Chapter 35: Tyre
Tyre is an ancient city of Phoenicia, and the city of Tyre extends over the Mediterranean Sea, twenty-three miles (about 37 km) north of Acre, Israel, and twenty miles (about 32 km) south of the city of Sidon. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. biquge。 info The city name "Tyre" means rocky. The city was the city of the ancient Phoenicians and is now the fourth largest city in Lebanon and one of the country's main ports.
Tyre was a gathering of trade from the ancient world, and the Tyre Carterans were among the first to venture out into the Mediterranean for navigation. The colonies they established were all over the islands of the Aegean coast, Greece, the coast of North Africa, Carthage, Sicily, Corsica, Tatisos in Spain, and even Cadiz beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
In Greek mythology, King Phoenicia of Tyre had a beautiful daughter, Europa. One day, when the princess and her maid were gathering flowers by the sea, they were seen by Zeus, the father of the gods, and Zeus immediately fell in love with her. Zeus decided to seduce Europa, so Zeus appeared on the beach in the form of a snow-white bull. The inquisitive Europa saw such a tame beast and mounted on the back of the bull. Unexpectedly, the bull rushed to the sea at a rapid pace, and the panicked Europa could only hold on to the horns of the bull tightly. After the bull brought Europa to Crete, he revealed his true identity to Europa.
After Europa's disappearance, King Phoenicia of Tyre told his sons to go out in search of Europa, and ordered him not to return until he found the princess. As a result, his sons were stranded, and one of them, Cadmus, is said to have brought the Phoenician alphabet to Greece.
Europa and Zeus had three sons: Minos (who later became the ruler of Crete), Radamanthus, and Sarpedon. Historically, the Greeks referred to the continent west of the Aegean Sea as Europa. This also became the origin of the European name. Europa, who gave birth to civilization, and Cadmus, who spread the Phoenician alphabet, both come from Tyre, symbolizing the pivotal role of Tyre in the spread of early civilizations westward to the Aegean Sea (and later to Europe).
Before Alexander the Great connected the outer islands for the siege, the city had two sub-islands and a city center near the coast. Isolated in the sea, the outer islands were fortified by walls up to 150 feet (45.72 meters), and the land city, called Usho, was more like a coastal outskirt than an independent city, and was mainly used to supply the island's wood and drinking water. The two sides usually cooperated with each other, as the islands had wealth from maritime trade, while water, timber and cemeteries were available on land.
In 332 B.C., 16 years ago, Alexander the Great, after a seven-month siege, built a causeway across the sea and conquered Tyre, but Tyre remained a major commercial city until the advent of the Christian era.
Several merchant ships disguised as Kassandrus and Amintas arrived in two batches at Tyre, and the port of Tyre was filled with thousands of merchant ships of various sizes, from which most of the goods from the East were shipped to the Mediterranean coast. However, at this time, Tyre was already inferior to its colony Carthage, which was founded in about 814 BC, but because North Africa and its vicinity were far behind the Asian region where Phoenicia was located, so after hundreds of years of development, Carthage had already become a country of its own, with its own power structure - the Senate, with a strong navy and army, and long-term competition with the Greeks for overseas colonies, before the rise of Rome, Carthage was the most powerful existence in the Western Mediterranean, The strength surpassed that of Greece in overseas colonial power. Phoenicia was surrounded by many powerful states, and later existed as a vassal state of the Persian Empire for a long time, although Persia ruled it loosely, and Tyre had a fairly high degree of autonomy, but it also restrained its development on land, which also affected the expansion of its overseas colonies.
Tyre was attacked by the Egyptians on several occasions; The Assyrian king Salmanasar I, who had been assisted by the Phoenicians in the interior, besieged the city for five years; The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar also returned after thirteen years of siege, but the Tyres agreed to pay tribute in a compromise contract. Eventually, Tyre fell under the rule of the Persians. One of the most severe blows to Tyre in centuries was Alexander's conquest in 332 BC, which not only led to the slaughter of Tyre, but also greatly affected trade and commerce. However, in Cassandro's opinion, Tyre's recovery ability is not ordinarily strong, and the reason why he is besieged by so many forces is precisely because of Tyre's wealth. But in less than twenty years, Tyre had recovered, and years of war and carnage did not stop the merchants. Therefore, businessmen seek profits, and where the benefits are, although the mountains of thousands of people, everything is on the top, and under the deep source, everything is everywhere. …,
Since it is a commercial city, Tyre's inns can be found in all corners of the city, and since everyone knows that Tyre is the core part of Tyre, Kassandras and Amintas both entered the outer islands of Tyre and stationed in the east and west of the city respectively, and each was responsible for spying on intelligence, sabotage, assassination, and other matters.
At this time, Menelaus was cowering in Cyprus, not daring to go to sea at all, he was not a fierce general, and he knew the news of Alexander's victory in Rhodes, so he did not dare to brush the tiger's whiskers. Alexander's fleet was sailing eastward from the southern coast of the island of Cyprus, and when it was 5 kilometers from Tyre, Pyrus came to report.
"Your Majesty, General Cassandrós has asked me to report on the situation in Tyre."
"Say it."
"Tyre has been informed of the arrival of the fleet, Tyre's army has been armed, the island has begun to be defended, and although the city of Tyre has not been blocked, the people who come and go are closely checked. However, Tyre's defense was not large, with about 4,500 Tyre soldiers plus 3,000 mercenaries, including 800 hoplites, 5,000 other infantry, and the rest were archers or javelinmen, and there were basically no cavalry. The army on the island was not large in number, with 3,500 men, but they had some trebuchets, and because Tyre had money, the walls were also well built, which could be a bit of a problem. ”
"Well, what about the reaction of the Senate and the populace?"
The Senate reacted with mixed reactions, with many wanting peace and spending money, others resisting and others surrendering so that the story of 16 years ago would not be repeated. But so far, there is probably no conclusion, but the defense has been strengthened, and it depends on what we do. Most of the people panicked, after all, our army is very strong, and if the resistance fails, the result will be very bad, after all, there are lessons from the past. ”
"Okay, you go back and spy on the information, and report anything to me at any time. In addition, I put up slogans everywhere to persuade me to surrender, spread news favorable to our army, and break the morale of the army and the people. ”
"Yes, Your Majesty, my subordinates retire."
When Pyrus had retired, Alexander and the others began to discuss.
"I think it's best to be forced to land on them, but it's not realistic to want them to surrender before the war starts, they are not soft bones, so we should give him some fierce medicine first, and then know the benefits, so that the hope of success will be greater, and if not, let Amintas and them be ready, and they should cooperate to occupy Tyre." Attalus said.
"I'm for it." Arestonos affirmed.
"I'm in favor of it too." Alexand agreed, and Polybeccon nodded in acquiescence.
"And who's going to make a run?"
"Let me go!" Raomodon said without even thinking about it.
"The future of this trip is unknown, and it won't be good if they are extremely vicious and not good for you!"
"King, I have never made meritorious service since I came to you, let me go this time, and I will try my best to convince them."
"Okay, whether it succeeds or not, you must come back safely, it's a big deal, it's no big deal, don't be a hero." Alexander said in a warning tone, but Raometon was very moved to know that it was the king who cherished him.
"Then let's take advantage of the fact that they haven't fully defended themselves yet, and take the outer islands with lightning speed, but don't kill too much, remember to treat the captives preferentially, and I will put them back and let them break the resistance of the old city of Tyre. When the time comes, you go over and lobby a little more, and I think it will be even better. Of course, a letter of surrender must be sent to the city first. ”