Biblical Geography

Phoenicia

Nation of coastal cities · Old and New Testament · Sur and Saida

Scripture first

1 Kings 5:1-6 · WEBU

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Hiram of Tyre sends cedar and craftsmen for , the high point of Israel's friendship with Phoenicia.

Phoenicia's cities lived by the sea. Their ships traded across the Mediterranean, their cedar built , and their alphabet spread writing to Greece and beyond.

Tyre's island fortress resisted Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years and fell to Alexander. Jesus visited its region; an early church was there when Paul passed.

The merchant cities of Tyre and Sidon on the northern coast, suppliers of cedar and craftsmen to Solomon's temple.

Biblical names
Tyre, Sidon, the coasts of Tyre and Sidon
Modern identification
Sur and Saida · Lebanon

Identification note. Ancient Phoenicia was the coastal strip of modern Lebanon.

Phoenicia had almost no farmland but excellent harbours and cedar forests. Everything about its history, its trade, its colonies and its seamanship follows from that strip of coast between and sea.

  • Hiram of Tyre sends cedar and craftsmen for the temple, the high point of Israel's friendship with Phoenicia.
  • Ahab marries Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon
  • Ezekiel's lament over Tyre, merchant of the nations
  • Jesus in the region of Tyre and Sidon, and the Canaanite woman's faith
  • Paul lands at Tyre and stays with the disciples there

What we know

Certain

  • Tyre and Sidon are named throughout Scripture, and both sites are securely identified with the modern cities.