[LCM Articles] [Leb4ever] Mystery of Alexander's Great Conquest Unravelled

Wed May 16 01:56:27 EDT 2007

SPIEGEL ONLINE - May 15, 2007, 05:38 PM
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,483050,00.html 

MOTHER NATURE'S HELPING HAND

Mystery of Alexander's Great Conquest Unravelled

The island-city of Tyre (Sour, Lebanon) was considered unconquerable, until
Alexander the Great marched up its causeway. Researchers have now revealed
that the conquerors actually had a little help -- from Mother Nature.

The Lebanese town of Tyre, one of the longest standing settlements in the
world, sits atop the remains of an ancient, bloody and peculiar military
battle. In 332 B.C., Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great laid waste to
the wealthy trading city, which was at the time considered unassailable atop
a small rocky island. Today, Tyre juts out from the Lebanese coast on a
tongue-shaped strip of land, the days of island refuge long since past.

The siege is famous not only for its strategic and historical significance
-- capturing the city was key to Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire
-- but also for the engineering feat that won Alexander the battle.

At some point during his seven-month siege of Tyre, Alexander built an
almost kilometer-long causeway of timber and stone to get from the mainland
to the island. But it had remained a mystery just how an army of sparsely
equipped soldiers were able to lay a road through the several-meters-deep
sea. Researchers now believe Alexander the Great had some help from Mother
Nature. 

French geo-archaeologist Nick Marriner analyzed long cores of sediment from
the land now connecting Tyre with the Lebanese coast. "We found several
fragments, ceramic tiles and pieces of wood," Marriner told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
"But there was no proof that these were used in the construction." The
researchers also found several shells of a certain kind of mussel in the
sediment that thrived in shallow coastal waters. The researchers concluded
that rising sea levels had shrunk the island over time, leaving the newly
covered areas as brackish lagoons. 

While Tyre was approximately six kilometers wide 8,000 years ago, it shrank
to about four kilometers over the next 2,000 years, Marinner reported in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. The researcher
concluded that the newly sunken parts of the island made it difficult for
waves to reach the shore. As a result, sediment from the coast accumulated
in the space between the mainland and the island, leaving a sandy
land-bridge just below the surface of the water, on top of which Alexander
the Great could build his road to an historic victory.

<http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9Mg_3_3,00.htm
l> 

CNRS

Both natural and man made: A reconstruction of how Tyre used to look 8,000
(left) and 6,000 (right) years ago.

<http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9Mw_3_3,00.htm
l> 

CNRS

In 332 B.C. a shallow sand bank connected the island with the mainland.
Today's land formation (right) is a result of a damm that Alexander the
Great built, according to researchers.

<http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9Ng_3_3,00.htm
l> 

Golvin / CNRS

Ancient perspective (illustration): the siege of Tyre is legendary, also
because it enabled Alexander to take the rest of the Persian empire.

<http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9MQ_3_3,00.htm
l> 

CNRS / DigitalGlobe

A modern view of Tyre shows how much Mother Nature helped Alexander the
Great. 

  _____  

C SPIEGEL ONLINE 2007
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH

  _____  

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