Lebanon
Tyre

Location and historical summary

The town of Tyre is located on the Lebanese coast, in the south of the country.

The site, which has been occupied since the Bronze Age, was an important Phoenician city before being taken over by the Greeks and later the Romans. The first centuries AD were marked by the spread of Christianity and the integration into the Byzantine empire. Tyre and its surrounding region came under Muslim control in the early 7^th century. The town, which continued to be occupied afterwards, suffered at the hands of crusaders between the early 12^th century and the end of the 13^th. Tyre has essentially been continually occupied since its foundation, and the archaeological remains are encased within the modern-day town. Here, the site known as “Tyre town” corresponds to a large archaeological park over 5.9 hectares, divided into two distinct spaces: the “medieval cathedral” and the “baths, arena and palestra”.

History of research

The ruins of the ancient city of Tyre were uncovered by the Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA) before the 1970s, but these excavations have not been published and are poorly documented. It therefore seemed essential to undertake a more thorough study of this ensemble. The Tyre archaeological project has run five field seasons since 2008, after a short exploratory season in 2006. It involves surveying the remains in situ, dating them and interpreting them. In order to do this, in addition to archaeological and topographical surveys, a number of trenches were dug. Programmes of conservation and promotion of the site also form part of the project.