The siege of Tyre is usually assumed to have been waged for 13 years from 586 to 573 BC by

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

of Babylon.Vogelstein 1950–51, p. 198Garstad 2016, p. 179Ephʿal 2003, p. 186 The siege of Tyre, in

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

, has a significant connection to the

Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Nevi'im#Latter Prophets, Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and one of the Major Prophets, major prophetic books in the Christian Bible, where it follows Book of Isaiah, Isaiah and ...

which in chapter 26 announces that the city will soon fall to the Babylonian forces, while chapter 29 states that the siege was partially unsuccessful.Vogelstein 1950–51, p. 199Ephʿal 2003, p. 185 Only

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

mentions that the siege lasted for 13 years, both in ''

Antiquities of the Jews ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (; , ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. It cont ...

'' (Book X.228) and in ''

Against Apion ''Against Apion'' ( ''Peri Archaiotētos Ioudaiōn Logos''; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a work written by Flavius Josephus (c. 37 CE – c. 100 CE ) as a defense of Judaism against criticism by the Egyptian author Apion. J ...

'' (1.156-159). However, he dates the beginning of the siege to the 7th year of Nebuchadnezzar, which is 598/597 BC.

Background

King

of the

Neo-Babylonian Empire The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to ancient Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC a ...

began a campaign of wars in the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

to solidify his control over the region in the 600s BC after the fall of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

. He defeated the Egyptian Army under Pharaoh

Necho II Necho II (sometimes Nekau, Neku, Nechoh, or Nikuu; Greek: Νεκώς Β'; ) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC), which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, accor ...

in the

Battle of Carchemish The Battle of Carchemish was a battle fought around 605 BCE between the armies of Egypt, allied with the remnants of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, against the armies of Babylonia. The forces would clash at Carchemish, an important military crossing a ...

in 605 BC.Vogelstein 1950–51, p. 202Ephʿal 2003, p. 179 Nebuchadnezzar II subjugated

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in a siege twice: the first siege in 597 BC toppled King

Jeconiah Jeconiah ( meaning "Yahweh has established"; ; ), also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin ( ''Yəhoyāḵin'' ; ), was the nineteenth and penultimate king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BCE ...

and replaced him with

Zedekiah Zedekiah ( ; born Mattaniah; 618 BC – after 586 BC) was the twentieth and final King of Judah before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. After the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II deposed king Jec ...

, and the second siege from 589 to 586 BC destroyed the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

and overthrew Zedekiah.Vogelstein 1950–51, p. 206Ephʿal 2003, p. 183

Siege

Little of what occurred during the siege is known as ancient sources regarding the siege do not mention much or have been lost.Garstad 2016, p. 175 According to accounts by

Saint Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible ...

in his ''Commentary on Ezekiel'', Nebuchadnezzar II was unable to attack the city with conventional methods, such as using

battering ram A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried ...

s or

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while othe ...

s, since Tyre was an island city, so he ordered his soldiers to gather rocks and build a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

from the mainland to the walls of the island, similar to

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

's strategy in his siege 250 years later.Garstad 2016, pp. 176–177Ephʿal 2003, p. 187 After 13 years of siege, the Tyrians negotiated a surrender with the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar II was never able to take control of Tyre by military means, leaving the result of the siege as militarily inconclusive.Garstad 2016, p. 182Carter 2004, p. 346 The

King of Tyre The King of Tyre is Lucifer the ruler of Tyre (Lebanon), Tyre, the ancient Phoenician city in what is now Lebanon. The traditional list of 12 kings, with reigns dated to 990–785 BC, is derived from the Lost literary work, lost history of Menander ...

, Ithobaal III, either died near the end of the siege or was replaced as part of the surrender. He was succeeded by Baal II, who ruled as a

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

to Babylon. The historicity of the siege was supported by a

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

tablet discovered in 1926 by German archeologist

Eckhard Unger Eckhard Unger ( Landsberg an der Warthe, 11 April 1884 – 24 July 1966) was a German assyriologist. Unger who was the curator of the Istanbul museum described the remains of Balawat Gates that are still in the Istanbul Museum. Unger was fully ...

that discussed food provisions for "the king and his soldiers for their march against Tyre." Other cuneiform tablets also confirm that Tyre came under the control of Nebuchadnezzar II at some point during his reign.

briefly mentions the siege in ''

'' (Book X).

Biblical connections

Chapters 26 to 29 of the

allude to the siege of Tyre. Passages in these chapters are referred to as "Proclamation Against Tyre," "Lamentation for Tyre," "Proclamation Against the King of Tyre," "Lamentation for the King of Tyre" and "Proclamation Against Egypt".: NKJV: NKJV: NKJV: NKJV Ezekiel 26:3-4 states: The chapter continues: The description of Nebuchadnezzar's siege in chapter 26 was a prophecy made by the Prophet

Ezekiel Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him. The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...

to the fate of Tyre. Christians and Jews claim that Nebuchadnezzar would only fulfill part of this prophecy, and that the rest would be fulfilled after Alexander's siege.Garstad 2016, pp. 178–179Garstad 2016, pp. 183–185 The structure of Ezekiel chapter 27 may suggest that the Tyrians suffered heavily either during or after the siege, losing many men and luxuries to the Babylonians.Moriarty 1965, pp. 85–87 Chapter 28 begins as a condemnation of the King of Tyre but later shifts to a lamentation to the King of Tyre. The last verse of the chapter, verse 19, reads "All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, and shall be no more forever" which may allude to the King, Ithobaal III, having been killed. In chapter 29 of Ezekiel, 16 years after the setting of chapter 26 and after the siege, it is stated that Nebuchadnezzar was not successful in taking New Tyre, though he did manage to subjugate them in formal terms. The statement, "Every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw", could be interpreted to mean that the siege did not end in a decisive victory for the Babylonians and that heavy casualties may have been suffered.

Structure

The structure of chapters 26 and 27 reflect the typical Ezekielian "halving" which is a signature of the prophet. The same pattern of a literal section followed by a lament is used in both chapters 26, 27 and in the two sections of chapter 28, verses 1-10 and 11-19. According to

Moshe Greenberg Moshe Greenberg (; July 10, 1928 – May 15, 2010) was an American rabbi, Bible scholar, and professor emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Biography Moshe Greenberg was born in Philadelphia in 1928. Raised in a Hebrew-speaking Zioni ...

and Daniel Block, it is typical for Ezekiel to use this

Diptych A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a ...

structure.Greenberg, Moshe., Sasson, Jack M.., Weinfeld, Ezekiel 1-20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. United Kingdom: Doubleday, 1983, pg. 25Block, Daniel I.. The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48 (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (p. 23) According to Block, the lament of chapter 27 is also internally structured as a diptych:

References

Bibliography