The Tyre District is a district in the South Governorate of Lebanon .
75-420: Founded at the start of the third millennium BC, Tyre originally consisted of a mainland settlement and a modest island city that lay a short distance off shore. It became an increasingly important port city in the region in the first millennium BC Phoenicia . In the 10th century BC, Hiram I , king of Tyre, joined two islets by landfill. Later, he extended the city further by reclaiming a considerable area from
150-566: A causeway and once within reach of the city's walls, Alexander used his siege engines to batter and finally breach the fortifications . So enraged at the Tyrians' defense and the number of men lost in the battle, Alexander destroyed half of the city. The town's 30,000 residents were massacred or sold into slavery. Tyre and the whole of ancient Syria fell under Roman rule in 64 BC. Nonetheless, for some time Tyre continued to mint its own silver coins. The Romans built great important monuments in
225-583: A fisherman by profession, who was also a traditional storyteller ( hakawati ) and thus interested in cinema – projected films on the wall of a Turkish hammam. In 1939 the Roxy opened, followed in 1942 by the "Empire": By the mid-1950s there were four cinemas in Tyre, and four more soon opened in nearby Nabatieh . Many also hosted live performances by famous actors and musicians, serving as community spaces where people from different backgrounds came together. In 1959,
300-655: A halt after 2012 due to the war there, some of them instead started excavations in Tyre, amongst them a team headed by Leila Badre , director of the Archeological Museum of the American University of Beirut ( AUB ), and Belgian archaeologists. Threats to Tyre's ancient cultural heritage include development pressures and the illegal antiquities trade. A highway, planned for 2011, was expected to be built in areas that are deemed archaeologically sensitive. A small-scale geophysical survey indicated
375-608: A major impact on the development of Lebanese music: Halim el-Roumi (1919–1983) and Ghazi Kahwaji (1945–2017). Some sources claim that the famous musician, composer, singer and actor el-Roumi was born in Tyre to Lebanese parents. However, others suggest that he was born in Nazareth and moved to Tyre from Palestine. For some time, he worked as a teacher at the Jafariya High School there. In 1950 he became director of Radio Lebanon 's music department, where he discovered
450-567: A prominent Phoenician city-state between the 9th and 6th centuries BCE, settling prestigious colonies around the Mediterranean Sea, such as Carthage and Leptis Magna . It went under Persian rule in 572 BCE, before being conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. Monumental archaeological remains dated from the subsequent Hellenistic , Roman , Byzantine , and Medieval periods led to its inscription on its archaeological remains on
525-487: A reader is not familiar with Arabic pronunciation. Examples in Literary Arabic : There have been many instances of national movements to convert Arabic script into Latin script or to romanize the language. A Beirut newspaper, La Syrie , pushed for the change from Arabic script to Latin script in 1922. The major head of this movement was Louis Massignon , a French Orientalist, who brought his concern before
600-475: A sanctuary for sea turtles and migrating birds. Due to its diverse flora and fauna , the reserve was designated a Ramsar Site in 1999 according to the international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Wetlands , since it is considered "the last bio-geographic ecosystem in Lebanon". It is an important nesting site for migratory birds , the endangered Loggerhead and green sea turtle ,
675-490: 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
750-504: A way to reclaim and reemphasize Egyptian culture. As a result, some Egyptians pushed for an Egyptianization of the Arabic language in which the formal Arabic and the colloquial Arabic would be combined into one language and the Latin alphabet would be used. There was also the idea of finding a way to use hieroglyphics instead of the Latin alphabet. A scholar, Salama Musa , agreed with
825-531: Is a city in Lebanon , one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a small 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
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#1732764665623900-452: Is a useful tool for anyone who is familiar with the sounds of Arabic but not fully conversant in the language. One criticism is that a fully accurate system would require special learning that most do not have to actually pronounce names correctly, and that with a lack of a universal romanization system they will not be pronounced correctly by non-native speakers anyway. The precision will be lost if special characters are not replicated and if
