Siege of Tyre, 332 BC
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Ancient Era
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20 comments
| Citizens versus Alexander the Great: The Tyrian citizens refuse to surrender their walled, island fortress to a Macedonian army under Alexander. Which side will prove to be overconfident in their abilities? Click on images below to view PowerPoint presentation. | Legend |
 Tyre was under complete siege a total of six times, Alexander being the only one to capture the island fortress. This is impressive, considering that one of the sieges took place in the twelfth century where technology far outmatched the Macedonians.
Persistence comes to mind when explaining why Alexander was able to conquer Tyre while others were not. In Battles that Changed Warfare 1457 BC – AD 1991, DeVries plays with a theory that Alexander’s new torsion catapults played a decisive role. The untrained citizens of Tyre compared to its other sieges must have also played a part; the breach in the south was easily overrun by veteran Macedonian forces.
 It is always precarious to try and animate – that is show rapid, constant movement – a siege in which both sides sit still. Every siege I animate is a new challenge but I feel my first two, Tyre and Alesia, have been up to standards. By completing this animation I have completed the first commander spotlight in which I animate three battles fought by the same commander. A note on casualties: figures only include casualties suffered before the city surrendered and the Tyrian percentage only accounts for men of military age.
- Jonathan Webb
Works Consulted
Cummins, Joseph. Turn Around and Run Like Hell: Amazing Stories of Unconventional Military Strategies that Worked. London: Murdoch, 2007.
DeVries, Kelly. “Siege of Tyre, 332 BC.” In Battles that Changed Warfare 1457 BC – AD 1991, 28-37.London: Amber, 2008.
Fuller, J.F.C. The Generalship of Alexander the Great. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1958.
Warry, John. Warfare in the Classical World. London: Salamander, 1980
Images
Alexander the Great: http://www.wpclipart.com/famous/politial/
Macedonian infantry: http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/the-macedonian-phalanx/
Triremes: http://joseph_berrigan.tripod.com/ancientbabylon/id34.html
Tyrian men of military age: http://anthropology.net/2007/05/29/how-alexander-the-great-used-holocene-morphogenesis-to-capture-tyre/
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            Tags: 300s BC, Alexander the Great, amphibious landing, Ancient Era, archer, catapult, infantry, Macedonians, modern day Lebanon, naval, Season 5, siege, trireme, Tyrians, Western Asia
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20 Comments to “Siege of Tyre, 332 BC”
The information about Tyre being the only city on the coast to oppose Alexander is not correct. The city of Gaza held out for two months under Batis only to meet a similar fate; a general massacre and the brave Persian commander emulating Hektor; being dragged behind a chariot.
By Shahrbaraz on Oct 8, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Gaza did also oppose Alexander; this will be corrected in the next wave of edits. In the near future, I hope to enlist a research assistant and general editor to ensure no errors slip through into the animations.
By Jonathan Webb on Oct 17, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Some of your explanation of how the battle proceeded is incorrect. The Macedonians never manage to create a breach in the wall facing the mole, according to Arrian the wall at this point was a 150 feet tall and porportionally think and although they do attempt to breach it with rams, they do not make a mark. It is true however that Alexander does attempt to assault this part of the wall (he does this mainly by usuing ladders and is reported by Diodorus) but still fails. The probing itself was not immediate too, once the ships manage to create a breach in the south wall Alexander immediately sends a battalion to try to attack it and are defeated (Diodorus tells us that at this point Alexander considered giving up the siege). So Alexander waits three days, for better weather, then he sends in his ships with torsion catapults mounted on them to enlarge the breach he then runs a gangway from the boats to the breach and leads his hyspastists through it (according to Arrian Alexander was the second man through).
By Mason on Dec 4, 2009 at 12:29 am
You didnt write much, and looks like most of it is incorrect. Way to go on informing the public about Greek history.
By Helen on Apr 27, 2010 at 1:49 am
Mason: Perhaps my diction is a little unclear and will be reconsidered.
Helen: If you are looking for a website devoted to Greek history, you are on the wrong site. This site is devoted to military history, strategy and tactics and consciously omits lengthy prose unless it is absolutely essential to the battle’s events or results.
As a whole, yes, the animation does not feature a great deal of text but I think you’re missing the website’s concept. There are a great deal of books which cover any single battle extensively but relatively few short, concise accounts which depict all the vital aspects of the battle without boring or over-loading the reader.
