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Tyre
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Tyre, City: Square building.
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Tyre (Phoenician רצ, ṣūr, "rock"; Greek Τúρος; Latin Tyrus):
port in Phoenicia and one of the main cities in the eastern
Mediterranean.
Square Building
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Situated along Tyre's Mosaic
Road,
the "Square Building" or "Rectangular Arena" is about forty-five meters
long and thirty-five meters wide. It was originally built in the
Hellenistic period, but in its present form, it dates to the fourth
century CE. It was built from a local type of limestone and had seats
on all sides. About two thousand people may have been able to gather
over here. So, although its function is not well-known, we can be
confident that some kind of audience used this building as a meeting
place.
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A smaller but comparable building is the Prytaneum in Priene,
and indeed, it is possible that Tyre's city council, or the council of
the Roman province of Phoenicia, gathered in this building. An
alternative theory is that the rectangular structure served as some
kind of arena for martial arts. An inscription mentioning a successful
boxer, has been found in the neighborhood.
A satellite photo can be seen here.
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©
Jona Lendering for
Livius.Org,
2012
Revision: 17 Aug. 2012 |
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