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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The island of Tyre
  • Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 06:17:47 -0700

On 10/06/2004 06:40, Yigal Levin wrote:

Sorry Vadim,

I thought that we might have a scoop here, if we could prove that the
"Alexandrian mole" is a myth. So I speant a couple of hours in the library,
looking up fairly recent books about the archaeology and history of Tyre. In
all of the relevant ones, including several reports by Pierre and Patricia
Bikai, who have been digging at Tyre for years, it is made clear that the
geology confirms that island was, indeed connected to the coast
artificially. The island and the immediate coast are kurkar, by the way. The
Limestone and chalk only start beyond the coastal strip.

I also had a look at Shalmanessar III's "Balawat Gate" from Khorsabad. The
relief clearly shows King Ettobaal of Tyre loading tribute on a boat, to be
taken to Shalmanessar, who is waiting on the coast across a strip of water.

Yigal


I have just remembered where I saw a comparable example: in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. There, what was formerly a small rocky island at the mouth of the Hunter river was, some time in the 19th century, joined to the mainland by a mole a few hundred metres long, to help to form a better harbour. The mole is still visible and forms a roadway, but on one side it is now flanked by a wide beach and sand dunes deposited by the sea, and on the other side by a grassy meadow deposited by the river. Only at the end nearest the island does water approach the mole, right up to it on the river side and across a now narrow beach on the sea side. And this after only about 150 years. I would expect that after more than 2000 years the mole could easily be buried and forgotten.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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