As I’ve stated in numerous posts before, accounts for battles (especially those two thousand years ago) differ greatly depending on sources used. For this battle, a list of works consulted can be found here: http://www.theartofbattle.com/works-consulted.
By Jonathan Webb on Apr 28, 2010 at 3:24 am
Hey, so I’ve read that Alexander only conquered Tyre because a “silver shield” shot a beam of light on section of the walls where then Alexander’s men stormed the city? Any info on this?
FYI - Helen, that is one harsh comment.
By James on May 19, 2010 at 7:46 am
It would be much more accurate if you refered to Alexander’s army as Greek army, like you do for the army in the battle of Marathon, and not as Macedonian.
Alexander after defeating all the other Greeks united them under his command and marched against Persia with the intend to free the greek cities in Minor Asia and stop the recurring attacks of the Persian Empire against Greece.
By Stamatis on May 26, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Pretty cool. To all other negative comments if you think you’re all smart and correct lets see you guys make a website and inform people. This man is trying to do all he can to educate people and while he may not be perfect at least he’s trying to do his best. Thanks Mr. Webb.
By Panzer on May 27, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Thanks Panzer. I certainly am not perfect!
By Jonathan Webb on Jun 1, 2010 at 3:16 am
For people who do not have a BA in miltary history this site is a goldmine
TYVM for all your hard work. For those that do have a BA in miltary history, also a goldmine due to compression and the need to summarize, a nit pickers paradise. To any who disagree with presented facts/data, Cite your sources or shut up and go whine in a forum with all the others. According to me, the whiners suffered a humiliating loss at the battle of forum and should be whipped from the page with due haste. Then again, the whiners may cite differently. To the victor go the rights to history.
By Kieran on Jul 26, 2010 at 2:04 am
I really liked this page. It was very helpful and I could understand it
By emilia on Mar 8, 2011 at 2:04 am
this was a great website!
By Charlie on Mar 9, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Hola amigo! Tengo ir nadar en la clase de matematicas porque yo quiero a tomar un helado.
By Juliann Barbee on Mar 16, 2011 at 2:42 pm
this website was so helpful!
By holly on Mar 16, 2011 at 6:23 pm
I love love LOVE this website!!!! Long Live John Webb!!! Thanks a lot man. I wanna see more Persian victory battles though, all you have is losses!!
By Mike Rakshan on May 16, 2011 at 6:46 am
I have to say that I love your site.
But I can also see that there are some mistakes and that some people were having a “debate” about it.
Well, one side is that you can’t be perfect, you are trying to do the best you can in your field, on the other hand there is someone who is pointing a mistake and from my point of view this can make you only better. Search for more info, check the historical records and this can only makes you better. Last thing I have to say is that nobody have to make his website to point an inacurate information.
Once again, I really love your site and I think that with a lil help this can become #1 site in the field
By Nikolaos on Jul 5, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Your presentations on battles is fantastic. I think you have found the optimum between completeness, clarity and conciseness. I learn a lot from this sites and for many battles I now have a more clear picture of the order in which things happened.
One small tip, mention the date in the slide, especially if it is a multiple-day battle.
Keep up the good work!
By Christiaan Balke on Oct 24, 2011 at 9:01 pm
I like this animations, mainly because they help my imagination to realize how it could have been those days.
I lately read a book from a writer from italy, valerio manfredi and he managed to put this happening in a great story while keeping the facts.
this brought me to the idea to make a reconstruction of the siege with the game 0AD: http://www.wildfiregames.com/0ad
i will put it online soon…
keep up the great work
By Matthijs de Rijk on Dec 2, 2011 at 8:51 pm
In one slide you show two Citizens’ ships sling shooting a horse barge into the Mole. You have the two ships moving together north. However I’m inclined to think that the two ships would sling the barge and then row in opposite directions to gain more momentum for the barge.
By Mike on Dec 3, 2011 at 1:36 am
Oh BTW, I love this site. I play a lot of strategy games like the Total War series and I want to say that every single one of your tactics wins me battles. I’ve tried them all and I have found them to be invaluable during gameplay.
Anyone who loves this kind of stuff, please check out the Total War games. They demonstrate the most realistic battle scenarios in any PC game. The latest is Shogun 2. Each new Total War game the AI seems to be getting better in each new release.
By Mike on Dec 3, 2011 at 1:48 am