Ushu

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Ushu is the name of the ancient mainland city that supplied Tyre with water, supplies and burial grounds. Based upon the mythical figure Usoos or Ousoüs, a descendant of Genos and Genea, whose children allegedly discovered fire as recorded by Sanchuniathon (Sankunyaton). (Bikai, Pierre, The Land of Tyre, found in chapter 2 of Martha Joukowsky’s “The Heritage of Tyre” 1992, p13)

[edit] References

• "Usoos (Ushu) took a trunk of a tree, stripped it of its branches and was the first man to dare sail in it on the sea." (Eusebius, quoting Philo of Byblos, Praeparatio Evangelica Bk I, 10, 10) Link to Pr. Ev.: [1]
• “[Tyre’s] numbers swelled greatly in time of war, when residents of nearby cities on the mainland (such as Ushu) found refuge on the island.” (Katzenstein, H.J., The History of Tyre, 1973, p10)
• “Besides the city itself, well-protected by its location on an island, the kingdom of Tyre included a strip of mainland, whose center was the town of Ushu.” (Katzenstein, H.J., The History of Tyre, 1973, p29)
• “Ousoüs is, of course, Ushu or Uzu, the ancient name of the mainland city...During most periods, the majority of the population must have lived on the mainland, while the island area was an administrative and religious center. As an administrative center, it would have contained the palaces of the ruler and probably stations for the army as well, and as a religious center, it had temples serving the city and the region.” (Bikai, Pierre, The Land of Tyre, found in chapter 2 of Martha Joukowsky’s “The Heritage of Tyre” 1992, pp13-15)
• Remarking about the many times Tyre was attacked leading up to, and including Nebuchadnezzar, Maurice Chehab, the Director general of Antiquities in Lebanon says, “If the invaders, however, sometimes succeeded in subduing the coast (i.e. Ushu), the island, which was the heart of Tyre’s maritime empire, eluded them.” (Chehab, Maurice, Tyre, trans: Afaf Rustum Chalhoub, p11)
• “A wall relief at Karnak lists the cities Sethos I (or Seti I, Ramesses II’s father) conquered, among them Tyre and Ushu. Ushu appears as if it were part of the Tyrian kingdom.” (Badre, Leila, Canaanite Tyre, found in chapter 4 of Martha Joukowsky’s “The Heritage of Tyre” 1992, p 40) see also Katzenstein p 49, (both citing James B. Pritchard’s Ancient Near East in Pictures nos. 327, 331)