Siege of Tyre (586–573 BC)

King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire began a campaign of wars in the Near East to solidify his control over the region in the 600s BC after the fall of Assyria.[9] He defeated the Egyptian Army under Pharaoh Necho II in the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC.[10][11] Nebuchadnezzar II subjugated Jerusalem in a siege twice: the first siege in 597 BC toppled King Jeconiah and replaced him with Zedekiah, and the second siege from 589 to 586 BC destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and overthrew Zedekiah.[9][12][13]

Little of what occurred during the siege is known as ancient sources regarding the siege do not mention much or have been lost.[3][14] According to accounts by Saint Jerome in his Commentary on Ezekiel, Nebuchadnezzar II was unable to attack the city with conventional methods, such as using battering rams or siege engines, since Tyre was an island city, so he ordered his soldiers to gather rocks and build a causeway from the mainland to the walls of the island, similar to Alexander the Great's strategy in his siege 250 years later.[15][16]

After 13 years of siege, the Tyrians negotiated a surrender with the Babylonians.[3] Nebuchadnezzar II was never able to take control of Tyre by military means leaving the result of the siege as militarily inconclusive.[2][3][17] As a part of the surrender, Ithobaal III, the King of Tyre, was either killed or removed from power and replaced by Baal II to rule as a client to Babylon.[3]

The historicity of the siege was supported by a cuneiform tablet discovered in 1926 by German archeologist Eckhard Unger that discussed food provisions for "the king and his soldiers for their march against Tyre."[3][6] Other cuneiform tablets also confirm that Tyre came under the control of Nebuchadnezzar II at some point during his reign.[3]

The Siege of Tyre has a significant connection to chapters 26–29 of the Book of Ezekiel. Chapters 26–29 are called "Proclamation Against Tyre," "Lamentation for Tyre," "Proclamation Against the King of Tyre," and "Proclamation Against Egypt," respectively.[18][19][20][21]

Chapter 26 verse 4 of the Book of Ezekiel states:

And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.[22]

"They" is in reference to the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II, but also later Alexander the Great and the Macedonians.[3] Chapter 26 verses 7–12 continue:

For thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people. He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; he will heap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a defense against you. He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. Because of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, the wagons, and the chariots, when he enters your gates, as men enter a city that has been breached. With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water.[23]

The description of Nebuchadnezzar's siege in chapter 26 was a prophecy made by the Prophet Ezekiel to the fate of Tyre, but not all of the prophecy was fulfilled, and it only would be after Alexander's siege.[3][7][24][25]

In chapter 27, nearly every verse and sentence is written in past tense using verbs such as "was" and "were" in reference to inhabitants, wise men, armies, merchants, among other things.[19] The structure of the chapter may suggest that the Tyrians suffered heavily either during or after the siege, losing many men and luxuries to the Babylonians.[3][15][26] Chapter 28 begins as a condemnation of the King of Tyre but later shifts to a lamentation to the King of Tyre. The last verse of the chapter, verse 19, reads "All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, and shall be no more forever" which may allude to the King, Ithobaal III, having been killed.[3]

The only verse in chapter 29 to mention Tyre was verse 17. The verse states:

Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it.[27]

"Every head was made bald, and every soldier rubbed raw" may be interpreted to mean that the siege did not end in a decisive victory for the Babylonians and that heavy casualties may have been suffered.[3]

• List of Sieges of Tyre
• Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)

• Carter, Terry; Dunston, Lara; Jousiffe, Ann; Jenkins, Siona (2004). Lonely Planet: Syria & Lebanon (2 ed.). Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications. p. 346. ISBN 1-86450-333-5.
• Ephʿal, Israel (2003). "Nebuchadnezzar the Warrior: Remarks on his Military Achievements". Israel Exploration Journal. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society. 53 (2): 178–191. JSTOR 27927044.
• Garstad, Benjamin (2016). "Nebuchadnezzar's Siege of Tyre in Jerome's "Commentary on Ezekiel"". Vigiliae Christianae. Edmonton, Alberta: Brill. 70 (2): 175–192. JSTOR 24754515.
• Katzenstein, H. Jacob (1979). "Tyre in the Early Persian Period (539–486 B.C.E.)". The Biblical Archaeologist. The University of Chicago Press. 42 (1): 23–34. doi:10.2307/3209545. JSTOR 3209545.
• Moriarty, Frederick L. (1965). "The Lament over Tyre (Ez. 27)". Gregorianum. GBPress – Gregorian Biblical Press. 46 (1): 83–88. JSTOR 23573313.
• Vogelstein, Max (1950–1951). "Nebuchadnezzar's Reconquest of Phoenicia and Palestine and the Oracles of Ezekiel". Hebrew Union College Annual. New York: Hebrew Union College Press. 23 (2): 197–220. JSTOR 23506631.