During the early Iron Age there were four major maritime centres in Phoenicia: Tyre and Arwad (both on small offshore islands), Sidon and Byblos. The end of the Hittite Empire and the decline of Egyptian influence brought a political vacuum in Syria and Palestine. In his fifth regnal year Tiglath-pileser-I (r.1115-1077 BC) mounted an expedition to the Mediterranean coast to obtain cedar wood. In the process, the Assyrian monarch received tribute from Byblos, Sidon and Arwad.
The eclipse of Egyptian power at this time is revealed in an Egyptian tale set in c.1070 BC describing the adventures of an Egyptian official Wenamon sent from Tanis to Byblos to negotiate the trade of papyrus for cedar wood. Not long after Wenamon’s supposed visit, Byblos’ importance began to decline in the face of the rivalry of Arwad to the north and Tyre and Sidon to the south.
Tyre (980-564 BC)
During the twelfth and eleventh centuries BC Sidon held the prominent position among the Phoenician cities. Sidon had the important advantage of inland access to the fertile southern Bekaa, whereas the island port of Tyre had no reliable access to mainland resources.
Hiram-I (53; r.980-947 BC) is credited with achieving Tyre’s monopoly of sea transport and hegemony over the Phoenician coast. His commercial policy was to control the inland trade routes. Crucial for this was his famous commercial treaty with Solomon (c.80; r.c.971-c.931 BC) by which Tyre gained access routes to Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia.
Biblical texts describe a second part of Hiram’s expansion policy in which he and Solomon built a merchant fleet at Ezion-Geber on the Gulf of Aqaba. This fleet evidently sailed along the African and Arabian coasts, trading in high-cost and low-bulk luxury items like gold, silver and precious stones.
Hiram and Solomon made considerable profits from these naval expeditions, profits that they spent on embellishing their respective capitals: Solomon built the temple at Jerusalem; Hiram is attributed with rebuilding of the harbour of Tyre, adding shipyards, extending of the city by joining the two islands together, and building the great temple to the city’s tutelary deity Baal Melqart.
Ithobaal-I (68; r.878-847 BC) extended his dominion to include southern Phoenicia. Tyre’s commercial network reached the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Cilician coast, whose ports (Myriandrus and Tarsus) then served as outlets for Phoenician trade across the Taurus. Colonies were founded at Auza in Libya, Botrys north of Byblos, Carthage and Utica further west along the Tunisian coast, and at Kition on Cyprus.
Assyrians (c.870-612 BC)
In c.870 BC Ashurnasirpal II (r.884-859 BC) reached the coast and received gifts from the Phoenicians. Shalmaneser III (r.859-824 BC) launched a campaign against north Syria and received tribute from the ‘kings of the sea coast’. At the end of the ninth and the beginning of the eight centuries BC the Phoenicians enjoyed a period of political freedom while the Assyrians were preoccupied with Urartu to the north.
In 738 BC Tiglath-pileser III (r.745-727 BC) reconquered Syria and the cities of Phoenicia again lost their independence. Cities on the coast north of Byblos were included in a newly created Assyrian province centred on Simirra. Phoenicia’s position changed from submitting to occasional demands by raiding armies to the incorporation as vassals of the Assyrian Empire. Cities to the south were accorded tributary status.
With Tiglath-pileser absent on campaign in Urartu and Media, Hiram II (r.739-730 BC) joined an anti-Assyrian coalition led by Damascus. In 734 BC the Assyrians marched down the Phoenician coast and seized Arwad. Hiram quickly submitted and was pardoned by Tiglath-pileser.
In 701 BC Sennacherib (r.705-681 BC), probably because of non-payment of tribute by Luli (=Elulaios) of Tyre (r.729-694 BC), invaded Phoenicia. The coastal cities rebelled against Luli and surrendered to Sennacherib. Luli sailed from Tyre to Cyprus. Sennacherib enthroned a new king at Sidon and gave him Luli’s former possessions on the coast.
Abdi-Milkuti of Sidon bolstered by an alliance with the Cilician king Sanduari took advantage of assassination of Sennacherib to renounce Assyrian suzerainty. In 667 BC Esarhaddon (r.681-669 BC) advanced upon Sidon. Abdi-Milkuti escaped by boat but the following year he and his ally Sanduari were captured by the Assyrians and beheaded. Sidon was destroyed and rebuilt and renamed Kar Esarhaddon (‘Port Esarhaddon’). The native population was deported and replaced by people from the east. Two cities of Sidon were handed over to Baal-I (r.680-660 BC), king of Tyre.
Baal had signed a vassal treaty with Esarhaddon. Baal later broke this treaty and allied himself with Taharqa (r.c.690-c.664 BC). Esarhaddon thus laid siege to Tyre before proceeding to Egypt. Baal, however, was able to maintain the independence of the city, even under continuous siege. In 662 BC Ashurbanipal (r.668-631 BC) laid siege to Tyre and although the city did not actually fall it is claimed that Baal submitted.
Babylonians (586-539 BC)
After the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC and the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish in 605 BC, Syria and Phoenicia were brought under Babylonian control. Setbacks in the Babylonian invasion of Egypt in 601 BC led to numerous rebellions by Levantine states. Apparently in response to a coalition that included Tyre, Sidon and Judah, Nebuchadnezzar II (r.605-562 BC) besieged and destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BC and launched a campaign aimed at securing the submission of the Phoenician states the following year. Around 585 BC Nebuchadnezzar began his famous thirteen-year land blockade of Tyre. Although the outcome is unclear, the city was eventually incorporated into the Babylonian province of Kadesh.
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