On receiving the news of the approach of Alexander III (32; r.336-323 BC) the northern cities of Phoenicia capitulated, but when Alexander tried to enter Tyre on the pretext that he wished to offer sacrifice to Melqart (the Tyrian Hercules), the city resisted. Alexander sent heralds into the city in the hope that they could persuade the Tyrians to surrender, but the heralds were executed and thrown into the sea.
About half a mile (≈0.8 km) of sea separated the Tyrians from the Macedonian army. Alexander set his soldiers to build a causeway from the mainland out to the island. For seven months the Greeks piled up sand and rock. As the mole approached the city, however, Tyrian ships began to harass the workers. Alexander erected two towers, with hides and canvases to shield the workers. The Tyrians responded to this by sending a fire-ship to burn the towers to the ground.
However, the mole did not prove to be the deciding factor, since the city walls, which rose 160 feet (≈49 metres) above the point of attack, were the most heavily fortified at that very point and could not be shaken by battering rams. Instead, critical support came from the ships of the Cypriots and Phoenicians of the cities that had surrendered.
The Tyrians were content to use their ships simply to block the harbour entrances. Using his fleet to assail the walls, Alexander found that the south side of the city had the weakest fortifications, and these he assaulted until a breach occurred. Eight thousand Tyrians are said to have perished during the sack, and 30,000 were sold into slavery. Gaza, too, resisted Alexander, but the city fell after only two months.
After Alexander’s death Phoenicia became the battlefield in the wars between his successors. In 320 BC Laomedon (4th century BC) had Syria and Phoenicia taken from him by Ptolemy-I (c.84; r.305-283 BC). Tyre, once more the leading city of Phoenicia, was captured by Antigonus-I (c.81; r.306-301 BC) in 315 BC; by Ptolemy-I in 307 BC; by Demetrius-I Poliorcetes (54; r.294-288 BC; d.283 BC), the son of Antigonus, in 301 BC; and again by Ptolemy-I in 287 BC. During the Syrian wars (274-168 BC) possession of Sidon and Akko passed many times between Egypt and Syria, but by 197 BC Phoenicia was firmly in the possession of the Seleucids.
The region became increasingly Hellenized, although Tyre became autonomous in 126 BC, followed by Sidon in 111 BC. Phoenicia was seized by Tigranes II (85; r.95-55 BC) from 82 until 69 BC, when he was defeated by Lucullus (c.118-c.57 BC). In 65 BC Pompey (106-48 BC) incorporated Phoenicia as part of the Roman province of Syria.
Leave a Reply