page_title: Tyre, Lebanon
section_title: Hellenistic period (332–126 BCE)
hierarchical_section_title: Tyre, Lebanon / History / Hellenistic period (332–126 BCE)
caption_attribution_description: English: This terracotta figurine represents the bearer of an offering (a duck). Uncovered in Kharayeb (Tyre area) and dated to the Hellenistic period (332-64 BCE). From the collection of the National Museum of Beirut, Lebanon, and on display at the International Airport of Beirut.
context_page_description: Tyre is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. It was one of the earliest Phoenician metropolises and the legendary birthplace of Europa, her brothers Cadmus and Phoenix, as well as Carthage's founder Dido. The city has many ancient sites, including the Tyre Hippodrome, and was added as a whole to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1984.
  The historian Ernest Renan noted:
  One can call Tyre a city of ruins, built out of ruins.
  Today Tyre is the fifth largest city in Lebanon after Beirut, Tripoli, Aley and Sidon, It is the capital of the Tyre District in the South Governorate. There were approximately 200,000 inhabitants in the Tyre urban area in 2016, including many refugees.
context_section_description: After his decisive victory over the Persian king Darius III in 333 BCE and the conquest of Persia, Alexander the Great moved his armies south, exacting tribute from all of coastal Phoenicia's city-states. Tired of Persian repressions, they mostly welcomed the new ruler, yet Tyre resisted his ambitions:
  Tyre's king Azemilcus was at sea with the Persian fleet, when Alexander arrived in 332 BCE at the gates and proposed to sacrifice to Heracles in the city, which was home to the most ancient temple of Heracles. However, the Tyrian government refused this and instead suggested that Alexander sacrifice at another temple of Heracles on the mainland at Old Tyre.
  Angered by this rejection and the city's loyalty to Darius, Alexander started the Siege of Tyre despite its reputation as being impregnable. However, the Macedonian conqueror succeeded after seven months by demolishing the old city on the mainland and using its stones to construct a causeway to the island:
  The tallest siege towers ever used in the history of war were moved via this man-made land bridge to overcome the walls of the city, which was running low on supplies. As Alexander's forces moved forward towards linking the fortified island with the mainland, the Tyrians evacuated their old men, women, and children to Carthage. According to some historical sources, fellow Phoenician sailors from Sidon and Byblos, who had been forcefully recruited by Alexander, secretly helped many Tyrians to escape.
  Altogether some eight thousand Tyrians were reportedly killed during the siege, while Alexander's troops suffered only about four hundred casualties. After Alexander's victory he granted pardon to King Azemilcus and the chief magistrates. Yet according to Arrian, approximately 30,000 citizens were sold into slavery.
  Alexander's legacy still lives on today, since Tyre has remained a peninsula instead of an island ever since.
  After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, his empire was divided and Phoenicia given to Laomedon of Mytilene. Ptolemy of Egypt soon annexed the region to his territory, but held it only for a few years.
  In 315 BCE, Alexander's former general Antigonus began his own siege of Tyre. The city had recovered rapidly after Alexander's conquest, but was still taken a year later. Antigonus' son Demetrius ruled Phoenicia until 287 BCE, when it once again passed over to Ptolemy. It remained under the control of his successors for almost seventy years, until the Seleucids under Antiochus III invaded Phoenicia in 198 BCE.
  
  Despite those renewed devastations, Tyre regained its standing under Alexander's successors and as a privilege continued to mint its own silver coins. While some of the trade in the Eastern Mediterranean diverted to Alexandria, Tyre profited from the developing Silk Road commcerce. In terms of culture,
  "Tyre rapidly became Hellenized. Festivals in the Greek manner with offering of sacrifices, gymnastic contests, pageants and processions became part of the life of Tyre."
  Some Arabian authors claim that Tyre was the birth-place of Euclid, the "Father of Geometry" (c. 325 B.C.). Other famous scholars from Tyre during the Hellenistic period included the philosophers Diodorus of Tyre, Antipater of Tyre, and Apollonius of Tyre.
  In 275 BCE, Tyre abandoned the concept of monarchy and instead became a republic.
  During the Punic Wars, Tyre sympathised with its former colony Carthage. Therefore, in 195 BCE, Hannibal, after his defeat by the Romans, escaped by ship to Tyre before moving on to Antioch.
  As the power of the Seleucid Empire started to crumble and Seleucid leaders engaged in dynastic fights, the royal rivals increasingly sought the support of Tyre. In this context, king Alexander Balas gave the city the right to offer asylum in 152. Anyhow, the grip of the Seleucid rulers over Phoenicia increasingly weakened during the next quarter of a century:
caption: Hellenistic figurine from Tyre, National Museum of Beirut
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