| Mattan I | |
|---|---|
| King of Tyre | |
| Reign | 840 BC – 832 BC |
| Predecessor | Baal-Eser II (Balazeros, Ba‘l-mazzer II) 846-841 BC |
| Successor | Pygmalion 831 – 785 BC |
| Born | 864 BC Tyre, presumed |
| Died | 832 BC |
| Dynasty | House of Ithobalus (Ithobaal I) |
| Father | Baal-Eser II (Balazeros, Ba‘l-mazzer II) |
| Mother | unknown |
Mattan,Matan, orMittin ruledTyre from 840 to 832 BC, succeeding his fatherBaal-Eser II.
He was the father ofPygmalion, king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC, and ofDido, the legendary queen ofCarthage.[citation needed]
The primary information related to Mattan I comes fromJosephus’s citation of the Phoenician authorMenander of Ephesus inAgainst Apion i.18. Here it is said that "Badezorus was succeeded byMatgenus his son: he lived thirty-two years and reigned, nine years: Pygmalion succeeded him".
Alternative dates for his reign, from 829 to 821 BC, are given in the work ofF. M. Cross and other scholars who take 825 BC as the date of Dido’s flight from her brother Pygmalion, after which she founded the city ofCarthage in 814 BC.[1] For those who place the seventh year of Pygmalion in 814 BC, i.e. in the same year that Dido left Tyre, the dates of Mattan and Pygmalion will be 11 years later.
Classicist T. T. Duke states that Mattan was also known asMTN-BʿL (Matan-Baʿal, 'Gift of the Lord'), which was turnedhypocoristically into KingBelus of Tyre inVirgil'sAeneid.[2]