GENERAL VIEW OF TYRE. 
Tins scene comprehends the sites of two of the most memorable Cities of antiquity—■ 
the Tyre of the mainland, and the Tyre of the Island, with the Causeway connecting 
them. The former Tyre was early ruined, and if any remnants of it exist, they are 
buried in the sand which continually accumulates over the plain: or, are to be found 
in the materials for the Causeway by which Alexander the Great approached the 
second Tyre; and in which fragments of columns and other architectural spoils are 
still to be seen, where the sand has been swept away by the wind and the surge. 1 
This once renowned City is now but a diminutive town, carrying on a struggling 
commerce in the tobacco of the neighbouring hills, with some wood and charcoal 
from the more distant mountains. The streets are narrow and winding, and the 
houses mean, seldom exceeding a single story, with flat roofs. But the palm-trees, 
which are always beautiful, and full of Oriental character, mixed with the buildings, 
give a grace and freshness to the distant aspect of Tyre. 2 
The chief trade is carried on by the Christian population, who amount to a considerable 
portion of the inhabitants, and whose industry is said to arise from their being free 
from the Conscription, if it may not equally arise from the spirit and habits of their 
religion. At the time of the Sketch, some vessels were lying in the Bay; few, but 
sufficient to carry on the traffic of this once Queen of the Commercial World. 1 
Its ancient architecture was proverbially of the stateliest kind; some columns of 
Egyptian granite, ten feet in diameter, remain fixed in the walls. And on examining 
the foundations of those walls (which are evidently of a later date), pieces of marble, 
granite, and earthenware, are discovered; though fixed in a cement so strong, that 
where the action of the sea has honeycombed the stone, it still has left the cement 
unimpaired. But the only gate of Tyre is Saracenic, and the only fortifications are 
the work of the middle ages. 4 
The Cathedral of Tyre stood in the south-eastern corner of the present town. It was 
in the Greek style, and must have been a remarkable fabric; its length being at least 
250 feet, and its breadth 150. The eastern end is yet partially standing, and some portions 
of its western extremity exist; but the area is filled up with hovels. Adjoining one of 
those, lies an immense double column of Syenite granite, consisting of two parallel, 
connected shafts of exquisite shape and beauty, which once belonged to the Cathedral. 
Djezzar Pasha proposed to have carried these pillars to Acre, for one of his Mosques; 
but their weight defied the skill, or the industry, of his Syrian engineers. 5 An earthquake 
in 1837 did considerable damage in the Island; when a lofty arch, and a portion of 
the finer architecture of the ruin, were thrown down. 
The history of the Cathedral is obscure. But it is known, that so early as the 
fourth century, there was in Tyre a Cathedral, built by its Bishop, Paulinus; for 
which the consecration sermon was written by Eusebius, and which he pronounced to be 
“the most splendid of all the temples of Phoenicia.” 6 From that Period, it singularly 
lapsed into oblivion. Even during the Crusades, an era when all the recollections 
of Eastern antiquity were revived with extraordinary ardour; when Tyre itself w r as 
1 Roberts’s Journal. 2 Bibl. Res. iii. 398. 3 G. Robinson’s Travels. 
4 Bibl. Res. iii. 399. 5 Yolney, Voyage, ii. 196. 6 Hist. Eccl. x. 4. 
