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Smith's Bible Dictionary
to Tyre, as its brave defenders were put to death; and in accordance with the barbarous policy of
ancient times, 30,000 of its inhabitants, including slaves, free females and free children, were sold
as slaves. It gradually, how ever, recovered its prosperity through the immigration of fresh settlers,
though its trade is said to have suffered by the vicinity and rivalry of Alexandria. Under the
Macedonian successors of Alexander it shared the fortunes of the Seleucidae. Under the Romans,
at first it enjoyed a kind of freedom. Subsequently, however, on the arrival of Augustus in the East,
he is said to have deprived both Tyre and Sidon of their liberties for seditious conduct. Still the
prosperity of Tyre in the time of Augustus was undeniably great. Strabo gives an account of it at
that period, speaks of the great wealth which it derived from the dyes of the celebrated Tyrian
purple which, as is well known were extracted from shell-fish found on the coast, belonging to a
species of the genus Murex . Tyre in the time of Christ and since.—When visited by Christ, (Matthew
15:21; Mark 7:24) Tyre was perhaps more populous than Jerusalem, and if so, it was undoubtedly
the largest city which the saviour is known to have visited. At the time of the crusades it was still
a flourishing; city, when if surrendered to the Christians on the 27th of June 1144. It continued
more than a century and a half in the hands of Christians, but was deserted by its inhabitants in
A.D. 1291 upon the conquest of Acre (Ptolemais) by the sultan of Egypt and Damascus. This was
the turning-point in the history of Tyre, which has never recovered from the blow. Its present
condition is a fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy (Ezekiel 28:5) It contains, according to Volney, 50
or 60 poor families, who live in part by fishing; and is, as Bruce describes it, “rock whereon fishers
dry their nets.”
Tyrus
This form is employed in the Authorized Version of the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea
(Joel has “Tyre”), Amos and Zechariah, as follows: (Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel
26:2,3,4,7,15; 27:2,3,8,32; 28:2,12; 29:18; Hosea 9:13; Amos 1:9,10; Zechariah 9:2,3)
Ucal
(I am strong). According to the received text of (Proverbs 30:1) Ithiel and Ucal must be regarded
as proper names; and if so, they must be the names of disciples or sons of Agur the son of Jakeh,
an unknown sage among the Hebrews. But there is great obscurity about the passage. Ewald
considers both Ithiel and Ucal as symbolical names, employed by the poet to designate two classes
of thinkers to whom he addresses himself.
Uel
(will of God), one of the family of Bani, who during the captivity had married a foreign wife.
(Ezra 10:34) (B.C. 458.)
Uknaz
In the margin of (1 Chronicles 4:16) the words “even Kenaz” in the text are rendered “Uknaz,”
as the proper name.
Ulai
(pure water) is mentioned by Daniel, (Daniel 8:2,16) as a river near to Susa, where he saw his
vision of the ram and the he-goat. It has been generally identified with the Eulaeus of the Greek
and Roman geographers, a large stream in the immediate neighborhood of that city. The Eulseus
has been by many identified with the Choaspes, which is undoubtedly the modern Kerkhah, an
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William Smith