alexander

8 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
fresh water to the Persian fleet. His first attempt was to approach
the city leaders diplomatically (ostensibly to offer a
sacrifice to the gods). He was impolitely rebuffed (some say
he was veritably thrown off the island). This rejection of
diplomacy left Alexander no choice. He set about besieging
the city by land.
Yes—by land. He commanded his engineers and soldiers
to build a mole over half a mile long (estimates range
from five- to seven-tenths of a mile—call it a kilometer)
and 100 to 200 yards wide. This causeway was simply a spit
of land. Alexander’s men all took up shovels and baskets,
used some of the walls of old Tyre, found loose earth near
the coast, loaded the baskets, and like an army of ants
dumped their loads into the ocean. Gradually, they filled in
the gap of water between the mainland and the city. This
Alexander’s reduction of Tyre was
critical to his plans to conquer the
Persian Empire. Source: The Historical
Atlas, William R. Shepherd, New York,
Henry Holt & Company, 1923.
Courtesy of The General Libraries, The
University of Texas at Austin.