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AZEMILCUS OF TYRE
Azemilcus was the Phoenician king of the island of Tyre (in modern Lebanon) during the siege of Alexander the Great (332 BC). The event took place during the early stages of Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire. The other Phoenician city-states, Byblos, Arwad and Sidon, had been taken without any fight. When Alexander approached Tyre, he informed the inhabitants that he wished to make a sacrifice at the temple of Melqart, who the Greeks identified with Heracles. The Tyrians, unsure of who would win the war, told Alexander that no Greeks or Persians would be allowed to enter the city. After a few failed attempts to negotiate, in which some Macedonian emissaries were killed, Alexander decided to attack. Tyre was located on an island, which made the use of siege towers and artillery impossible. So, Alexander built a causeway to allow the siege towers, catapults and ballista to cross the strait of sea that separated the island from the mainland and reach the walls. The Phoenicians counterattacked crashing fire ships into the causeway, attempting to make the Greek siege towers burn. During the siege, Carthage (a former Tyrian colony in Africa that had grown into a powerful empire) may have sent military assistance to Tyre. Alexander finally conquered Tyre and spared the lives of king Azemilcus and those citizens who took shelter in the temple of Melqart. But many Tyrians were crucified, and many others sold into slavery. With the defeat of the Phoenicians, the Persian Empire lost control over the eastern Mediterranean. As a result of the causeway built by Alexander, today the old ruins of Tyre are no longer located on an island, but on a peninsula.
THE PHOENICIANS were a Semitic-speaking, Canaanite people of the Levant. They were known as merchants who traded and founded colonies along the Mediterranean, from their native region in the Levant, to as far west as Spain. One of these Phoenician colonies, Carthage, became a great empire that eventually rivalled with Rome in a series of wars that would eventually make Rome the new Mediterranean superpower. The Phoenicians stablished a bridge between the East and the West, and their art and customs were a mix of Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian and Babylonian, among other influences. The most priced products that Phoenicians traded were beads and objects made of glass, wine, olive oil, and purple textiles and dyes. Tyrian purple was the most luxurious dye in the Ancient World, being the colour of power for centuries. The most notorious legacy of the Phoenicians is their writing system, which is regarded as the origin of most of the writing systems used today in the World, including the Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Runic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabets.

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Description

AZEMILCUS OF TYRE
Azemilcus was the Phoenician king of the island of Tyre (in modern Lebanon) during the siege of Alexander the Great (332 BC). The event took place during the early stages of Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire. The other Phoenician city-states, Byblos, Arwad and Sidon, had been taken without any fight. When Alexander approached Tyre, he informed the inhabitants that he wished to make a sacrifice at the temple of Melqart, who the Greeks identified with Heracles. The Tyrians, unsure of who would win the war, told Alexander that no Greeks or Persians would be allowed to enter the city. After a few failed attempts to negotiate, in which some Macedonian emissaries were killed, Alexander decided to attack. Tyre was located on an island, which made the use of siege towers and artillery impossible. So, Alexander built a causeway to allow the siege towers, catapults and ballista to cross the strait of sea that separated the island from the mainland and reach the walls. The Phoenicians counterattacked crashing fire ships into the causeway, attempting to make the Greek siege towers burn. During the siege, Carthage (a former Tyrian colony in Africa that had grown into a powerful empire) may have sent military assistance to Tyre. Alexander finally conquered Tyre and spared the lives of king Azemilcus and those citizens who took shelter in the temple of Melqart. But many Tyrians were crucified, and many others sold into slavery. With the defeat of the Phoenicians, the Persian Empire lost control over the eastern Mediterranean. As a result of the causeway built by Alexander, today the old ruins of Tyre are no longer located on an island, but on a peninsula.
THE PHOENICIANS were a Semitic-speaking, Canaanite people of the Levant. They were known as merchants who traded and founded colonies along the Mediterranean, from their native region in the Levant, to as far west as Spain. One of these Phoenician colonies, Carthage, became a great empire that eventually rivalled with Rome in a series of wars that would eventually make Rome the new Mediterranean superpower. The Phoenicians stablished a bridge between the East and the West, and their art and customs were a mix of Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian and Babylonian, among other influences. The most priced products that Phoenicians traded were beads and objects made of glass, wine, olive oil, and purple textiles and dyes. Tyrian purple was the most luxurious dye in the Ancient World, being the colour of power for centuries. The most notorious legacy of the Phoenicians is their writing system, which is regarded as the origin of most of the writing systems used today in the World, including the Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Runic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabets.

www.facebook.com/JFoliveras/

instagram: jfoliveras