Tyre 332 BC Tyre 332 BC Read paul

Tyre 332 BC

Tyre 332 BC Read paul artus p 52, ‘Speech before Tyre’ Alexander wanted to take over Tyre because he asked if he could sacrifice to their god Melcarth (Heracles) on their island. They said only their king could. He was annoyed at this. The advantages for taking over Tyre were: • To secure the phonecian coast • To take away all the ports of the Persian fleet – to make the Persian fleet useless • To allow him to continue to Egypt • Egypt was a wealthy land that would welcome Alexander with open arms.

What was Tyre? • Old city on the mainland was abandoned – where Dido was originally from. • New city built was on an island two miles long and separated from the coast by 800 m – Walls were 150 feet high • Had two harbours (Sidonian harbour and Egyptian harbour)

You are Alexander • A place you want to attack (tyre) is on an island. You don’t have a fleet. What do you do? Tyre

Alexander builds a mole to Tyre!

Alexander builds a mole to Tyre! • Mole was designed to be 200 feet wide and was built by driving piles into the bottom and filling in the space with stones, earth, and wood • Entire trees, - branches, leaves, and all - were thrown beside the piles to serve as a breakwall • Stone was hauled in from the old city Alexander’s original • “A city and a forest were exhausted mole has grown over the centuries to build this wonderful mole. ” – Theodore Dodge, Alexander, 330. and is now a broad landbridge with roads and buildings on it.

The Tyrians were attacking Alexanders’ men who were building the mole, with missiles Missile What would you do to prevent this?

So Alexander built 2 towers with catapults on the end of the mole to fend off attacks and protect his men missile What would you do, if you were on the Tyrian side, to Stop the Macedonians counter attack?

Tyrians launched a fire ship to destroy the towers

Fire ship burned down the towers and cracked the end of the mole so that it later washed away by waves The work of months was lost in an hour, but Alexander began building another, better mole

Tyrian Fire Ship Burns the Towers

Tyre • Phonecian fleets of Sidon, Aradus, and Byblos sent help to Alexander. This made a fleet of over 200 ships placed them off the Sidonian and Egyptian harbours • The ships Blockaded the Tyrian fleet in its harbours and now could attack the city’s walls

Tyre • Finally the mole reached Tyre. Ships with seige engines penetrated the wall on the side toward Egypt • The fleet had captured the north and south fronts of the city • Ladders were thrown up against the walls and the Macedonians burst in 5 th Century Greek Battering Ram

Tyre • After a seven month battle, Tyre fell. • 8, 000 Tyrians were killed in the fighting – 2, 000 more were hung afterwards – 30, 000 sold into slavery • 400 Macedonians were killed in the siege and just 20 in the assault

Tyre • “… if Alexander deserves permanent commemoration as a general, then it is above all in his capacity as a besieger, and of all his sieges Tyre was his masterpiece. ” – Paul Cartledge, Alexander the Great, 147 see Paul Artus p 51. copy down ‘arrival at tyre’ and ‘a stroke of luck’ then summarise ‘attack successful’

tyre • . . MY VIDEOSyoutube videos for teachingBBC - In the footsteps of Alexander (Issus & Tyre) 5. flv