JOHN WAS INSPIRED to draw from the Hebrew prophets when he wrote the Book of Revelation. One of the clearest examples is Babylon the Great, which has obvious parallels to the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre.

Like Babylon, Tyre was founded by Amorites. Like Tyre, end times Babylon will be mourned by kings, merchants, and shipmasters who grew rich through the trading empires of the two cities. And, continuing an ancient Amorite tradition, Tyre was infamous for sacrificing children to the gods, a practice it spread around the Mediterranean world through the colonies it established, such as Tharros on Sardinia (possibly the biblical Tarshish) and Carthage.