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The Road Across the Sea
For seven brutal months, a walled city dared to resist the unstoppable force of Alexander the Great.
For seven months in 332 BCE, the unstoppable force of Alexander the Great of Macedonia confronted the unyielding Phoenician city of Tyre. For Tyre was not just a city, but an island fortress, protected by massive walls and an inhospitable sea, a city never taken in battle.
What resulted in those seven months was not only a contest of wills and war waged with sword and flame, but one fought also with determination, boldness, and a remarkable feat of engineering ingenuity that changed the course of ancient history.
“You indeed, relying on your situation, because you live on an island, despise this army of foot‑soldiers, but I will soon show you that you are on the mainland. Therefore I want you to know that I will either enter your city or besiege it.” Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, Loeb Classical Library
Alexander the Great’s victory over Darius III at the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE opened the way to Phoenicia and the eastern Mediterranean. Alexander’s goal was to fulfill his father Philip II of Macedon’s ambition to conquer Persia, and he moved his 35,000–40,000 man army south to secure the Persian coastal cities.
