Tyre of the Tobiads

views updated

TYRE OF THE TOBIADS

TYRE OF THE TOBIADS , fortress in Transjordan, built by Hyrcanus, the last of the Tobiad rulers of Peraea (Jos., Ant., 12:228–34). It is identified with the ruins of ʿIrāq al-Amir, approximately 10½ mi. (17 km.) W. of Amman (see full description of the site under entry *Tobiads). Another suggested identification is with Birtha of the Ammanitis, the Tobiad capital in the third century, which is mentioned in the Zeno Papyri (ed. by Edgar, no. 59003).

bibliography:

Conder-Kitchener, 1 (1881), 72ff.; H.C. Butler, Syria…, Architecture, 2a (1919), 1ff.; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 131; Lapp, in: basor, 165 (1962), 16–34; 171 (1963), 8ff.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]