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Alexander the Great was one of history’s most successful military leaders. His empire extended from western Greece to eastern India. Tyre was a mighty city-state located off the coast of modern-day Lebanon. The Tyrians became very wealthy through maritime commerce and the production of purple dye from Murex shellfish. They established, among others, Carthage on the coast of North Africa, which later grew into a maritime superpower. Tyre was comprised of two sections. Old Tyre was situated on Lebanon’s coast. On a small island 800 meters (874 yards) from the coast, New Tyre was constructed. The island was heavily fortified with thick walls and towers of great height. New Tyre was thought to be impregnable. Alexander the Great, however, disagreed.
Tyre refused Alexander the Great’s surrender
In 333 B.C., Alexander the Great defeated Darius III and advanced rapidly toward Egypt. To the young king, coastal cities such as Sidon and Byblos submitted.
The Tyrians, however, were confident that their walls could withstand any army.
Tyre’s walls were 45 meters (150 feet) tall. In addition, they anticipated assistance from Carthage, their former colony and a formidable ally. Also, King Darius III of Persia lost a battle but not the war.
Since Tyre served as a Persian naval port, it posed a threat to Alexander’s rear. Alexander needed to conquer this formidable city. When Alexander approached the Tyrians with a surrender proposal, his envoys were murdered. Alexander told the Tyrians that they may be on an island, but he would ensure that they become a part of the continent.
The historic siege of Tyre
Alexander’s forces surprised the Tyrians by constructing two enormous causeways leading to New Tyre. Thus, Alexander was able to position siege towers within firing range of the city walls. The engineers of Alexander constructed two enormous siege towers. The towers measured 50 meters (160 feet) in height. They were constructed from wood and protected from fire with rawhides. On top of the towers were catapults and ballistae.
The Tyrians counterattacked by loading an old barge with incendiary materials, including dry wood, sulfur, and oil, and crashing it into the besieging towers, causing them to catch fire and collapse. In addition, the Tyrian ships constantly harassed the workers constructing the causeways.
In addition, the progress was slowed by Arabic raids on Alexander’s workers gathering wood for the siege in the nearby mountains. Alexander, a man incapable of being deterred by such obstacles, adapted. He led a punitive expedition into the mountains to eliminate Arabic tribesmen and ensure a steady supply of wood. Alexander, realizing the conquest of Tyre was impossible without control of the seas, traveled north to Byblos and Sidon to assemble a navy.
The Phoenicians of Byblos, Sidon, and Arwad furnished him with eighty war galleys manned by skilled crews. Hearing of Alexander’s string of military victories, the king of Cyprus sent him 120 galleys. Twenty-three additional galleys arrived from Greece. Alexander’s fleet grew from zero to 223 warships overnight, allowing him to blockade Tyre by sea.
Tyre was conquered seven months later.
Alexander the Great’s new navy compelled the Tyrian ships to remain in their harbors, protected by the city walls. The island’s causeways have been completed. The city’s walls were bombarded as siege towers were constructed. Alexander also laid siege to the city from his ships. After several attempts, his forces discovered weaknesses in the southern city walls. After seven months of siege, the walls of New Tyre were breached, and the Greeks and Macedonians wreaked havoc on the city, as was typical following lengthy sieges.
Women in Tyria were raped. During the siege, over 6,000 Tyrians were killed, 2,000 were crucified on the beach, and 30,000 were sold as slaves.
The city of Tyre was destroyed.
Supposedly, Alexander’s forces lost only 400 men. Thus, Alexander the Great sent a clear message to other powerful Mediterranean cities: ‘Join me, and you will prosper; resist, and I will raze you to the ground.’
Conclusion
What then occurred when an unstoppable conqueror attacked an impregnable city? Tyre’s siege became legendary. Before the siege, Tyre was an island; afterward, it became a peninsula. Alexander took seven months to conquer Tyre, demolish the city, and kill or enslave its citizens. Alexander founded Alexandria in Egypt because his empire required a powerful trading hub and Tyre had been destroyed.
Alexandria became a sophisticated and wealthy capital, with the Tower of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the Library of Alexandria, one of the greatest libraries of antiquity, as its crowning achievements.
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