What if Alexander, the Great, had failed to conquer the city-state of Tyre in 332 BCE? Could Tyre become an "eastern Carthage" of sorts, if it manages to push back further invasion attempts by the diadochi?
I don't recall this. Any source? I may be forgetting. Could you be confusing Alexander with Augustus? Something similar happened to him at Philippi.Didn't they almost kill him with a night raid that only failed because he switched tents? Now that would have serious implications.
I don't recall this. Any source? I may be forgetting. Could you be confusing Alexander with Augustus? Something similar happened to him at Philippi.
I may be misreading, but it seems to me that Arian isn't saying that they went on a raid for him, but that they geared up for an attack on his fleet and timed it for when he was expected to not be with the fleet, and thus unable to direct an immediate response. Alexander had, in fact, returned to his fleet and thus when the Tyrians attacked he was able to lead an effective counter.I found this linked from Wikipedia. Sections 21 and 22 in there. It was apparently afternoon, not night, but if it's true, then the idea would be the same, that they could have caught him with his pants down and bumped him off.
he Tyrians were now in great difficulties in every way, and they decided to make an attack on the Cyprian ships which were blockading the harbour which faced towards Sidon. For a long time they covered the mouth of the harbour with sails, so that no one could see them manning their triremes; about the middle of the day, when the sailors had scattered to do what they needed to, and Alexander had just left the fleet on the other side of the city for his tent, they manned six smaller ships and seven triremes with their best trained crews and with men suitably equipped to fight from the decks, all men who were boldest in naval battles. At first they began to move out quietly in single file, without anyone calling the stroke; but when they were turning towards the Cyprians and were almost in sight of them, they then began to attack with much shouting and encouragement to each other, rowing with an even stroke.
22
On this particular day, it happened that Alexander went to his tent but did not spend time there as he usually did, but soon returned to the ships. The Tyrians attacked the ships at anchor unexpectedly, and found some completely empty, while others were being manned with difficulty by those who chanced to be there in the midst of the shouting and the attack. In the first attack, they sank the ship of King Pnytagoras, together with those captained by Androcles from Amathus and Pasicrates of Curium, and they drove the others to the shore and smashed them.
I may be misreading, but it seems to me that Aryan isn't saying that they went on a raid for him, but that they geared up for an attack on his fleet and timed it for when he was expected to not be with the fleet, and thus unable to direct an immediate response. Alexander had, in fact, returned to his fleet and thus when the Tyrians attacked he was able to lead an effective counter.
Possibly.Hm, maybe I had just misinterpreted this when I first heard it, because I think I learned about this attack on TV at some point.
The issue here is that the tyrians were afraid of Alexander's sacrifice request being a possible Trojan Horse.Possibly.
Anyway, the easiest way to make Tyre maintain its autonomy is to not have the Siege of Tyre happen in the first place. The Tyrians handled the situation remarkably stupidly, even considering that they rightly didn't believe anyone could take their city by force. They initially refused Alexander's request to sacrifice at the Temple of Melqart in the city, and then during negotiations killed his ambassadors. I'm not sure how easy it is to convince them to let Alexander enter the city and move on, but had they done that, given their strategic location, they are set to basically be a discount Rhodes in the Hellenistic era.
What if Alexander, the Great, had failed to conquer the city-state of Tyre in 332 BCE? Could Tyre become an "eastern Carthage" of sorts, if it manages to push back further invasion attempts by the diadochi?