How Alexander the Great Conquered Tyre's Island Fortress

How did Alexander the Great capture an island fortress? Explore the siege of Tyre in 332 BC—from the causeway and fire ship to divers cutting anchor cables beneath the fleet. In 332 BC, Tyre stood offshore on the coast of present-day Lebanon. The siege combined ancient engineering and naval warfare: a causeway of stone and timber, a burning ship, a changing naval balance, underwater attacks, and the final crossing into the city. We follow Arrian’s account alongside modern research into the seabed and coastline. The engineering story ends with the human cost of the capture—and a shoreline that continued changing long after the battle. Layers of Evidence · Episode 05 CHAPTERS 00:00 The cable goes slack 00:22 Building a causeway to Tyre 01:35 The Tyrian fire ship 02:42 A fleet changes the siege 03:35 Divers, chains, and stones 04:58 A breach without a way in 06:00 The final crossing 07:31 The human cost and the changing coast SOURCES & IMAGE CREDIT Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, Book II, chapters 18–24 (Chinnock translation): https://topostext.org/work/205 Marriner, N., Morhange, C. & Meulé, S. (2007), “Holocene morphogenesis of Alexander the Great’s isthmus at Tyre in Lebanon,” PNAS 104(22), 9218–9223: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0611325104 Closing photograph: NASA ISS006-E-31938, 1 March 2003. Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center. https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos... ABOUT THE RECONSTRUCTIONS The cinematic siege scenes, narration, and music were created with AI tools. The 3D diagrams are interpretive reconstructions; terrain relief is exaggerated and fleet routes are schematic where indicated. Arrian wrote centuries after the events, while the seabed reconstruction draws on modern coastal research. The precise human toll remains uncertain. Subscribe to Layers of Evidence for history explored through texts, landscapes, and visual explanations. #AlexanderTheGreat #SiegeOfTyre #AncientHistory