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The strategic importance of

Phoenicia & Egypt

It was unwise for Alexander to cut acrossinto Mesopotamia and Iran withoutcapturing Phoenicia and Egypt because:

- The Phoenician cities & Egypt belongedto the Persian Empire

-The Phoenician cities provided Persiawith a strong fleet in the Mediterranean

- Egypt provided Persia with bases andsupplies for the fleet

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Phoenicia

Alexander received a warm welcome at Byblos

& Sidon

This was not to be the case at Tyre

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Tyre

Alexander asked the Tyrians if he could enter

their city to sacrifice to Herakles

- Herakles was equated to their god Melcarth

-Alexanders way of asking for submission

According to Tyrian custom only the king

could do this so they refused.

An angered Alexander saw this as a

challenge & prepared for a siege

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The ancient writers

Read Arrian Pg 131 132 and note the

reasons Alexander gives for needing to

take Tyre.

The siege of Tyre was a good example of

Alexanders generalship.

- He was continually being faced with new

problems

- Each time he came up with a solution

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The siege of Tyre

One of historys most

dramatic sieges.

Refer to:

- Diodorus Pg 18 21

- Arrian Pg 129 142

- Curtius Pg 54 61

For very detailedaccounts

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A dramatic 7 month siege

The siege involved:

- a mole

- siege engines- fire ships

- savage close rangefighting

- hot sand

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Alexanders mole

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The end result

Alexander finally captured

Tyre.

Diodorus reports that:

- 7000 were killed in final

fighting

- All women & children(13,000) sold into slavery

- All men of military age

(2,000) crucified

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Why was retribution so savage?

Some Macedonianenvoys had had beenopenly murdered bythe Tyrians.

Resistors toAlexander alwaysdealt with mercilessly(eg Thebes, Tyre, &

later Gaza) It would be a

deterrent to thers tohold pout against the

Macedonians.

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Tyre today

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The siege of Gaza

Gaza stood in the way of Alexanders route to

Egypt.

Again, as with other cities that had resisted him,

Alexander dealt with the survivors harshly

Read Curtius account (Pg 64 66)

Hamilton

tells us that Alexander was motivatedperhaps more by the effect its capture would

produce than by its strategic importance.

What do you think?

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Hamilton tells us that Alexander was

motivated perhaps more by the effect its

capture would produce than by its

strategic importance.