975-538: Is used especially to describe vegetables and fruits from rain-fed, untreated agricultural production – originates from the Baal religion. The Tyrian municipality of Ain Baal is apparently also named after the Phoenician deity. The most visible part of ancient and medieval history on the other side have been the archaeological sites though: The first archaeological excavations were by Ernest Renan in 1860 and 1861. He
1050-539: The Arabian spiny mouse and many other creatures (including wall lizards , common pipistrelle , and European badger ). Also, there are frequent sighting of dolphins in the waters off Tyre. Altogether, the TCNR includes: 275 species distributed over 50 families. In addition, the reserve is home to seven regionally and nationally threatened species , 4 endemic and 10 rare species , whilst 59 species are restricted to
1125-674: The Fatimid Caliphate . This was a time when Tyre was adorned with fountains and its bazaar were full of different kinds of merchandise including carpets and jewelry of gold and silver. Tyre was conquered by the Crusaders in 1124. After about 180 years of Crusader rule, the Mamluk Sultanate retook the city in 1291, until it fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire at the start of the 16th century. With
1200-580: 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
1275-548: The UNESCO World’s Heritage list in 1984. The Roman historian Justin wrote that the original founders arrived from the nearby city of Sidon in the quest to establish a new harbour. The famous Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BCE), born in the city of Halicarnassus , visited Tyre around 450 BCE at the end of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BCE), and wrote in his Histories that according to
1350-543: 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. The ancient city of Tyre is located along the coast of Phoenicia in modern Lebanon. The site has been occupied since the Bronze Age . The city became
1425-454: The sound of the language, since short vowels and geminate consonants, for example, do not usually appear in Arabic writing. As an example, the above rendering munāẓaratu l-ḥurūfi l-ʻarabīyah of the Arabic : مناظرة الحروف العربية is a transcription, indicating the pronunciation; an example transliteration would be mnaẓrḧ alḥrwf alʻrbyḧ . Early Romanization of
1500-597: The "Cinema Rivoli of Tyre" opened and quickly became one of the prime movie theatres of the country. According to UNIFIL , it was visited "by celebrity who's whos of the time, including Jean Marais , Brigitte Bardot , Rushdi Abaza and Omar Hariri." In 1964, the "Dunia" opened, two years later followed by the "Al Hamra Cinema", which became a venue for some of the Arab world's most famous performers, like Mahmoud Darwish , Sheikh Imam , Ahmed Fouad Negm , Wadih el-Safi , and Marcel Khalife . Meanwhile, two Tyrian artists had
1575-468: The 1914 Man in the Opera Hat painting by Pablo Picasso . The proceeds totaled US$ 5.26 million. The painting was won by a 25-year-old fire-safety official from Pennsylvania . IAST president Maha al-Khalil Chalabi is a daughter of feudal lord and politician Kazem el-Khalil . In September 2017, she opened "Les Atelier", which is located in the middle of an orange grove covering an area of 7.300 m at
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#17327646656231650-761: The Antiquities Service in Lebanon and was the curator of the National Museum of Beirut . His teams uncovered most remains in the Al Bass / Hippodrome and the City Site/Roman baths. During the 1960s, Honor Frost (1917–2010) – the Cyprus -born pioneer of underwater archaeology initiated several investigations "aimed at identifying and documenting the significant archaeological potential for harbour facilities within coastal Tyre". Based on
1725-709: The Arabic Language Academy in Damascus in 1928. Massignon's attempt at romanization failed as the Academy and the population viewed the proposal as an attempt from the Western world to take over their country. Sa'id Afghani, a member of the Academy, asserted that the movement to romanize the script was a Zionist plan to dominate Lebanon. After the period of colonialism in Egypt, Egyptians were looking for
1800-403: The Arabic language was standardized in the various bilingual Arabic-European dictionaries of the 16–19th centuries: Any romanization system has to make a number of decisions which are dependent on its intended field of application. One basic problem is that written Arabic is normally unvocalized ; i.e., many of the vowels are not written out, and must be supplied by a reader familiar with
1875-513: The Arabic script, and representation of the language in scientific publications by linguists . These formal systems, which often make use of diacritics and non-standard Latin characters and are used in academic settings or for the benefit of non-speakers, contrast with informal means of written communication used by speakers such as the Latin-based Arabic chat alphabet . Different systems and strategies have been developed to address
