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CONTINUATION UP TO THE PRESENT PERIOD. 137

complishing that prediction of the royal psalmist, who said, that the daughter of Sidon should be there with her gifts. And in the days of Pliny, he says, that "all the glory and reputation thereof, standeth upon the die of purple and crimson"-a trade which it carried on at the time of our Lord, where a Syro-Phoenician woman is represented as a seller of purple.

We afterwards find a community of Christians established in Tyre, whom Paul visited on his return from Macedonia; and in the early ages of Christianity a considerable church existed there; and Isaiah's prediction, that it should return to the knowledge of the Lord, was verified in some respects. In the seventh century, it was taken by the Saracens, and retaken in the twelfth by the Crusaders, some remains of whose works are still to be seen. Upon a Latin kingdom being established in Syria, it became the see of an archbishop, the first of whom was William of Tyre, the well-known chronicler of the Crusades. In 1289, it was again taken by the Memlooks under Alphix, who sacked and still further destroyed it. It passed from the sway of these conquerors, and came under that of the Turks in the year 1516.

In 1766, the Metoualies repaired it, but it suffered in common with all the minor cities of this country, under the desolating reign of the Bashas, and some years ago, it was almost uninhabited. Since its capture in 1825 by Ibrahim

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REBUILDING OF ITS WALLS.

Basha, it has risen again, and will, in all probability, become the seaport of Syria, as in days of old when it occupied a similar position, most probably, to Palmyra. There are no prophetic denunciations, of which we are aware, that would prevent its revival, although such marked ones exist against Palæ Tyrus; and Ibrahim Basha is now repairing the wall and renewing the gates upon the land side.

Thus have we seen, though at a period of upwards of 4000 years, prophecy after prophecy respecting Tyre fulfilled-all, except the original promise of it to the seed of Abraham, and its final restoration to them.

What little remained of its antiquities was removed by Dejezzar Basha, to decorate his famous mosque at Acre. Some of the earliest modern writers* describe it during the seventeenth century, as a Babel of broken walls-the habitation of a few fishermen, and a wall whereon the fisher dries his net. We have thus seen, that it has had no rest not only for itself but for its colonies, which, in Europe, and Africa, in Spain, and other places seem still to be pursued to the distant parts of the earth.

Where stood Palæ Tyrus? is a question that has been long asked but never satisfactorily

* Maundrell, Sandys, and even before their time by the Jesuit, Hadreanus Parvillerius.

THE SITE OF PALE TYRUS.

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answered.* My own conviction is, that the rock of Marshuk, which I have already described as crowned by the mosque, and seen in the cut at page 119, was the citadel or acropolis of ancient Tyre. I have been led to adopt this opinion from the derivation of the word-its name of Palæ Tyrus; its position-its vicinity to the tombs-and the direction taken by its aqueducts.†

Although many conjectures have been set forth, and opinions offered, on the derivation of the word "Tyre," its true meaning is still involved in obscurity. Proper names have in every language a significant etymology, and in none more so than

* While at Jerusalem, I became acquainted with Count Jules de Bertou, to whom I stated my conjecture as to this rock. He afterwards visited the place, and has published in the Journal of the Geographical Society of London, many interesting particulars concerning its topography, and present state. In the statement he has published, he agrees with the opinion I have advanced on this subject, without, however, offering any proof for Marshuk being the site of ancient Tyre.

This hill, so remarkable an object in the landscape, did not escape the observant eye of Pococke; for, speaking of the aqueduct from Ras-el-ain, he says, "It takes its course in a different direction, but mostly northward to a small hill called Smashook, (evidently, a corruption of Marshuk,) on which there is a house and a mosque. This, by some, has been thought to be old Tyre, which, (he adds,) is improbable on many accounts, but more particularly, as it is a league from the sea." This renowned traveller has here fallen into an error that could even then have been corrected by a reference to Strabo or Pliny; but we learn from this passage, that at an early date some notion existed regarding the real site of Pale Tyrus; and the confirmation of an old opinion will, I feel, with many, have a greater weight than the endeavour to establish a new.

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DERIVATION OF THE NAME.

in the Hebrew, where not only words but letters have various and mystical meanings. Hebrew, if it was not the language of Phoenicia, (as is most probable,) is, at all events, the oldest written language that bears upon the subject. The original word was y, Tzur or Sur, and afterwards the was dropped according to the custom of the ancients, who aimed at merely retaining the radical letters. It was then generally spelled 8, Tzor, Sor, or Tsar, a rock; but the 8, or 3, also signifies white or glistening; and in the first mention of Tyre it is spoken of as y ya, Mibtsar Tzor, translated by the Septuagint as fortified city of the Tyrians," and by the Vulgate, "The well-fortified city, Tyre." But, without supposing this to be the site of ancient Tyre, (as I believe it was,) were we to visit it, even now, and not be aware of its name, we should feel disposed to call the place white rock, for precisely the same reason that other places are called "Black Rock," "White Cape," "Blue Mountain," &c.

"The

The words, as first used, Mibtsar Tsor, may mean a fortified rock, but as the place had a name before it was fortified, we may almost conclude that its primary name was 78, or white rock, a name which afterwards glided into

צר

, towards which there would be a natural tendency in the sounds, and also by the change in the place itself.

The learned Doctor Adam Clarke gives a correct opinion as to the word Tsor, which signifies

OPINION OF VOLNEY.

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a rock, but he falls into the error common to many commentators, in making it referable to Island Tyre, a place which had attracted no notice at the time the Sidonian colony settled on this rock, from which it was distant nearly a mile and a half. Others have confounded it with the present Arabic name of Sour, which signifies an island; while again, Scott and some other commentators have translated it merchandise. Dr. Shaw gives to it a double etymology, as y, Tsor, a rock, and also a purple fish, taking his derivation as the origin of the Greek Tupos, or the Latin, Sar or Sarra.

Volney states, that in the present name Sour, we with difficulty recognise that of Tyre; and then remarks, "but if we recollect that the Y was formerly pronounced OU, and observe, that the Latins have substituted T for the of the Greeks, and that has the sound of the English TH in the word think, we shall be less surprised at the alteration." It will be seen, that the two last letters in yan, Mibtsar, are those used to express both white and rock as well as the proper namey, Tsor itself, so that we may translate it The white fortified rock. This evidently became a proper name similar to our own Cashel," the rock," &c.; and of which a thousand instances could be collected in every country. It may added, that in the rock of Marshuk now crowned by the mosque, we have all the significations that have been enumerated exemplified.

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