e old port of Tyre had been abandoned for some time, and the Tyrians were now securely enclosed behind massive walls on an island that was half a mile from the shore. Alexander made attempts to negotiate an entrance into the city but they were halted by a display of force against his envoy by the Tyrians. _Alexander was determined to run every risk and make every effort to save the Macedonian army from being held in contempt by a single undistinguished city._ This commitment turned out to be far more exacting then Alexander could have ever imagined. Nevertheless, his determination and aversion to failure drove him to conjure up a more imaginative approach. He built a solid causeway over the water, half a mile long and two hundred feet wide. Then he constructed siege towers of 150 feet in height. Unfortunately the Tyrians responded to each and every effort with innovations of their own. At one point during the siege, his advisors gave him reason to abandon the assault. However, Alexander was not about to admit that he had labored in vain, nor was he willing to leave Tyre behind as a monument of his fallibility. Reinforced by ships from the Persian fleet that had defected to him, Alexander launched a varied assault on the city. Eight thousand Tyrians were said to have perished during the sack. Alexander personally led the attack on a breached section of the city_s wall. The siege was a moderate success in his eyes considering the resources lost. _Alexander was a man incapable of shrugging his shoulders and walking away from an unsuccessful effort. If as a result of several futile attempts, frustrated and angry, he would have decided that a quick and sudden attack would rescue him from embarrassment. Victory on the battlefield promised to be more complex. During the intervening two years since the battle of Issus, Darius had assembled some 25,000 horseman from his eastern satrapies, an untold number of infantry, 200 scythed chariots, and e...