1950-485: The Eastern Mediterranean area. It is also worthy to indicate that, several bio-indicator species as well as 25 medicinal species were recognized. TCNR encloses flora species belonging to the various habitats: the sandy shore, rocky shore, littoral and Freshwater ecosystems . A wide number of Gramineae , Fabaceae , Asteraceae and Umbellifereae families dominate the floristic resources. However,
2025-447: 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 km built-up area, though none are included in their entirety: Sour municipality contains
2100-439: The Great in 332 BCE to seize the city. This reportedly 750 m-long and 60 m-wide causeway was laid over a submarine shoal less than 5.4 m deep. This shoal was interpreted as a sandbank (also called a ‘salient’), formed by the accretion of sand in the lee of the island, under the effects of the refraction and diffraction of waves around the island. The causeway interrupted longshore sand transport, forcing sand to accumulate along
2175-561: The IDF bombed the conservation site. The oil spill which devastated the coast north of Ashkelon in February 2021 also contaminated Tyre's beaches. Arguably the most lasting Phoenician legacy for the Tyrian population has been the linguistic mark that the Syriac and Akkadian languages have left on the Arabic spoken in the region of Tyre. Most notably, the widely used term "Ba'ali" – which
2250-570: The Ottoman period like Khan Rabu and Khan Sour / Khan Ashkar have partly collapsed after decades of total neglect and lack of any maintenance whatsoever. In 2013, the International Association to Save Tyre (IAST) made headlines when it launched an online raffle in association with Sotheby's to fund the artisans' village Les Ateliers de Tyr at the outskirts of the city. Participants could purchase tickets for 100 euros to win
2325-592: 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
Tyre District - Misplaced Pages Continue
2400-423: 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. Early names of Tyre include Akkadian Ṣurru , Phoenician Ṣūr ( 𐤑𐤓 ), and Hebrew Tsur ( צוֹר ). In Semitic languages , the name of the city means 'rock' after the rocky formation on which
2475-513: The adjacent mainland, later called Palaetyrus , meaning "Old Tyre" in Ancient Greek . The fortified city was on top of a rock from which its name was inherited as " S‘r " is the Phoenician word for "rock". It had two ports, the "Sidonian port" to the north, still partly existing today, and the "Egyptian port" to the south which has perhaps been discovered very recently. Throughout history from prehistoric times onwards, all settlements in
2550-472: The armed conflict and by anarchic urban development. In the late 1980s, "clandestine excavations" took place in the Al-Bass cemetery , which "flooded the antiquities market". Regular excavation activities only started again in 1995 under the supervision of Ali Khalil Badawi. Shortly afterwards, an Israeli bomb destroyed an apartment block in the city and evidence for an early church was revealed underneath
2625-599: The biodiversity of the TCNR is threatened as shown by a strong decrease in the numbers of the caspian terrapin Mauremys caspica , the green toad Bufo viridis and the tree frog Hyla savigny . Also, since the 2000s, the North American camphorweed Heterotheca subaxillaris has invaded the TCNR as a neophyte from Haifa across the Blue Line. During the 2006 war, turtle breeding areas were affected when
2700-681: The bombardment had damaged frescoes in a Roman funerary cave at the Tyre Necropolis . Additional site degradation was also noted, including "the lack of maintenance, the decay of exposed structures due to lack of rainwater regulation and the decay of porous and soft stones". Since 2008, a Lebanese French team under the direction by Pierre-Louis Gatier of the University of Lyon has been conducting archaeological and topographical work. When international archeological missions in Syria came to
2775-427: The causeway, rapidly creating an emerged sandy isthmus (or tombolo ), linking the island to the mainland. This sandy isthmus rapidly inflated during the centuries following the construction of the causeway. By early Imperial Roman times, monumental buildings had been built over most of its surface. Their layout implies that the isthmus was by then nearly as wide as today. Therefore, the isthmus had completely reshaped
2850-550: The city hosts three of the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon: Burj El Shimali , El Buss , and Rashidieh . Tyre juts out from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea , and is located about 80 km (50 mi) south of Beirut . It originally consisted of two distinct urban centres: Tyre itself, which was on an island just 500 to 700m offshore, and the associated settlement of Ushu on
