Hiram I
Encyclopedia
Hiram I according to the Hebrew Bible
, was the Phoenicia
n king of Tyre. He reigned from 980 to 947 BC, succeeding his father, Abibaal
. Hiram was succeeded as king of Tyre by his son Baal-Eser I
. Hiram is also mentioned in the writings of Menander of Ephesus
, as preserved in Josephus’s
Against Apion
, where some additional information is given that is not found in the Bible. One such item is that Hiram lived 53 years, and reigned 34.
into the most important of Phoenicia
n cities, and the holder of a large trading empire. He suppressed the rebellion of the first Tyrean colony at Utica
, near the later site of Carthage
(Against Apion i:18).
The Bible says that he allied himself with King David of the United Kingdom of Israel as well as that the status of both Kings was equal and that the treaty between them was a parity treaty (2 Samuel 05:11, 1 Kings 05:01, 1 Chronicles 14:01). After the death of King David, Solomon
, a son of David, succeeded to David's throne and Hiram continued the relation with Israel through King Solomon
, the upcoming power of the region. They were also equal ("אחי", meaning "brothers" 1 Kings 9:13, Amos 1:9) Through the alliance with Solomon, Hiram ensured himself access to the major trade route
s to Egypt, Arabia and Mesopotamia
. The two kings also joined forces in starting a trade route over the Red Sea
, connecting the Israelite harbour of Ezion-Geber
with a land called Ophir
(2 Chronicles 8:16,17).
Both kings grew rich through this trade and Hiram sent Solomon architects, workmen, cedar wood and gold to build the First Temple
in Jerusalem. He also extended the Tyrean harbour, enlarged the city by joining the two islands on which it was built, and built a royal palace and a temple for Melqart
(Against Apion i:17).
, citing both Tyrian court records and the writings of Menander
, relating that 143 years passed between the start of construction of Solomon’s
Temple until the founding of Carthage
(or until Dido’s flight that led to its founding). Josephus also related that Hiram’s reign began 155 years and 8 months before this event, and that construction of Solomon's Temple began in the twelfth year of Hiram's Reign, which would be 143 years before the building of Carthage. The redundancy inherent in these multiple ways of expressing the total years (the 143 years is mentioned twice, and the 155 years minus 12 years once) has guaranteed that all extant copies of Josephus/Menander that contain these passages give 155 years and 8 months between the start of Hiram’s reign and the foundation of Carthage. (One copy has 155 years and 18 months, but this is an obvious error for 155 years and eight months.) Modern historians have therefore had confidence in the 155-year figure and have used it to date Hiram’s reign.
However, classical authors give two dates for the Carthage’s founding: 825 BCE and 814 BCE. The 814 date is derived from the Greek historian Timaeus
(c. 345-260 BCE) and the 825 date from the writings of Pompeius Trogus
(1st century BCE). The 814 date is more generally accepted, and so earlier historians calculated the start of Hiram’s reign as occurring in 814 + 155 = 969 BCE. See the Pygmalion
article for the proposal of J. M. Peñuela that 825 BCE was the date Dido left Tyre, but she did not start construction of Carthage until 11 years later, in 814 BCE
In 1951 CE, an inscription was published that showed that Shalmaneser III
of Assyria received tribute, in 841 BCE from a certain Baa‘li-maanzer of Tyre. The name Baa‘li-maanzer was interpreted by eminent philologists such as Frank Moore Cross
as referring to Baal-Eser II
/Balazeros, grandfather of Pygmalion
. According to Josephus/Manetho, it was during Pygmalion’s seventh year that Dido fled from Tyre. Consequently, the dates of Pygmalion have always been computed based on the date calculated for Dido’s flight, which was assumed to take place in the same that she founded Carthage. But when 814 BCE was taken as Pygmalion’s seventh year, the dates for his father and grandfather, as based on the best texts of Josephus/Manetho, were not compatible with his grandfather being on the throne in 841 BCE and giving tribute to Shalmaneser in that year. For this reason, several scholars reexamined the 825 BCE date for Dido’s flight (Pygmalion’s seventh year) and found that 825 BCE was consistent with the Assyrian inscription. For further details of the scholars involved and their reasoning, see the Pygmalion
article.
