Alexander preparing for the siege of Tyre

After the Battle of Issus, Alexander was more determined than ever to take all the harbors of the eastern Mediterranean to outmaneuver the Persian maritime power. He marched to Marathus (modern Amrit) and from there onward to Byblos, who both surrendered. 

The next famous city on Alexander’s route was Sidon, whose inhabitants were only too happy to get rid of their Persian satrap, Straton. They welcomed the Macedonian king as their liberator. A new ruler had to be found, and Hephaistion was instructed to search for the appropriate candidate. King Abdalonymus was a respectable and honest man, and the people loved him. Out of gratitude for this appointment, Abdalonymus, at a later age, commissioned the famous Alexander sarcophagus that is now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul.  

As Alexander marched further south, he reached powerful Phoenician Tyre. The city had prospered because of its trade in purple dye, which was highly valued throughout the ancient world. Already in the early 6^th century BC, this richness had attracted the attention of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. He laid siege to Tyre for 13 years without success. This simply illustrates the challenges Alexander was about to face.  

Tyre was of strategic importance, a massive fortress island surrounded by well-defended high walls separated from the mainland by a deep channel. It had two natural harbors, one on the north side facing Sidon and another one south looking towards Egypt. The Tyrians felt pretty secure since they enjoyed the protection of a substantial Persian fleet in both ports. 

Before reaching the city, Alexander was met by its envoys, stating that they would abide by any of his instructions. The Macedonian king gracefully thanked the representatives and expressed his wish to enter Tyre to sacrifice to Heracles, who was, in fact, their god Melqarth or Baal. Basically, the Tyrians accepted Alexander’s arrival but refused to admit him or his Macedonians inside their fortress on the island. 

Alexander needed to take Tyre to safeguard his back on his march further south to Egypt. The only way was to lay siege to the city – a tremendous and complicated task because he had disbanded most of his own fleet and the remaining ships were no match to the Persian forces. Clearly, the fortress could not be taken from the sea alone, and thus Alexander decided to build a causeway to connect the island to the mainland. It was a tedious and dangerous operation as the Tyrians had no intention to let this happen. 

Construction went underway and progressed steadily in the shallow waters near the coastline. Stones from the old city of Tyre were used for the foundation of the mole, and piles were driven into the mud to keep the stones in place (see: Alexander's Isthmus, Tyre, Lebanon). But as the Macedonians reached deeper water, matters changed dramatically. Progress slowed down because many more stones were needed to fill the depth while the Tyrian ships could now approach the causeway and attack the exposed workers. In response, Alexander built two towers mounted with artillery and faced them with hides to somehow protect his soldiers on the mole. The army could drive the enemy away from their precarious shelter with their own missiles. 

The Tyrians were not to be discouraged and decided to take a cattle-ship and stuff it with dry brushwood and straw. They added two masts to create a higher pile of inflammable material, including pitch and sulfur, to fan the fire. They also attached caldrons filled with liquids that could be poured onto the fire to increase its fury. To ensure these vessels would come as close as possible to the causeway, they added heavy ballast in the aft section to lift the bows to a maximum. Triremes pulled these burning vessels close to the Macedonia towers, and as they caught fire, the Tyrians withdrew immediately to save themselves. The fire was an absolute inferno. 

Although this attack meant a severe setback, it would not deter Alexander from executing his plan. Instead of repairing the substantial devastation, he started the works all over again. He built a broader mole at the shoreside with enough space for more towers and instructed his engineers to construct new engines.

  

Alexander, as always, saw the greater picture. He moved back to Sidon to gather as many ships as possible to annihilate the enemy navy since that was imperative to conquer Tyre. At this stage, the king was joined by two Persian satraps, who, after learning that Aradus and Byblos were in Macedonian hands, decided to side with Alexander. Sidon contributed with its own warships, bringing the total Phoenician ships to about eighty. After his victory at Issus and having taken Phoenicia, Alexander’s fleet was spontaneously joined by Rhodes with ten ships, three ships from Soli and Mallus, and ten more from Lycia. The king of Cyprus also decided to join his forces to Alexander’s and sailed to Sidon with some 120 ships. With so many of these previously Persian allies now fighting on Alexander’s side, the situation of the Macedonians suddenly looked much better. 

