France on Tyre- 7

From France on Tyre, (p297)
Mark does not tell us that Jesus visited Tyre itself, merely its 'horia' (region), the administrative district for which it was responsible. Mark's Jesus (is this a comparison to John's Gospel and Jesus's trips to Jerusalem?) is not generally a frequenter of cities, still less pagan ones, but remains out in the countryside (cf. 8.27) Tyre, whose territory adjoined northern Galilee, had long been an important trading city. It had close links with Palestine, particularly under Herod the Great, and its coinage was widely circulated there; indeed, it exercised considerable economic dominance over the neighbouring area of Galilee (Stock 210- 13). But it was clearly foreign territory, and Josephus, Ap. 1.70, describes the Tyrians as 'notoriously our bitterest enemies'.