 kilometres south of Beirut in Lebanon? Also the princess Elissa, commonly know as Dido, the legendary founder of Carthago, was born at Tyre. Later on the continent Europe was named after her. She was abduct to Crete by the uppergod Zeus, who had taken the form of a bull. Figure 1: The Abduction of Europe - Noël-Nicolas Coypel III (1690-1734)Īccording to the Greek mythology Europe, daughter of a Phoenician king, was born at Tyre in Lebanon.
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