(335-332 B. C.)
AZELMIC,
THE LAST OF THE TYRIAN MONARCHS.
REVIEW OF THE KINGDOM OF TYRUS,
AT
THE INVASION OF ASIA BY ALEXANDER OF MACEDON.
THE INVESTMENT OF TYRUS, &c.
We have now to investigate and delineate the most remarkable Siege in
ancient record,--not remarkable from its duration of time, but from
its important consequences,--the ingenuity employed in its final
success,--the courage of the attack and defence,--and from the
demoniac horrors and cruelties practised by the Conqueror upon its
eventful termination. The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was 400
years after this total annihilation of Tyrus as a Nation,--and,
therefore, to the period of which we are now writing, Alexander's
Siege of Tyrus stands unequalled for courageous assault, heroic
resistance, and for refined cruelty practised upon the defeated. Upon
this great National event is founded the essential basis of this
History,--it is the absolute commencement of the Annals of Ancient
America. ISAIAH, Plutarch, and Arrian are our authorities,--the
description of the Invasion and the Siege,--however humble the
delineation, is our own;--we mention this, that in case it should fail
to reach the full imagination of the reader, that the demerits may
fall upon the right party,--or should it be the reverse, there may
then be an inclination to render the opposite tribute of justice--not
to the writer,--but to the reader,--that from the horrors of War, he
may turn with a Christian's feeling to contemplate the Divine
blessings of Peace,--and as a consequence, practical good-will and
deeds to all men.
It will be necessary to present a review of the political and
commercial position of Tyrus at the time that Alexander of Macedon (at
the age of 20!) commenced his victorious march from his throne in
Europe, through the great capitals of Asia and Africa. 336--5 B. C.
335 B. C.] Azelmic, the descendant of Strato, wielded the Sceptre with
patriotic energy and justice, and at this period Tyrus was at the very
height of splendour and renown. The "Queen of the Sea" had extended
her navigation beyond any other period of her past history. Her throne
being now upon the Island only,--which was citadelled and bastioned,
with the Mediterranean itself for a water-moat, (and that nearly half
a mile in width,) and flowing between the mainland and the outward
walls, and they proudly rising to an elevation of one hundred and
fifty feet,--this combination for defence caused her to defy every
assault from man, or even the warfare of elements!
Upon the Island arose her gorgeous Palaces and Edifices, and
conspicuous above them all, soared the lofty and brilliant Temple of
Hercules-Apollo, the chosen Deity of the Tyrians. In the centre of the
Mansion of their Religion, stood a Statue of pure and beaten gold,
sacred to the glowing Sun-God; in the front of Apollo's image was the
Altar of the Country, composed of precious stones and metals,--of
engraved and sparkling gems,--sculptured gold and silver,--wrought by
the descendants of the Hiramic artists, whose renowned works gave
extended and lasting fame to the truly Sacred Temple of Jerusalem.
Upon the authority of the foredooming Prophet,--EZEKIEL--who spoke of
Tyrus two centuries and a half prior to this period, her Commerce (and
which now was of the Phœnix character,--and from which fact writers
have traced her name of Phœnice)--her Commerce and Shipbuilding
were as renowned as her adventurious spirit was proverbial.
Even in that time her builders had perfected her beauty. The Tyrian
Galleys were of peculiar strength and elegance, and their "means and
appliances" are especially dwelt upon by the Prophet. Senir furnished
the fir-wood for planks and decks,--Lebanon the cedar for masts,
yards, and timber,--Bashan the oak for the powerful oars,--the Rowers'
benches were of Ivory from Ethiopia and India,--the sails were of
embroidered fine linen from Egypt,--and the awning canopies of blue
and purple cloths, tinted with the renowned colour of her robes of
royalty. Mariners were constantly received from Sidon and Arvad,--the
important business of the caulkers was confined to the "wise men" of
Gebal,--but the builders and pilots were Tyrians only. To all the
Nations enumerated by EZEKIEL from whence riches were received in
exchange for merchandise, are now [335 B. C.] to be added the Islands
in, and the capitals bordering upon, the Mediterranean,--viz., Rhodes,
Sardinia, Sicily, Melita, Corsica, and the Baleares; Ægina, Crete,
Candia, Cyprus, Corcyra, and all the Grecian and Ionian Isles; the
newly-discovered lands of Britain and Hibernia, the former being named
by the Tyrians;--every Port from the mouth of the Menander to the
"Pillars" at Gibraltar; from the borders of Dalmatia to the opposite
shores of the Adriatic;--from the shores of Gaul and Iberia to the
harbours of Etruria,--and to all these commercial tributaries of
Tyrus, are to be added those giants of antiquity, Athens, Rome, and
Carthage! Truly, then, in the language of the inspired writer,
ZECHARIAH,--
"Tyrus did build herself a strong hold; and heaped up silver as the
dust, and fine gold as the mire of the street."
