Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/58

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llLSTOIiV OF INDIA.

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B.C. 332.

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The Plinmiiciaus.

Hitherto only a succession of ambitioas inonarchs has appeared on the scene, and India has become the prey successively of devastating annies from Ky luiid and sea, and an active trade hiul been estaljlished, by which the East and VN'est exchanged their peculiar products against each other, to the great advantage of both. Tim trade was chiefly in the hands of the Phoenicians, who.se cajntal, T^tc, situated on the shores of the Levant, had in consequence risen to be one of the richest, mightiest, and most

Tyre.

RiiNS OF Tyre. — From Cassas, Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, ic.

splendid cities in the world. ^ This unexampled prcsperity had engendered many vices, and the day of retribution, which prophets had been Divinel}' com- missioned to denounce, was fast approaching. "Miile Alexander the Great was

1 Tyre had its original site on the mainland, and stretched along the Syrian coast, from the mouth of the Leontes to the headland of Eas-el-Ain, a distance from north tosouth of about seven miles. Immediately opposite to the centre of the town, and separated from it by a strait about 1200 yards or two-thirds of a mile ■wide, was an island nearly three miles in circuit. It is more than probable, that while the city on the mainland was standing, the island also was partly built upon; but it never became the proper site of the city, which, in contradistinction to Old, was called New Tyre, till the inhabitants, obliged to flee before the countless hosts of Assyrian conquerors, found the necessity of placing the sea between them and their enemies. They accordingly abandoned the mainland and took up their abode on the island, which, under the fostering influence of commerce, soon rose to be one of the finest and wealthiest cities in the world. Such was the Tyre to which Alexan- der laid siege. Nearly in the direction of a line drawn due north through the letter E, was the strait already mentioned. On the north and south sides of the island, are two curves which formed liar-

bours, protected by a chain of rocky islets and sea- walls or breakwaters from the surges of the Medi- terranean and the various prevailing winds. The north harbour, marked A, was the better and more frequented of the two; but the commerce of Tyre must have required the use of both, and additional facilities were given by a canal a a, which established a navigable communication between them. Alexan- der having no ships, must have seen at once that there was no possible way of taking a city thus situated, ex- cept by making a pathway across the strait. On both shores the water was shallow; and near the centre, where it was deepest, it did not exceed 6 fathoms. With the immense force at his command, there could be no want of labourers, while the materials neces- sary were within easy reach. The most formidable obstacle to success was in the means of resistance which the inhabitants possessed; and had Tyre been as fortunate as Syracuse, in having an Archimedes, Alexander must have failed. The mound of Alex- ander, once completed, formed a nucleus to which the waves of the sea and the winds of the desert made constant accretions, and hence, in coarse of time, the