Measuring the 155 years from 825 BCE gave a new date for the first year of Hiram's reign: 825 + 155 = 980 BCE. 980 BCE also proved an excellent match with another date, one calculated from the Scriptural texts related to the reign of Solomon. Based on Edwin R. Thiele
’s widely accepted date of 931/930 BCE for the division of the kingdom after the end of Solomon’s 40-year reign, Solomon’s fourth year, when construction of the Temple began (1 Kings 6:1) can be calculated as starting in Tishri (roughly October) of 968 BCE. Josephus, citing both Tyrian court records and the writings of Menander, says that it was in Hiram’s 12th year that he sent assistance to Solomon for building the Temple. With 980 BCE as the starting date for Hiram, his twelfth year would be 969 or 968 BCE, in excellent agreement with the Biblical date for this event.
As pointed out by William Barnes, the date for the start of Temple construction using the Tyrian data is derived “wholly independently” of the way that date is derived using the Scriptural data. It is this consideration, plus the evidence of the tribute from Baa‘li-maanzer/Baal-Eser II
to Shalmaneser III, that has led to the adoption of the chronologies of Frank M. Cross
and other scholars for the Tyrian kings in the present article. Hiram’s first year is therefore accepted as 980 BC instead of the 969 BC that was favored before publication of the Shalmaneser inscription.
sarcophagus.
story Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks (1983) by Poul Anderson
.
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
, was the Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n king of Tyre. He reigned from 980 to 947 BC, succeeding his father, Abibaal
Abibaal
Abibaal was a king of Tyre in the 10th century BC, father of the famous Hiram I. The only information known about him is derived from two passages in Josephus's Against Apion, i.17 and i.18. All that is said in these passages is that he preceded his son Hiram on the throne of Tyre...
. Hiram was succeeded as king of Tyre by his son Baal-Eser I
Baal-Eser I
Baal-Eser I was a king of Tyre. His father, Hiram I, was a contemporary of David and Solomon, kings of Israel...
. Hiram is also mentioned in the writings of Menander of Ephesus
Menander of Ephesus
Menander of Ephesus was the historian whose lost work on the history of Tyre was used by Josephus, who quotes Menander's list of kings of Tyre in his apologia for the Jews, Against Apion...
, as preserved in Josephus’s
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
Against Apion
Against Apion
Against Apion was a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a classical religion and philosophy, stressing its antiquity against what he perceived as more recent traditions of the Greeks.-Text:Against Apion 1:8 also defines which books he viewed as being in the Jewish...
, where some additional information is given that is not found in the Bible. One such item is that Hiram lived 53 years, and reigned 34.
Reign
During Hiram's reign, Tyre grew from a satellite of SidonSidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
into the most important of Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n cities, and the holder of a large trading empire. He suppressed the rebellion of the first Tyrean colony at Utica
Utica, Tunisia
Utica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa...
, near the later site of Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
(Against Apion i:18).
The Bible says that he allied himself with King David of the United Kingdom of Israel as well as that the status of both Kings was equal and that the treaty between them was a parity treaty (2 Samuel 05:11, 1 Kings 05:01, 1 Chronicles 14:01). After the death of King David, Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
, a son of David, succeeded to David's throne and Hiram continued the relation with Israel through King Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
, the upcoming power of the region. They were also equal ("אחי", meaning "brothers" 1 Kings 9:13, Amos 1:9) Through the alliance with Solomon, Hiram ensured himself access to the major trade route
Trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
s to Egypt, Arabia and Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
. The two kings also joined forces in starting a trade route over the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, connecting the Israelite harbour of Ezion-Geber
Ezion-Geber
Ezion-Geber or Asiongaber was a city of Idumea, a biblical seaport on the northern extremity of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the area of modern Aqaba and Eilat.-Biblical references :...
with a land called Ophir
Ophir
Ophir is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon is supposed to have received a cargo of gold, silver, sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, apes and peacocks from Ophir, every three years.- Citations :...