The same false Commercial policy was pursued by the Tyrians, as in
their more ancient days, when Pride and Envy were their injurious
counsellors. Their hands were raised against every nation seeking to
enrich itself through the means of Navigation;--those countries were
viewed by the Tyrians as the mere instruments of their own
advancement. Sidon and Carthage were alone excepted from the National
jealousy; and even this exception to the rule was founded upon
selfishness, arising from the memory of blood and kindred, and not
from any sentiment of liberal policy. The Metropolis being now on the
Island, they felt safe from the approach of an enemy by land,--while
their surrounding walls rendered them "quiet and secure" from every
assault by Naval warfare as then practised. In this imperial state of
confident security, founded upon Pride, locality, but above all by
commercial Monopoly, stood the Island-Kingdom of Tyrus, as her
death-knell was sounded from afar by the rising Monarch of Macedonia.
Throughout the surrounding Nations the Islanders had "sown the
wind,"--they were now, as a consequence, "to reap the whirlwind," and
no one to check, or blight, the pride-harvest of the hurricane!
Alexander commenced his triumphant march in the year 336 B. C., and
not having a sufficient cause for his foreign invasions (Persia and
Media excepted), may be justly looked upon, at this day, as the human
Juggernaut of Antiquity! The Prophet DANIEL, two centuries before the
period of which this event treats, stigmatized this vaunted hero, when
comparing him with the Kings of Media and Persia,--the latter to the
horns of the Ram, while the former is likened unto the brute Goat of
the mountains.
"And the rough goat is the King of Grecia." [Daniel viii. 21.]
It is not necessary to trace the progress of Alexander in Asia, only
so far as it may have had an influence upon the fate and fall of
Tyrus.
After the Passage of the Granicus, and in the next year, the great
victory at Issus, whereby the Persian kingdom was shaken, the lesser
nations begun to contemplate the increasing power of Alexander with
alarm, and to reflect upon the best means of averting impending ruin.
The only alternative from battle was to become tributary, or to obtain
the special favour of the Invader.
Sidon made application, through ambassadors, to Alexander for his
protection, and was thus saved from destruction by anticipating the
conflict through a tributary surrender:--and which voluntary act
satisfied the Macedonian, who stipulated, however, that he should
place a new King upon the throne. This was agreed to, and Byblos and
Aradnus joined in the humiliating surrender.
In compliment to his favourite,--Hephæstion,--the Conqueror allowed
him to appoint whom he pleased for King of Sidon. Hephæstion,
thereupon, selected a poor man of the Capital by the name of Strato,
and instantly raised him to the dignity of Sidonian Sovereign. The
mendicant was a remote branch of the Royal House, but had been
unjustly degraded by the reigning Monarch. When the new-raised King
had his first interview with Alexander, his grateful remark was--"I
pray that Apollo will enable you, Alexander, to bear prosperity with
the same fortitude, with which I have struggled with adversity!"
The Macedonian highly applauded the philosophical point of the remark,
and secured him in his new possession.
As no great gift can be without a referential motive, either to the
past, or for the future,--the donation by Hephæstion, where no past
service had deserved it (and there were nearer branches of the Royal
House than Strato), must have had, therefore, some deep meaning. It is
only long after historic events are passed and analyzed, that they can
be calmly or correctly judged; and in tracing Alexander's approach to
the celebrated "Daughter of Sidon," this donation of a throne,--and to
the party receiving it,--was in direct flattery to Tyrus; as in like
manner, at a subsequent period, Marcus Antonius presented provinces to
Egypt to secure the sun-clad and voluptuous Cleopatra!