2925-607: The city, including an aqueduct, a triumphal arch and the largest hippodrome in antiquity. Christianity appears in the history of Tyre, with the name Tyre being mentioned in the New Testament frequently. During the Byzantine era the Archbishop of Tyre was the primate of all the bishops of Phoenicia. At that time, the city once again became very important in the region, as can be seen in the remains of its buildings and
3000-449: The discovery of 250 BCE to 500 CE harbour sediments behind this breakwater demonstrated the existence of a northern harbour repeatedly, if not permanently, throughout Antiquity under the modern harbour of Tyre. The location of the southern harbour is more elusive. Renan (1864–1874) envisioned it as an extensive structure now located offshore, south of the former island. Subsequent diving surveys identified submerged man-made structures on
3075-467: The eastern coast of Tyre Island within 6–10 centuries after the construction of the causeway, spurring a radical transformation of the city. 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 wastewater discharge especially in the port area". There is still also considerable pollution by solid waste. The Tyre Coast Nature Reserve (TCNR)
Tyre District - Misplaced Pages Continue
3150-712: The end of World War I , Tyre was integrated into the new nation of Lebanon. As of 2022, the religious make-up of the District's 205,127 voters were roughly 85% Shia , 9% Sunni , 3% Greek Catholic , 1% Maronite Catholics , 1% Armenian Orthodox and 1% others. 33°16′23″N 35°13′01″E / 33.2731°N 35.2169°E / 33.2731; 35.2169 Tyre, Lebanon Tyre ( / ˈ t aɪər / ; Arabic : صُور , romanized : Ṣūr ; Phoenician : 𐤑𐤓 , romanized: Ṣūr ; Hebrew : צוֹר , romanized : Tsur ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Τύρος , translit. Týros )
3225-484: The following reasons: A fully accurate transcription may not be necessary for native Arabic speakers, as they would be able to pronounce names and sentences correctly anyway, but it can be very useful for those not fully familiar with spoken Arabic and who are familiar with the Roman alphabet. An accurate transliteration serves as a valuable stepping stone for learning, pronouncing correctly, and distinguishing phonemes. It
3300-588: 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
3375-583: The idea of applying a Latin alphabet to Egyptian Arabic, as he believed that would allow Egypt to have a closer relationship with the West. He also believed that Latin script was key to the success of Egypt as it would allow for more advances in science and technology. This change in script, he believed, would solve the problems inherent with Arabic, such as a lack of written vowels and difficulties writing foreign words. Ahmad Lutfi As Sayid and Muhammad Azmi , two Egyptian intellectuals, agreed with Musa and supported
3450-453: The inherent problems of rendering various Arabic varieties in the Latin script. Examples of such problems are the symbols for Arabic phonemes that do not exist in English or other European languages; the means of representing the Arabic definite article , which is always spelled the same way in written Arabic but has numerous pronunciations in the spoken language depending on context; and
3525-596: The inscriptions in the necropolis . Tyre surrendered to the Islamic armies in 634, the city offered no resistance and continued to prosper under its new rulers, exporting of sugar as well as objects made of pearl and glass making was a good source of income for the city. With the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate , Tyre acquired some independence under the dynasty of the Shia Banu Aqil , vassals of
3600-400: The language as spoken, typically rendering names, for example, by the people of Baghdad ( Baghdad Arabic ), or the official standard ( Literary Arabic ) as spoken by a preacher in the mosque or a TV newsreader. A transcription is free to add phonological (such as vowels) or morphological (such as word boundaries) information. Transcriptions will also vary depending on the writing conventions of
3675-676: The language. Hence unvocalized Arabic writing does not give a reader unfamiliar with the language sufficient information for accurate pronunciation. As a result, a pure transliteration , e.g., rendering قطر as qṭr , is meaningless to an untrained reader. For this reason, transcriptions are generally used that add vowels, e.g. qaṭar . However, unvocalized systems match exactly to written Arabic, unlike vocalized systems such as Arabic chat, which some claim detracts from one's ability to spell. Most uses of romanization call for transcription rather than transliteration : Instead of transliterating each written letter, they try to reproduce
3750-402: The northeastern outskirts of Tyre. The city of Tyre appears in many biblical traditions: A multi-ring structured region on Europa , the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter , is named after Tyre, the legendary birthplace of princess Europa. Originally called "Tyre Macula ", it is some 140 kilometers in diameter (about the size of the island of Hawaii ) and thought to be
