Mattan I

Mattan I

Mattan, Matan, or Mittin ruled Tyre from 840 to 832 BC, succeeding his father Baal-Eser II. He was the father of Pygmalion, king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC, and of Dido, the legendary queen of Carthage. The primary information related to Mattan I comes from Josephus’s citation of the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus in Against Apion i.18. Here it is said that "Badezorus was succeeded by Matgenus 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 of F. 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 of Carthage in 814 BC. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Mattan I has received more than 48,997 page views. His biography is available in 18 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 16 in 2019). Mattan I is the 12,160th most popular politician (down from 11,772nd in 2019).