The subjugation of Tyrus by _policy_ was one of the schemes of
Alexander,--for avoiding its destruction,--he would then be sure of
Navies, Pilots, and Mariners, to carry his warfare, at a later period,
to the river Tiber and to Rome itself;--for his thirst of
Conquest,--had it not been allayed by the poison-draught in
Asia,--could only have been quenched within the great Capital of
Italy. Alexander, therefore, flattered the Tyrians by raising to the
throne of Sidon, a man who bore the same name,--(Strato) and was of
the same family as the Founder of the present dynasty at Tyrus; and
consequently, remotely related to Azelmic, whom Alexander endeavoured
(by this act of apparent generosity) to circumvent and overthrow by
_policy_, not warfare. Historians have applauded the justice of
Hephæstion,--they should have analyzed the deep-laid scheming of his
Master,--who merely employed his favourite, to mask his own deep
intent upon the great Commercial emporium of the World. The Tyrians,
however, were practical _merchant-princes_, and were not to be
deceived by any species of _exchange_, although Kings were the
commodity.
334 B. C.] The unforeseen capitulation of Sidon,--the
Mother-land,--aroused the Tyrians to a sense of their own
position,--Sidon, Byblos, and Aradnus, had surrendered,--these
Capitals, therefore, could not aid the Merchant-Metropolis. To
increase the apprehension of the Tyrians, it was reported through the
continued policy of Alexander, that he was, also, attended by a fleet
of Galleys to cover any retreat,--or to land, and reconvey his troops
from, or to any point, from the Bosphorous to the Nile,--or from
thence to Carthage. The Conqueror had, however, in reality, dismissed
his fleet before the victory of Issus, in order to inspire his troops
with additional courage, from the then apparent fact, that they had no
means of retreat from the enemies' country by the means of Galleys. He
must have remembered that that feeling of safety of retreat lost the
Persians the Battle of Marathon. [490 B. C.] The Macedonian had
another motive in reporting that his fleet was approaching,--viz., To
take the Tyrian attention from any land defence, by enforcing the
belief that the attack would be by means of the Navy. He knew, also,
that Azelmic and his People had no extensive knowledge of _Military_
Science,--for they could have no occasion for its exercise, occasioned
by their Island locality,--their high-reared walls being their
bulwarks:--and they consequently commenced, as he expected,
preparations for a Naval Conflict:--but, unknown to Alexander they had
formed a masterly design, viz., to attack him both by land and sea,
and that simultaneously; thence, if the Macedonian lost a land battle,
and his fleet dispersed, (no difficult matter for the Tyrians) it
would be easy to arouse other nations to crush the Invader. Tyrus,
however, had no army fit to cope with Alexander, in any general
engagement, and especially with his Phalanx and Cavalry. Azelmic,
therefore, secretly despatched special Envoys to his only remaining
ally,--viz., Carthage,--for no other nation could be with safety
applied to in any emergency,--except Sidon,--for the treatment by the
Tyrians to other countries had alienated every sentiment of National
friendship. In their pride and prosperity they had forgotten that
adversity may come! Sidon had capitulated, and received nearly an
alien King,--Carthage, therefore, alone remained. Azelmic's
ambassadors were received by the Tyro-Carthaginians with every
demonstration of respect, as being due to a Nation from which they
themselves had sprung. The answer to the application for an Army to
oppose the advance of Alexander upon Tyrus, could only be divulged by,
and within the Senate of the Republic; the Envoys were, therefore,
courteously dismissed with presents and honours, together with the
assurance that a speedy reply should be sent to the Island-Capital.
In the mean time, the policy of Azelmic was still further employed to
circumvent that of Alexander's,--for during the absence of the Envoys
he endeavoured to flatter the wily Macedonian in his own manner; and
thereupon sent as a present to him a splendid golden Crown, as a
friendly compliment:--this was received with apparent feelings of
amity, and in return, Philip's Son desired to _honour_ Tyrus by
worshipping in person, (with his Officers,) in the Temple of
Hercules-Apollo! Azelmic sarcastically replied to this effect, on
behalf of Tyrus,--viz., that the _honour_ intended by Alexander in
_entering the Metropolis_, and worshipping, with his followers, (for
his _suite_ would have been the entire Army) in the Chief Temple of
the Nation was duly appreciated, and more than they _deserved_, or
were desirous of _receiving_,--that since the Hero of Macedon only
desired to pay his tribute of respect to the Temple of Hercules-Apollo,
that could be done amid the Ruins of the _Old Temple on the Mainland_;
and that from the summit of the walls of the Island-City,--Azelmic,
his Nobles, and People, would witness the ceremony! Alexander, of
course, declined the offer,--at once perceiving that his scheme of
entering Tyrus was frustrated: and he, also, almost simultaneously
with this invitation to worship in the Ruined Temple, received
intelligence of the important embassy secretly sent to Carthage.
