Tyre

Tyre is the southernmost city of Lebanon.  It is an old city that became very rich from it's trading industry.  Many civilizations over the years longed to take over Tyre, Alexander the Great was the first to take hold of it after laying siege to it for 7 months.  Tyre today is rebuilding after many wars and hardships.

Tyre has many marks of its eclectic past, but some of the most outstanding are the scads of Roman ruins across the city.

In Tyre you will find the ruins of a Roman city that was home to a market, a boxing/wrestling arena, a public bath, a glass factory, and a shipyard. 

A couple of decades ago archaeologists excavated the tomb of Medusa there, hidden in a hillside. 

Tyre also has the ruins of the largest Necropolis in the world.  A Necropolis was a 'city of death,' essentially a graveyard, in ancient Rome. Today you can visit the necropolis, climb on a few sarcophagi, and even take some pictures with all of the bones lying around.



The Necropolis is a maze of sarcophagi and crypts

 

In the Necropolis there is an Arc of Triumph, a tribute from the Tyrans to there Roman Emperor in 2nd century BC. 

The Arc of Triumph
66ft tall

The Arc of Triumph

Next the the Necropolis is a hippodrome, a Roman racing track.  This hippodrome is one of the 2 largest in the world (the Lebanese like to claim theirs is the largest, while the Italians claim they have the largest in Rome).  In its heyday this hippodrome could hold 20 to 30 thousand people for a horse or chariot race.

The Hippodrome 'Racetrack'
524 yards long x 175 yards wide

The Hippodrome Bleachers