The Phoenicians, taking into consideration the maritime winds, built the coastal town of Tyre with two harbors, a Northern and a Southern one. Because of the important commercial relations between Phoenicia and Egypt, Tyre, the mother of Carthage, with ships that sailed all the known seas, had harbors that were proportionate to its immense trading activity: a northern port known as the 'Sidonian Harbor' and a southern one, the largest in the Old World, known as the 'Egyptian Harbor.' The present harbor of Tyre is built on the site of the old Sidonian port. According to manuscripts and recent studies, it was larger than the present one and was the main entrance to the town from the sea.

As to the Egyptian Port, Father Poidebard, who was a well-known Air Force commander during last World War, who undertook aerial and underwater studies and wrote a book on his work entitled: "Tyre, a large harbor that has disappeared", published by Geuthner in 1939. According to research done by Father Poidebard and by Emir Maurice Chehab, this harbor stretched from one end of Tyre to Tell Rachideh. Emir Chehab has moreover discovered that certain internal sectors of this port have been covered up by sand and clay since the Middle Ages. There are still traces today underwater of this harbor which was partly cut out of the rock with a jetty that was one and a half kilometers long.

The various reports produced by archeological teams assigned to Tyre have stressed that underwater exploration must be resumed. The approach to Tyre from the sea was very dangerous during ancient times because of outcrops of rock under the water surface and the direction of the winds and currents. Many ships sank with full cargoes near the shore or near the masonry walls of the old harbors. Today divers surface regularly with amphoras, statues and other objects that most certainly come from the shipwrecks that lie underwater.

"If these ports are brought to light, Tyre could become one of the most important archeological sites in the world and this would encourage other nations to take an interest in this Heritage of Mankind." Maurice Chehab

Giant rocks at the foundation of the west wall of the Tyre port.