Former studies of sea level rise (RSLR) at Tyre during the antiquity provide seemingly discrepant results. To reconcile previous observations we have inventoried markers of sea level along the peninsula of Tyre. Roman/Byzantine breakwaters and fish tanks have only experienced limited submersion. Sea level stability allowed the formation of well-developed notches and shore platforms on natural and anthropogenic substrates. In contrast, Phoenician quarries and breakwaters, document ~2 m of relative sea level rise, with no markers of former shoreline stability. The observed +40 cm of rise in sea level since the late Antiquity is consistent with the previously documented 50±10 cm regional amount of sea level rise in the Eastern Mediterranean. We document an earlier~2 m RSLR, which implies the paradoxical foundering of the bedrock of Tyre, within the regional context of a Lebanese coast mostly affected by tectonic uplift over the past millennia. We review the potential contribution of local tectonics to the foundering of Tyre.