Phelles

Phelles
King of Tyre
Reign879 BC (8 months)
PredecessorAstarymus (Aserymus, ‘Astar-rom) 888 – 880 BC
SuccessorIthobaal I (’Ittoba‘l, Ethbaal)) 878 – 847 BC
Born929 BC
Tyre, presumed
Died879 or 878 BC
DynastyLast of “dynasty of the four brothers”
Fatherunknown
Mothernurse of Abdastartus

Phelles was a King of Tyre and the last of four brothers who held the kingship. The only information available about Phelles comes from Josephus’s citation of the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus, in Against Apion i.18. Here it is said that Phelles slew his brother Aserymus (Astarymus) and then “took the kingdom, and reigned but eight months, though he lived fifty years: he was slain by Ithobalus (Ithobaal I), the priest of Astarte.” He and the three preceding kings were brothers, sons of the nurse of Abdastartus, according to Menander.

The dates given here are according to the work of F. M. Cross[1] and other scholars[2][3] who take 825 BC as the date of Dido’s flight from her brother Pygmalion, after which she founded the city of Carthage in 814 BC. See the chronological justification for these dates in the Pygmalion of Tyre article.

  1. ^ F. M. Cross, “An Interpretation of the Nora Stone,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 208 (Dec. 1972) 17, n. 11.
  2. ^ J. M. Peñuela, “La Inscripción Asiria IM 55644 y la Cronología de los Reyes de Tiro”, Sefarad 13 (1953, Part 1) 217-37; 14 (1954, Part 2) 1-39.
  3. ^ William H. Barnes, Studies in the Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991) 29-55.