A bloody, reeking abattoir.

A bloody, reeking abattoir. [**The following details the fall of Tyre, after a long siege by Alexander the Great.**] >The Tyrians on the walls, afraid of being caught front and rear, now retreated to the centre of the city, barricading the narrow streets as they went. Tiles came pelting down on their pursuers from the roof-tops. By the shrine of Agenor Tyre’s defenders turned at bay, and fought it out to the death. >When the last organized resistance was broken, [Alexander](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg)’s veterans ranged through the city on a ferocious manhunt, all restraint abandoned, hysterical and half-crazy after the long rigours of that dreadful siege, mere butchers now, striking and trampling and tearing limb from limb until Tyre became a bloody, reeking abattoir. Some citizens locked themselves in their houses and committed suicide. >Alexander had ordered that all save those who sought sanctuary were to be slain, and his commands were executed with savage relish. The air grew thick with smoke from burning buildings. Seven thousand Tyrians died in this frightful orgy of destruction, and the number would have been far higher had it not been for the men of Sidon, who entered the city alongside Alexander’s troops. Event though Tyre had been Sidon’s rival for centuries, these neighbours of the victims, horrified by what they now witnessed, managed to smuggle some 15,000 of them to safety. >The great city over which Hiram had once held sway was now utterly destroyed. Her king, Azimilik, and various other notables, including envoys from Carthage, had taken refuge in the temple of Melkart, and Alexander spared their lives. The remaining survivors, some 30,000 in number, he sold into slavery. Two thousand men of military age were crucified. Then Alexander went up into the temple, ripped the golden cords from the image of the god (now to be renamed, by decree, Apollo Philalexander), and made his long-delayed sacrifice: the most costly blood-offering even Melkart had ever received. ___________________________ **Source:** Green, Peter. “Intimations of Immortality.” Alexander of Macedon: 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography. Univ. of California Press, 2005. 261-62. Print. **Original Source(s) Listed:** Diod. 17.46.3-4, 6. Arrian 2.24.2-5. QC 4.4.12-13.15-18. Plut. *Alex*. 4.4. ___________________________ **Further Reading:** [Alexander III of Macedon / Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας (Alexander the Great)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great) [Azemilcus, King of Tyre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azemilcus,_King_of_Tyre) [Siege of Tyre (332 BC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tyre_(332_BC\))