(2 Chronicles 8:16,17).
Both kings grew rich through this trade and Hiram sent Solomon architects, workmen, cedar wood and gold to build the First Temple
Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the main temple in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount , before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE....
in Jerusalem. He also extended the Tyrean harbour, enlarged the city by joining the two islands on which it was built, and built a royal palace and a temple for Melqart
Melqart
Melqart, properly Phoenician Milk-Qart "King of the City", less accurately Melkart, Melkarth or Melgart , Akkadian Milqartu, was tutelary god of the Phoenician city of Tyre as Eshmun protected Sidon. Melqart was often titled Ba‘l Ṣūr "Lord of Tyre", the ancestral king of the royal line...
(Against Apion i:17).
Theories Regarding The Chronology of Hiram’s Reign
The beginning date of Hiram’s reign is derived from a statement by JosephusJosephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
, citing both Tyrian court records and the writings of Menander
Menander of Ephesus
Menander of Ephesus was the historian whose lost work on the history of Tyre was used by Josephus, who quotes Menander's list of kings of Tyre in his apologia for the Jews, Against Apion...
, relating that 143 years passed between the start of construction of Solomon’s
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
Temple until the founding of Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
(or until Dido’s flight that led to its founding). Josephus also related that Hiram’s reign began 155 years and 8 months before this event, and that construction of Solomon's Temple began in the twelfth year of Hiram's Reign, which would be 143 years before the building of Carthage. The redundancy inherent in these multiple ways of expressing the total years (the 143 years is mentioned twice, and the 155 years minus 12 years once) has guaranteed that all extant copies of Josephus/Menander that contain these passages give 155 years and 8 months between the start of Hiram’s reign and the foundation of Carthage. (One copy has 155 years and 18 months, but this is an obvious error for 155 years and eight months.) Modern historians have therefore had confidence in the 155-year figure and have used it to date Hiram’s reign.
However, classical authors give two dates for the Carthage’s founding: 825 BCE and 814 BCE. The 814 date is derived from the Greek historian Timaeus
Timaeus (historian)
Timaeus , ancient Greek historian, was born at Tauromenium in Sicily. Driven out of Sicily by Agathocles, he migrated to Athens, where he studied rhetoric under a pupil of Isocrates and lived for fifty years...
(c. 345-260 BCE) and the 825 date from the writings of Pompeius Trogus
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus
Gnaeus Pompēius Trōgus, known as Pompeius Trogus, Pompey Trogue, or Trogue Pompey, was a 1st century BC Roman historian of the Celtic tribe of the Vocontii in Gallia Narbonensis, flourished during the age of Augustus, nearly contemporary with Livy.His grandfather served in the war against Sertorius...
(1st century BCE). The 814 date is more generally accepted, and so earlier historians calculated the start of Hiram’s reign as occurring in 814 + 155 = 969 BCE. See the Pygmalion
Pygmalion of Tyre
Pygmalion was king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC and a son of King Mattan I .During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, as can be judged from the building of new colonies including Kition on Cyprus, Sardinia , and,...
article for the proposal of J. M. Peñuela that 825 BCE was the date Dido left Tyre, but she did not start construction of Carthage until 11 years later, in 814 BCE
In 1951 CE, an inscription was published that showed that Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III was king of Assyria , and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II....
of Assyria received tribute, in 841 BCE from a certain Baa‘li-maanzer of Tyre. The name Baa‘li-maanzer was interpreted by eminent philologists such as Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross, Jr. is Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 magnum opus Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, and his work in Northwest Semitic epigraphy...
as referring to Baal-Eser II
Baal-Eser II
Baal-Eser II , also known as Balbazer II and Ba‘l-mazzer I, was a king of Tyre, the son of Ithobaal I.The primary information related to Baal-Eser II comes from Josephus’s citation of the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus, in Against Apion i.18. Here it is said that “Ithobalus, the priest of...
