Historical Snapshot: Alexander The Great Captures Tyre
If you’ve ever sat with a Lebanese grandpa or uncle for a while, you’ve probably been told the tale of Alexander and Tyre. The great Greek king of Macedon laid eyes on Tyre during his campaign against the Persians, and what would follow is a classic story of Tyrian defiance and Alexandrian wrath. Buckle up because we’re about to travel back to 332 BC.
At that point in history, Tyre and the rest of Phoenicia were part of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The historic kingdom was incorporated into the empire under the reign of its founder, Cyrus the Great. The Phoenicians came to form an important part of the empire, acting as a gateway into the Mediterranean and an important trade and fleet hub for the emerging Persians.
After a failed rebellion by King Tennos in Sidon around 345 BC, the Persians completely destroyed the city, allowing Tyre to grow into the most prominent city on the Phoencian Mediterranean coast. By Alexander’s arrival in 332, Tyre was home to 40,000 people and acted as a strategic base for the empire.
At the time, the main portion of Tyre was an island 1km off the coast. It had huge 45 meter tall walls that hugged its entire shore line and made it almost impenetrable. Inside the island was a temple dedicated to Melqart, which Alexander the Great requested access to. The Tyrians refused access to Alexander, first telling him to use the inland temple, and the second time killing his delegates and throwing them over their walls and into the depth of the sea. Alexander was obviously quite enraged by this.
Since the Macedonian army could not take the city by conventional means, they had to get creative. Lacking a navy, Alexander the Great ordered the construction of a path across a natural land bridge around two meters deep. The causeway was made of stone and remains to this day. However, when they approached the island the sea proved too deep to traverse.
Failing to reach the walls, Alexander ordered the construction of two great 50 meter tall siege towers to bomb the city. The Tyrians proved too smart for this ploy however. Seeing Alexander’s overextended sea siege, the Tyrians rigged up a former horse transport ship with combustibles such as sulfur and dried branches. Setting it on fire, they sent the ship towards the new Macedonian platform, destroying it and most of the existing siege equipment through a subsequent surprise attack.
Defeated, Alexander reflected and accepted that he would need a navy to take the city. Fortunately, the king of Macedon had just secured the fleets of conquered Byblos, Awrad, and Sidon, in addition to receiving support from the 120-ship strong Cypriot fleet. Leading a fleet of more than 200 ships, Alexander now had a strong hold on the sea.
Immediately, Alexander blockaded the ports of Tyre and began dismantling the walls with crane ships. The Tyrians attempted to resist and launch a counter attack, by targeting the siege equipment while Alexander was supposed to return to the mainland for lunch. Unfortunately, Alexander had decided to remain on this occasion and personally fought back against the intrusion.
Alexander the Great finally breached the island’s walls on the southern side, and launched an invasion into the city. The king was personally involved in the attack, extracting a heavy toll for Tyre’s resistance. After capturing the city, he pardoned everyone inside the Melqart temple, killed 6,000 fighters, crucified 2,000 on the beach, and sold 30,000 into slavery.