This most certainly was the turning point in the entire siege! 

Continued in Alexander besieging Tyre.

[Pictures from World History, Dan Diffendale (Melquart) and United States Military Academy, Dept of History (map)]

The sanctuary of Astarte in Motya

The island of Motya (modern Mozia) off the west coast of Sicily holds several remarkable places of interest: the Villa Withaker with its museum, the Phoenician or Punic cemetery, and the sanctuary of Khoton dedicated to the goddess Astarte.

Joseph Whitaker was an intellectual entrepreneur from Palermo who excavated the island in the first two decades of the 20th century. He organized his rich collection of ceramics, glass, coins, vases, jewelry, terracotta artefacts, and mosaics in separate rooms of his estate. This display shows how a private collector could present his precious finds to his friends and guests. At the same time, it is a unique view of archaeology on Motya that yielded so many Punic artifacts.

The museum's pride is the white marble statue of a charioteer that was found buried in a shallow grave on the road to the sanctuary (see: Amazing charioteers). Remarkably, this statue was made almost simultaneously as the bronze charioteer of Delphi, whose body was more static and elongated, probably to fit better inside his chariot.

 

When visiting the Tophet, the Punic cemetery at the northern end of the island, one can only be impressed by the many child graves. The remains were either put inside a terracotta urn or buried in a rectangular box whose lids are generally lost. A very moving confrontation! The nearby necropolis was used from the end of the 8th century until the end of the 6th century BC.

At the seaside, one recognizes the two gate towers from the 5th century BC. Here, we have to imagine the now inundated road that is connected to the mainland. By low tide, carts with larger wheels could cross the isthmus, giving the impression to walk on water. It has been dated to the 6th-5th century BC.

 

At the other end of the island, the artificial basin of Khoton has been exposed, actually a sacred area that goes back to the 8th century BC. It is here that a large temple facing the water was discovered. Inside this temple, there were initially two upright steles and an obelisk. Viewing the night sky at the winter equinox, the stones framed the constellation of Orion, which corresponds to the Phoenician god Baal. During the spring equinox, the temple's portal framed the same divinity, together with Venus, the Phoenician Astarte. Terracotta remains of a female statue were unearthed inside the temple. They belonged to the goddess Astarte, establishing that the temple was dedicated to her.

 

Also known as Anahita, Innana, or Ishtar, Astarte embodies the qualities of water, especially the fertilizing flow of water (see: The powerful goddess Anahita in Persia). The pool in front of her temple clearly refers to these qualities. She is also linked to the night sky, fertility, fecundity, and war. Besides Babylon, her main centers of worship in and around the Mediterranean were Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos, as well as Malta and Sardinia. As mentioned in my post about Anahita in Persia, we should remember that Alexander must have been well-aware of the role Anahita played in the realm of the Persian gods. Like so many other Greeks of his days, he may have assimilated her with Aphrodite.

During the latest excavation campaign, a beautiful head of the goddess Astarte was found. It was made of terracotta covered with a shiny layer of white on her face, red for her curly hair, and gold for her divine diadem. It could be dated to between 520 and 480 BC. The head was discovered inside a round votive pit and a relief rosette that shows traces of gilding. The rosette is one of the most widespread and popular symbols in the eastern Mediterranean and further inland, confirming the Phoenician goddess's presence. Also, the mold of a dolphin with a large naive eye was discovered.

The face of Astarte represents an astral goddess (based on the rosette) and a marine goddess (based on the dolphin). She is the Lady of life, goddess of fertility, love, and the sea and navigation, of fresh and seawater. The terracotta is Greek, although made in Sicily as was customarily done by the Phoenicians of Motya.

Recent archaeological investigations have shed new light on Motya as the oldest city in Sicily. This sacred area of the Kothon is set around a rectangular pool 52.5 m long. It was bordered by a circular temenos measuring 118 m in diameter, encircling three larger temples. The Kothon was dedicated to Baal, the main Phoenician god, lord of the sea, god of the storm and fertility, and to his companion, the goddess Astarte who had her own little temple there. Eventually, the mighty Astarte/Aphrodite of Motya survived as she merged with the goddesses of the peoples who already lived here.

