- Tyre (/ˈtaɪər/; Arabic: صُور, romanized: Ṣūr; Phoenician: 𐤑𐤓, romanized: Ṣūr; Greek: Τύρος, translit. Týros) is a city in Lebanon, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. It was one of the earliest Phoenician metropolises and the legendary birthplace of Europa, her brothers Cadmus and Phoenix, as well as Carthage’s founder Dido (Elissa). The city has many ancient sites, including the Tyre Hippodrome, and was added as a whole to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1984. The historian Ernest Renan noted that “One can call Tyre a city of ruins, built out of ruins”.