Alexander, therefore, instantly found that he had cause to view in
Azelmic and his People, foes whose forethought and consequent
judgment, might replace any deficiency that might be apparent from the
want of an organised Army. The two rival Monarchs awaited with anxiety
the reply of Carthage. In the mean time the Republican Senate [333 B.
C.] held the final conference upon the subject of the Tyrian
solicitation,--and thereupon, deputed thirty of the chief Citizens of
Carthage as a delegation, to convey to Azelmic the following unlooked
for reply: viz.--That the Senate viewed with deep condolence the
present, and approaching condition of the home of their
ancestors:--but, upon contemplation of the position of Carthage
itself, they deeply regretted to find, that it precluded even the
remote possibility of sending troops or succour to Tyrus!
Thus Carthage, apparently safe from the present approaches of
Alexander, had her own fears of Invasion; yet had the Senate acceded
to the wish of Tyrus, the two nations, by forming a junction, might
have successfully opposed the further advance of the enemy; but
Carthage had resolved (like Sidon) to save herself by policy, not
warfare.
The Senate of Carthage, therefore, (following the Sidonian example)
deputed an Ambassador to Alexander in order to secure his favour, or
by a tribute to remain in peace. They consequently deputed for the
important and National embassy,--Rhodanus,--a man possessing
extraordinary address and beauty of person, supported by the
fascination of the most accomplished eloquence. The insinuating
manners, and flattery of Rhodanus, (who was presented by Parmenio,)
together with his gallant bearing, had such a magical effect upon the
vain Macedonian, that he instantly cast a friendly eye upon
Carthage:--thus, that Country was saved from invasion by the cheapest,
yet most valued tribute in the mind of the hero of the Granicus,--viz.,
Flattery. Jaddus, the High-Priest of Judæa, subsequently saved
Jerusalem in the same manner, by producing the Prophecy of DANIEL, and
identifying Alexander as "_the_ King of Grecia,"--the "rough goat" of
the prediction.
Rhodanus accompanied the Son of Philip in all his after-expeditions,
and consequently had power, and did transmit to Carthage the plans of
his new Master, who had no suspicion of his flatterer's treachery.
Rhodanus saved his country,--and yet upon his return to Carthage, he
was looked upon as a traitor, from having served in the army of the
Grecian, and was thereupon sentenced to death:--ingratitude and
barbarity carried the decree into execution.
The reply of the Republic to Azelmic's application for troops, cast a
foreboding gloom over the spirits of his subjects. It was too late now
to supplicate to Alexander and receive from him the same terms, as had
been granted to either Sidon or Carthage; for it was known to the
Invader, that a solicitation for an Army had been made to Carthage and
refused; which point was naturally not lost by Rhodanus in his
eloquent appeal; for he represented the denial as having emanated not
so much from fear, or hope of favour, as from admiration and love of
Alexander and his Glory!
The Tyrians were, therefore, now left solitary and alone, as a
majestic Column in the desert of Nations: they had now to depend upon
their own solid base for support. Their chief weapon was their ancient
Pride, which was daily being transfused from the brittle character of
its metal, into the more pliable and useful temper of true courage;
enabling its possessor to correctly analyze and appreciate the powers
of an opponent. This courage, and their walled and Island-Citadel,
enabled them to laugh to scorn the approach of the Macedonian: for
intelligence had been received by them, that his Navy had been
dismissed, and that the original report of its bearing down upon
Tyrus, was but "a stratagem of the Invader."
Alexander's army now advanced, and commenced hostilities by destroying
the suburbs of Tyrus situate upon the mainland; the inhabitants of
which had previously entered the Island-Metropolis. Thus was the Last
Siege of Tyrus commenced in the eleventh Hebrew month,--Shebat,--
(January-February) in the year 332 before the Christian Æra.