 

Once again, it makes me wonder how much Alexander knew about these western territories and their beliefs. The fact is that we may never find the answer.

[Except for the first two pictures, the next ones come from The Archaeology News Network]

From Thutmosis III to Alexander III

History, as it is generally taught in our schooling system, is a mere succession of names and dates, of kings and battlefields, of peace treaties and foreign invasions. It usually starts with rough sketches of prehistoric times, to be soon followed by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, till after the separation of east and west we soon get to the Middle Ages. In these dull lessons, each civilization was compartmented, one making place for the next. This misconception, unfortunately, is one that we carry along for the rest of our life. How wrong this is!

It is not so long ago that I discovered that rather than a vertical list of events, history is an exciting world spreading horizontally, overlapping east and west where each kingdom ultimately "borrowed" and used knowledge from their enemies in newly conquered territories. Since then, I keep marveling at this ever expanding ancient world.

Oliver Stone in his Alexander movie puts a remarkable idea in the mouth of Aristotle: that of looking at the Middle (Mediterranean) Sea as a frog pond. I think this is a fairly truthful picture, as “frogs” from all the harbors and cities bordering the Mediterranean jumped back and forth over the centuries. We have no idea of the intense traffic of ships ferrying goods (and ideas) from one place to the next, or sailing up main rivers to reach further inland destinations. It was not all pillage and warfare, there definitely was commerce, the very keystone of a flourishing economy. This is something every king or citizen understood and worked for.

It so happened that I was confronted with Thutmosis III, pharaoh of Egypt from 1479 BC to 1425 BC reigning partially in the shadow of his co-regent and aunt, the exceptional Queen Hatshepsut. As strange as it may seem and although Thutmosis III lived more than a thousand years before Alexander the Great, he got my undivided attention when I learned about the new equipment he used in his army and the talent he developed in his conquests. Immediately, I made the link with Alexander who is never far away in my thoughts anyway.

There is the case of the Battle of Megiddo when Thutmosis fights against rebellious Canaanites led by the King of Kadesh. Here, Thutmosis used the composite bow for the first time and he was able to push the Canaanites back inside the city walls. As a consequence, Megiddo was kept under siege for seven months and when the city finally surrendered, Thutmosis had to solve another problem: how to govern a city so far away from his native Egypt. He decided to take with him all the children of the noblemen in order to give them a proper Egyptian education; they would eventually return to their hometowns as true Egyptians. By doing so, he obviously kept the elders and nobles under control. Inevitably this action reminded me of Alexander who created an army of 30,000 Persian boys, sons of prominent leaders and members of the local nobility, to be drilled and educated the Macedonian way. His goal was the same as that of Thutmosis: to control the influential class of natives and using the young men to his own benefit. Maybe that was a generally accepted procedure but even in antiquity historians presented Alexander’s action as an exceptional move and even as an innovation.

[Click here to read two interesting article published in Ancient History about this battle of Thutmosis and the site of Megggido]

The other fact that made me link Thutmosis to Alexander was Thutmosis’ attack on Mitanni after having taken control of Syria. The pharaoh sailed from Egypt to Byblos where he disassembled his boats and took them with him knowing that he had to cross the Euphrates River later on. At the banks of the river, he had his ships reassembled to put his men and horses across. Amazingly enough, the pharaoh took the Mitannian King entirely by surprise for he was not expecting an invasion at all. Mitanni had no defense line or walls, they only could try to stop the Egyptians from crossing the Euphrates – a futile attempt as it turned out. This story reminded me of course of Alexander crossing the many rivers in India where he regularly dismantled and reassembled his ships. I thought this was a novelty but now I hear that the Egyptians used the same technique tens of centuries earlier! Of course, this doesn’t make Alexander less of a genius in my eyes for after all there is still a difference between knowing the technique and implementing it. Maybe the very idea had been forgotten meanwhile?

So much of the knowledge from the ancients has been lost over the centuries that we will never know how much they really knew and how much information was exchanged between the different civilizations.

[Picture of Thutmosis III at the Temple of Karnak]