General View of Tyre
“Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon.” It was here that a woman of Cana—the Syro-PhÅ“nician—made that plea for her daughter grievously vexed with the devil. It was here that Jesus wrought a cure and said to the woman, “O, Woman! great is thy faith!” Tyre is a very ancient city. Its ancient and present name is Sûr. It was powerful as early as 1200 B. C. During Solomon’s reign two hundred years later it had the largest commerce anywhere on the Mediterranean. There were two (or really three) cities. Old Tyre (Palsetyrus) lay on the mainland; on two rocky islands in front of this lay the sea-port, arsenals and storehouses; on the mainland Tyrus, of perfect beauty, made glorious in the midst of the sea, “stood,” with all her palaces, temples, castles, towers, her beautiful gardens and fountains. “Tyre was a fair and beautiful possession” which nearly all the old conquerors wished to make their own. The names of Sargon, King of Assyria, and Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander are associated with this royal city. Modern Tyre is an unimportant place, its trade having been diverted almost entirely to Beirût. It contains about five thousand inhabitants, half of them Moslems, the other half chiefly Christians, and a few Jews. The streets are miserable, the houses dilapidated and few antiquities are to be found.
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