Tyre, Ladder of

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TYRE, LADDER OF

TYRE, LADDER OF (Heb. סֻלַּם צוֹר; Sullam Ẓur), a steep road cut in steps which connected the territory of Acre with that of Tyre and formed part of the coastal road passing the twin capes of Rosh ha-Nikrah (Ras en-Naqura) and Rosh ha-Lavan (Ras el-Abyad) partly in Israel and partly in Lebanon. It is first mentioned in I Maccabees 11:59 as the northern boundary of the coastal province of Paralia, entrusted by the Seleucid king to Simeon the Hasmonean. Josephus describes it as the northern boundary of Ptolemais (Acre), 100 stadia (c. 11½ mi.; 18½ km.) from that city. In talmudic sources, the Ladder of Tyre (Aramaic: Sulma de Sor) is frequently mentioned as the northern limit of the Holy Land, beyond which certain ordinances referring to that region no longer applied (Tosef., Pes. 1:28; et al.). The area from which the snails yielding purple dye were collected extended from Haifa to the Ladder of Tyre (Sab. 26a). The name has been revived as the appellation of a regional council in northwestern Galilee.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]