Tyre is mentioned in Egyptian records of the fourteenth century BCE as being subject to Egypt; the city’s name appears on monuments as early as 1300 BCE.

The site was first occupied by one Hypsuranius, according to the antiquarian authority Sanchuniathon, the purported Phoenician author of three lost works originally in the Phoenician language, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius of Caesarea.

Sanchuniathon's work is said to be dedicated to "Abibalus king of Berytus"—possibly the Abibaal who was king of Tyre.

In the Amarna letters of 1350 BCE, Tyre has a body of letters (nine, detailed) from the mayor, Abi-Milku, written to Akhenaten.

The subject is often water, wood, and the Habiru overtaking the countryside of the mainland, and how it affects the island-city.