/Balazeros, grandfather of Pygmalion
Pygmalion of Tyre
Pygmalion was king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC and a son of King Mattan I .During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, as can be judged from the building of new colonies including Kition on Cyprus, Sardinia , and,...
. According to Josephus/Manetho, it was during Pygmalion’s seventh year that Dido fled from Tyre. Consequently, the dates of Pygmalion have always been computed based on the date calculated for Dido’s flight, which was assumed to take place in the same that she founded Carthage. But when 814 BCE was taken as Pygmalion’s seventh year, the dates for his father and grandfather, as based on the best texts of Josephus/Manetho, were not compatible with his grandfather being on the throne in 841 BCE and giving tribute to Shalmaneser in that year. For this reason, several scholars reexamined the 825 BCE date for Dido’s flight (Pygmalion’s seventh year) and found that 825 BCE was consistent with the Assyrian inscription. For further details of the scholars involved and their reasoning, see the Pygmalion
Pygmalion of Tyre
Pygmalion was king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC and a son of King Mattan I .During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, as can be judged from the building of new colonies including Kition on Cyprus, Sardinia , and,...
article.
Measuring the 155 years from 825 BCE gave a new date for the first year of Hiram's reign: 825 + 155 = 980 BCE. 980 BCE also proved an excellent match with another date, one calculated from the Scriptural texts related to the reign of Solomon. Based on Edwin R. Thiele
Edwin R. Thiele
Edwin R. Thiele was an American missionary in China, an editor, archaeologist, writer, and Old Testament professor. He is best known for his chronological studies of the Hebrew kingdom period.- Biography :...
’s widely accepted date of 931/930 BCE for the division of the kingdom after the end of Solomon’s 40-year reign, Solomon’s fourth year, when construction of the Temple began (1 Kings 6:1) can be calculated as starting in Tishri (roughly October) of 968 BCE. Josephus, citing both Tyrian court records and the writings of Menander, says that it was in Hiram’s 12th year that he sent assistance to Solomon for building the Temple. With 980 BCE as the starting date for Hiram, his twelfth year would be 969 or 968 BCE, in excellent agreement with the Biblical date for this event.
As pointed out by William Barnes, the date for the start of Temple construction using the Tyrian data is derived “wholly independently” of the way that date is derived using the Scriptural data. It is this consideration, plus the evidence of the tribute from Baa‘li-maanzer/Baal-Eser II
Baal-Eser II
Baal-Eser II , also known as Balbazer II and Ba‘l-mazzer I, was a king of Tyre, the son of Ithobaal I.The primary information related to Baal-Eser II comes from Josephus’s citation of the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus, in Against Apion i.18. Here it is said that “Ithobalus, the priest of...
to Shalmaneser III, that has led to the adoption of the chronologies of Frank M. Cross
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross, Jr. is Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 magnum opus Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, and his work in Northwest Semitic epigraphy...
and other scholars for the Tyrian kings in the present article. Hiram’s first year is therefore accepted as 980 BC instead of the 969 BC that was favored before publication of the Shalmaneser inscription.
Sarcophagus
The alleged sarcophagus of Hiram is located "two hours" walk southeast of Tyre, a colossal limestone sarcophagus on a high pedestal", so-called Qabr Hiram. It is not to be confused with the famous AhiramAhiram
Ahiram or, more correctly, Ahirom was a Phoenician king of Byblos Ahirom is not attested in any other Ancient Oriental source. He became famous only by his Phoenician inscribed sarcophagus which was discovered in 1923 by the French excavator Pierre Montet in tomb V of the royal necropolis of Byblos...
sarcophagus.
In modern fiction
King Hiram is a character in the time travelTime travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
story Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks (1983) by Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
.
See also
- PygmalionPygmalion of TyrePygmalion was king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC and a son of King Mattan I .During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, as can be judged from the building of new colonies including Kition on Cyprus, Sardinia , and,...
for discussion of date of founding of Carthage used by Menander - List of kings of Tyre