CORONA Satellite Photograph over Tyre taken on June 17, 1967.

Tyre, you boasted of your perfect beauty.
Your home is the sea.
Your builders made you like a beautiful ship;
They use fir trees from Mount Hermon for timber...

— The Book of Ezekiel, 27.3

In ancient times, Tyre was a detached island off the coast. Tyrians were competent maritime traders, and their prosperity was praised (cursed?) in the Bible. Because Tyrians defyed Alexander the Great, he laid a great siege to the island in 332 BCE. He ordered to construct a mole connecting the island to the mainland, and with that, finally Tyre was conquered. Subsequently, it is supposed, the mole caught sand carried by the littoral current, and the tombolo was formed. In the Roman era, the hippodrome and thoroughfare with a monumental arch were situated on the tombolo.

CORONA satellite photographs are available from U. S. Geological Survey, EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD, USA.