Hiram I of Tire

Hiram I, also transcribed as Hirán I, was king of the Phoenician city of Tire between 969 and 939 B.C. c. He succeeded his father Abibaal as king of Tyre, and during his reign his city grew from being a satellite town of the neighboring city of Sidon to one of the major Phoenician cities. Under Hiram's rule, a revolt was put down in the first Tyrian colony, the North African city of Utica, located near the site of the future Carthage.

Also according to what the Bible says (2nd Book of Samuel, chapter five) King Hiram also helped King David by sending people who knew how to build with wood and stone. Through them he sent wood to build a palace for David in Jerusalem.

According to the Bible (1st Book of Kings, chapter 5), Hiram sent messengers to Solomon to offer his respects after he was crowned David's successor, and after becoming the most powerful ruler in the region, by filling the vacuum left by Egypt and Assyria. Through his alliance with Solomon, Hiram was able to access Egyptian, Arabian, and Mesopotamian markets. The two kings combined efforts to create a new trade route that would connect the distant countries of Sheba and Ofir (probably Yemen and Somalia), through the port of Esyon-Gueber, where today stands the Eilat city.

To build the Temple in Jerusalem that he planned to consecrate to Yahveh, Solomon needed fine wood, so he traded with Hiram, exchanging twenty thousand loads of wheat and twenty thousand measures of oil for the prized cedar wood from Lebanon. Solomon's and Hiram's workers worked together, extracting wood and cutting stone in the quarries, to finish the temple.

Josephus (Against Apion i. 17) also wrote that Hiram enlarged the Tyrian ports, while uniting the two islands where the city was located, and erecting a royal palace and a temple dedicated to to Melqart. Modern archeology has found no evidence of these works.

He was succeeded as king of Tire by Baal-Eser I (935-919 BC).