Historical Background

Tyre was occupied long before the rise of Israel’s monarchy. Bronze Age documents, including letters from the Egyptian diplomatic archive at Amarna, show that it was already a coastal political center.

The Phoenician cities did not form a single enduring kingdom. Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and others maintained their own rulers, although one city might dominate or influence another at particular times.

Tyre became especially prominent during the early first millennium BC. Later historical writers preserve lists of its kings, but not every detail of these lists can be independently checked.