3825-667: The northern harbour area of Tyre. In 2003, Randa Berri, president of the National Association for the Preservation of South Lebanon's Archaeology and Heritage and wife of Nabih Berri , veteran leader of the Amal Movement and longtime Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon, patronized a plan to renovate Khan Sour / Khan Al Askaar, the former Ma'ani palace, and convert it into a museum. As of 2019, nothing
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#17327646656233900-486: The presence of archaeological remains at proposed construction sites. The sites have not been investigated. Despite the relocation of a proposed traffic interchange, the lack of precise site boundaries confuses the issue of site preservation. A 2018 study of Mediterranean world heritage sites found that Tyre's City site has "the highest risk of coastal erosion under current climatic conditions, in addition to 'moderate' risk from extreme sea levels." Further coastal inspection
3975-439: The priests there, the city was founded 2300 years earlier (around 2750 BCE), as a walled place upon the mainland, now known as Paleotyre (Old Tyre). The Phoenician Tyrians' international trade network was based on its two harbours which are mentioned by ancient writers (Arrian, Anabasis, 2, 24; Strabo, Geography, 16,2,23). The northern harbour opened toward the Phoenician city of Sidon and has been therefore referred to as
4050-537: The push for romanization. The idea that romanization was necessary for modernization and growth in Egypt continued with Abd Al Aziz Fahmi in 1944. He was the chairman for the Writing and Grammar Committee for the Arabic Language Academy of Cairo. He believed and desired to implement romanization in a way that allowed words and spellings to remain somewhat familiar to the Egyptian people. However, this effort failed as
4125-432: The representation of short vowels (usually i u or e o , accounting for variations such as Muslim /Moslem or Mohammed /Muhammad/Mohamed ). Romanization is often termed "transliteration", but this is not technically correct. Transliteration is the direct representation of foreign letters using Latin symbols, while most systems for romanizing Arabic are actually transcription systems, which represent
4200-526: The residents of the mainland city abandoned it for the safety of the island. The conflict ended with Tyre accepting Babylonian rule. Alexander the Great , in 332 BC, set out to conquer this strategic coastal city during the war between the Greeks and the Persians. Unable to storm the city, he blockaded it for seven months. Tyre held on but the conqueror used the debris of the abandoned mainland city to build
4275-618: The results, she suggested that the Al Mobarakee Tower may actually date back to Hellenistic times. All those works stopped though soon after the 1975 beginning of the Civil War and many records were lost. In 1984, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared Tyre a World Heritage Site in an attempt to halt the damage being done to the archaeological sites by
4350-482: The rubble. Its unusual design suggests that this was the site of the Cathedral of Paulinus which had been inaugurated in 315 CE. In 1997, the first Phoenician cremation cemetery was uncovered in the al-Bass site , near the Roman necropolis. Meanwhile, Honor Frost mentored local Lebanese archaeologists to conduct further underwater investigations, which in 2001 confirmed the existence of a human-made structure within
4425-537: The same sound in the Arabic script, e.g. alif ا vs. alif maqṣūrah ى for the sound /aː/ ā , and the six different ways ( ء إ أ آ ؤ ئ ) of writing the glottal stop ( hamza , usually transcribed ʼ ). This sort of detail is needlessly confusing, except in a very few situations (e.g., typesetting text in the Arabic script). Most issues related to the romanization of Arabic are about transliterating vs. transcribing; others, about what should be romanized: A transcription may reflect
4500-619: The sea. Phoenician expansion began around 815 BC when traders from Tyre founded Carthage in North Africa. Eventually its colonies spread around the Mediterranean and Atlantic, bringing to the city a flourishing maritime trade. Early in the sixth century BC, Nebuchadnezzar II , king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire , laid siege to the walled city for thirteen years. Tyre stood firm, but it was probable that at this time
4575-504: The seafloor within 150 m of the former island. Antoine Poidebard, who was the first to have them explored by divers in 1939, saw in these structures former breakwaters enclosing a harbour with two entrances. The geographic area enclosed within these structures is therefore often referred to as the “Southern Harbour”. These structures have also been interpreted as a polder-like area protecting an urban district (El-Amouri et al., 2005; Frost, 1971; Renan, 1864–1874). A Phoenician-style breakwater
