Site on the coast of Lebanon of a chief city of the Phoenicians from c 2000 BC. It occupied a small island off the coast with two harbors. It was the parent city of Carthage and flourished until its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 574/572 BC after a long siege. Between 538-332 it was ruled by the Achaemenian kings of Persia. Most famous was its siege by Alexander the Great in 332 BC which came about only after a causeway was built to the mainland. After its capture, 10,000 of the inhabitants were put to death, and 30,000 were sold into slavery. Alexander's causeway, which was never removed, converted the island into a peninsula. Excavation has found only the Roman and Byzantine levels; most of the remains of the Phoenician period still lie beneath the present town. It is the site of one of the factories for purple dye Tyrian Purple obtained from murex shell and much prized. Hiram King of Tyre (970-936 BC) was contemporary of Solomon's.