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° Tyre
Following is Robert de Vaugondy’s 1753 map of the Ottoman Empire. Vaugondy maps the empire at its height, with territory spanning from the Black Sea to the southernmost extension of Arabia and west, inclusive of Persia, as far as the Mongol Empire of India. Included are the modern day nations of Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, and Greece. Vaugondy employed all of the latest geographical information of the time incorporating both French and transliterations Arabic place names. This map offers detail of undersea shoals and reefs in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, and historical sites.
(Click on map image for additional views and details.)
The Phoenicians were ancient mariners whose shipbuilding, navigation and seamanship was superior to most people of the time. They developed ships that could sail across the Mediterranean to Sicily and Sardinia. Their trade routes stretched from the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at the Persian Gulf, west to the Red Sea.
They established colonies at Tyre, Sidon, Byblos (Gebal). Berytos (Beirut) and Carthage. The Phoenicians are credited with developing the first alphabet. Their business practices are legendary and are the foundation of Greek and Roman trade.
Due to its location at the "center of the world," Phoenicia became the hub of international finance with trade routes from Asia to Africa converging on the Phoenician coast. This is referred to in The Bible:
"say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrance to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands, thus says the Lord God: "O Tyre, you have said, 'I am perfect in beauty.' Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty." (Ezekiel 27:3-4 RSV)The Phoenicians, primarily through King Hiram of Tyre, were major suppliers of materials and skilled labor to Solomon for the building of the original Temple (see Temples), which God commanded to be built in Jerusalem:
"Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me; and my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set; for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians." When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, "Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people." And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard the message which you have sent to me; I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon; and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct" (1 Kings 5:6-9 RSV)
