Siege of Tyre - Alexander

• Alexander's request to the Tyrians


  Allow him access to the island to make sacrifice to a God in the temple there
• The Tyrians did not want to upset their king, Darius, and politely declined Alexander's request
• Alexander was furious and summoned his leading officers to his tent and began to make plans to lay siege to the city
• Alexander's claim

  He had a dream in which Heracles took him by the hand and led him into Tyre
• How Alexander got to Tyre

  1. Chose the short but deep route

  2. Built a causeway made out of rocks and stones taken from the buildings of Old Tyre
• As the causeway moved closer to the island, the Tyrians launched several missiles
• Alexander's response

  1. Had his soldiers build 2 mobile siege towers

  2. Covered them with wet hides to protect against enemy arrows

  3. Placed catapults and ballista's on top to hurl rocks at the city walls
• The Tyrians sent ships that they set on fire up to the wooden towers in order to destroy the towers and equipment
• Alexander's next action

  1. Ordered his men to build a second causeway

  2. Used trees that were dumped into the water to fill up the depth
• Cyprus sent a fleet of 120 vessels to join Alexander and so did some Greek city states in Ionia and Phonecia
• Soon Alexander had 250 ships on his side
• Tyre's ports

  • Harbour of Sidon in the north
  • Harbour of Egypt in the south
• Alexander was able to blockade both ports in Tyre to ensure no one could go in and out
• Alexander put siege engines on rafts anchored to the sea bed
• The Tyrians tried to destroy these ships and floating siege engines, even trying to dive in underneath the water to cut the anchor cables, but Alexander replaced them with chains
• The Tyrians tried to destroy the Cypriot fleet by planning an attack at night, however Alexander was quickly woken up and pulled together all the ships he could
• Alexander got these ships to block the northern harbour so the Tyrians could not go out and seek help, and the rest of the ships were attacked
• When Alexander finally made his way to the walls of Tyre, the walls were so strong that he could not find a way through
• Alexander sailed around to find a weaker spot in the wall and managed to crack the wall in the Southern spot with missiles, causing a large section to collapse
• The Tyrians hurled whatever they could over the walls to keep the Macedonians from entering, including hot sand that got into the armour and burned them severely
• Alexander, in his anger, marched many men onto the wall, throwing them off into the sea
• Nearly 8,000 Tyrians died in the siege, which lasted for 7 months
• Alexander pardoned higher up officials such as the king and those that sought sanctuary in the temple of Heracles but enslaved around 30,000