Tyre is a Mediterranean city split into two settlements: old Tyre, a mostly ruined rocky island, and new Tyre on the mainland, where civil life now is. In the present cycle it is the frontier where crusader land ends and Turkish land begins.
| Type | Place |
| Held by | The Turks |
| Spanish entry | Tiro |
The island
Old Tyre is all rock, hard going, its access cut off; only a sector facing the sea is barely built over. Waves break on it at night “like waterfalls”, the wind is salty, and a coastline lies near. At night it is strangely silent, even after a duel was fought there.
Its single spring, by a waterfall with remains of irrigation, is the island’s only habitable point.
History
- The Phoenicians have been there since two or three millennia before Christ.
- Alexander the Great entered it during his invasion and “placed” something on the island (the phrase is cut off).
- The crusaders had a cathedral there, which remains.
- The stronghold is now “taken by the Turks”.
Its wealth was the port, with the merchants of Sidon, princes and nobles, crossing the sea. A satyr recited an oracle on its destruction: «Oráculo sobre Tiro: ululad desde Tarsis porque ha sido destruida» (“Oracle on Tyre: howl from Tarshish, for it is destroyed”).
Tyre is also where news of the Templars is sought, since their foundation “is told by William of Tyre”.
Open questions
- What did Alexander “place”, and when did the city pass from crusaders to Turks?
- The cathedral’s state, the distance to the coast and today’s way onto the island are unknown.
- Who holds the spring, who lives in new Tyre and how it deals with the island garrison is not stated.
- Is William of Tyre a book on site or only a name?
Gallery
