Ancient Tyre

Tyre was one of the great metropolises of the ancient world. It became immensely wealthy from its purple -- the conches that yielded the dye were abundant there, and the Tyre dyers kept the secrets of the extraction to themselves. Imperial purple was worth more than its weight in gold during the Roman empire.

There are two main areas of ancient ruins remaining: the old port, now silted up, and the Hippodrome. Both are interesting in that they preserve an entire architectural complex.

These pictures are from our visit in winter of 2002.