Tyre, Lebanon

Tyre (; ar, صور, translit=Ṣūr; phn, 𐤑𐤓, translit=Ṣūr, Greek ''Tyros'', Τύρος) is a city in Lebanon, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. It was one of the earliest Phoenician metropolises and the legendary birthplace of Europa, her brothers Cadmus and Phoenix, as well as Carthage's founder Dido (Elissa). The city has many ancient sites, including the Tyre Hippodrome, and was added as a whole to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1984. The historian Ernest Renan noted that "One can call Tyre a city of ruins, built out of ruins".

Today Tyre is the fourth largest city in Lebanon after Beirut, Tripoli, and Sidon. It is the capital of the Tyre District in the South Governorate. There were approximately 200,000 inhabitants in the Tyre urban area in 2016, including many refugees, as the city hosts three of the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon: Burj El Shimali, El Buss, and Rashidieh.

Territory

Tyre juts out from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and is located about south of Beirut.
It originally consisted of two distinct urban centres: Tyre itself, which was on an island just offshore, and the associated settlement of Ushu on the adjacent mainland, later called Palaetyrus, meaning "Old Tyre" in Ancient Greek.Presutta, David. ''The Biblical Cosmos Versus Modern Cosmology''. 2007, page 225, referencing: Katzenstein, H.J., ''The History of Tyre'', 1973, p.9

Throughout history from prehistoric times onwards, all settlements in the Tyre area profited from the abundance of fresh water supplies, especially from the nearby springs of Rashidieh and Ras Al Ain in the South. In addition there are the springs of Al Bagbog and Ain Ebreen in the North as well as the Litani River, also known as Alqasymieh.
The present city of Tyre covers a large part of the original island and has expanded onto and covers most of the causeway built by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. This isthmus increased greatly in width over the centuries because of extensive silt depositions on either side. The part of the original island not covered by the modern city of Tyre is mostly of an archaeological site showcasing remains of the city from ancient times.

Four municipalities contribute to Tyre city's 16.7 km² built-up area, though none are included in their entirety: Sour municipality contains the heart of the city, excluding the Natural and Coastal Reserve; Burj El Shimali to the East without unpopulated agricultural lands; Abbasiyet Sour to the North without agricultural lands and a dislocated village; and Ain Baal to the South-East, also without agricultural lands and dislocated villages. Tyre's urban area lies on a fertile coastal plain, which explains the fact that as of 2017 about 44% of its territory was used for intra-urban agriculture, while built-up land constituted over 40%.

In terms of geomorphology and seismicity, Tyre is close to the Roum Fault and the Yammouneh Fault. Though it has suffered a number of devastating earthquakes over the millennia, the threat level is considered to be low in most places and moderate in a few others. However, a tsunami following an earthquake and subsequent landslides and floods pose major natural risks to the Tyrian population.

Vast reserves of natural gas are estimated to lie beneath Lebanese waters, much of it off Tyre's coast, but exploitation has been delayed by border disputes with Israel.

Etymology

Early names of Tyre include Akkadian ''Ṣurru'', Phoenician ''Ṣūr'' (), and Hebrew ''Ṣōr'' (). In Semitic languages, the name of the city means "rock" after the rocky formation on which the town was originally built.

The predominant form in Classical Greek was ''Týros'' (Τύρος), which was first seen in the works of Herodotus but may have been adopted considerably earlier. It gave rise to Latin ''Tyrus'', which entered English during the Middle English period as ''Tyre''. The demonym for Tyre is ''Tyrian'', and the inhabitants are ''Tyrians''.

Climate

Tyre has a Hot-summer mediterranean climate (classified as ''Csa'' under the Köppen climate classification), characterized by six months of drought from May to October. On average, it has 300 days of sun a year and a yearly temperature of 20.8°C. The average maximum temperature reaches its highest at 30.8 °C in August and the average minimum temperature its lowest at 10 °C in January. On average, the mean annual precipitation reaches up to 645 mm. The temperature of the sea water reaches a minimum of 17 °C in February and a maximum of 32 °C in August. At a depth of 70 m it is constantly at 17–18 °C.

Meanwhile, rising sea levels due to global warming threaten coastal erosion to Tyre's peninsula and bay areas.

History

Roman historian Justin wrote that the original founders arrived from the nearby city of Sidon in the quest to establish a new harbor. Doric Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of Halicarnassus under the Achaemenid Empire, visited Tyre around 450 BCE at the end of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC), and wrote in his ''Histories'' that according to the priests there, the city was founded around 2750 BCE, as a walled place upon the mainland, now known as ''Paleotyre'' (Old Tyre). Archaeological evidence has corroborated this timing.

Coast Nature Reserve

Tyre enjoys a reputation of having some of the cleanest beaches and waters of Lebanon. However, a UN HABITAT profile found that "seawater is also polluted due to waste water discharge especially in the port area". There is still also considerable pollution by solid waste.

The Tyre Coast Nature Reserve (TCNR) was decreed in 1998 by the Ministry of Public Works. It is long and covers over . The TCNR is within the best preserved stretch of sandy coastline in southern Lebanon and divided into two section zones: a 1.8-km sand lined beach, 1.8 km long and 500 meters wide-ranging from the Tyre Rest House in the north to the Rashidieh Refugee Camp in the South, and a stretch of 2 km with agriculture lands of small family farms and the springs of Ras El Ain with three constantly flowing artesian wells, ranging from Rashidieh to the village of Chaetiyeh in the South.

The former is divided into two zones: one for tourism that features a public beach of some 900 m and restaurant tents during the summer season hosting up to 20,000 visitors on a busy day, and another 900 m of conservation zone as a sanctuary for sea turtles and migrating birds.

Due to its diverse flora and fauna, the reserve was designated a Ramsar Site

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