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#17327646656234650-572: The singer Fairuz and introduced her to the Rahbani brothers . Roumi composed music for and with them in close collaborations. Romanization of Arabic The romanization of Arabic is the systematic rendering of written and spoken Arabic in the Latin script . Romanized Arabic is used for various purposes, among them transcription of names and titles, cataloging Arabic language works, language education when used instead of or alongside
4725-470: The site where an asteroid or comet impacted Europa's ice crust. The asteroid 209 Dido is named after the legendary Tyrian-Carthaginian princess. It is a very large main-belt asteroid , classified as a C-type asteroid which is probably composed of carbonaceous materials. 209 Dido was discovered in 1879 by C. H. F. Peters . The first cinema in Tyre opened in the late 1930s when a café owner established makeshift film screenings. Hamid Istanbouli –
4800-432: The sound of the words according to the orthography rules of the target language: Qaṭar . This applies equally to scientific and popular applications. A pure transliteration would need to omit vowels (e.g. qṭr ), making the result difficult to interpret except for a subset of trained readers fluent in Arabic. Even if vowels are added, a transliteration system would still need to distinguish between multiple ways of spelling
4875-412: The target language; compare English Omar Khayyam with German Omar Chajjam , both for عمر خيام /ʕumar xajjaːm/ , [ˈʕomɑr xæjˈjæːm] (unvocalized ʿmr ḫyām , vocalized ʻUmar Khayyām ). A transliteration is ideally fully reversible: a machine should be able to transliterate it back into Arabic. A transliteration can be considered as flawed for any one of
4950-628: 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 . Tyre has a Hot-summer mediterranean climate (classified as Csa under
5025-406: The “Sidonian Harbour” by 19th and 20th century scholars, but it was referred to as the "Port of Astronoe" during Late Antiquity. The southern harbour opened toward Egypt and was referred to as the “Egyptian Harbour”. The location of the two harbours has been the subject of speculations since the 17th Century. The submarine excavation of a large, 4-6th Century BCE breakwater north of the city, and
5100-584: Was added as a whole to the list of UNESCO 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 fifth largest city in Lebanon after Beirut , Tripoli , Sidon , and Baalbek . 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
5175-547: Was conducted in 2019, leading to a new hypothesis about the local relative sea level rise and to discovery of yet unreported submerged coastal structures. Like many of the cities in the Levant and in Lebanon , the architecture since the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s has been of poor quality, which tend to threaten the cultural heritage in the built environment before the war. Meanwhile, historical buildings from
5250-407: Was decreed in 1998 by the Ministry of Public Works . It is 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long and covers over 380 hectares (940 acres). 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
5325-452: Was done by a French team under the leadership of Denyse Le Lasseur in 1921. It was followed by another mission between 1934 and 1936 that included aerial surveys and diving expeditions. It was led by the Jesuit missionary Antoine Poidebard , a pioneer of aerial archaeology . Large-scale excavations started in 1946 under the leadership of Emir Maurice Chéhab (1904–1994), "the father of modern Lebanese archaeology" who for decades headed
5400-457: Was done in that regard and the ruins have kept on crumbling. The hostilities of the 2006 Lebanon War put the ancient structures of Tyre at risk. This prompted UNESCO 's Director-General to launch a "Heritage Alert" for the site. Following the cessation of hostilities in September 2006, a visit by conservation experts to Lebanon observed no direct damage to the ancient city of Tyre. However,
5475-540: Was followed in the 1870s by Johannes Nepemuk Sepp. His most notable work was excavating at the cathedral in an attempt to find the bones of Frederick Barbarossa . More work was undertaken in 1903 by the Greek archaeologist Theodore Makridi , curator of the Imperial Museum at Constantinople . Important findings like fragments of marble sarcophagi were sent to the Ottoman capital. An archaeological survey of Tyre
5550-486: Was recently found within this area, but excavation is needed to confirm its age ascription. Harbour sediments found behind the structure suggest that the breakwater was part of the Egyptian harbour. Harbour sediments found near Hiram's Tower, further north, mark an early location of the Sidonian Harbour. The development of Tyre was profoundly affected by the construction of a causeway built by Alexander
5625-591: 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
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