335 B. C.] Azelmic, the descendant of Strato, wielded the Sceptre with patriotic energy and justice, and at this period Tyrus was at the very height of splendour and renown. The "Queen of the Sea" had extended her navigation beyond any other period of her past history. Her throne being now upon the Island only,—which was citadelled and bastioned, with the Mediterranean itself for a water-moat, (and that nearly half a mile in width,) and flowing between the mainland and the outward walls, and they proudly rising to an elevation of one hundred and fifty feet,—this combination for defence caused her to defy every assault from man, or even the warfare of elements!
Upon the Island arose her gorgeous Palaces and Edifices, and conspicuous above them all, soared the lofty and brilliant Temple of Hercules-Apollo, the chosen Deity of the Tyrians. In the centre of the Mansion of their Religion, stood a Statue of pure and beaten gold, sacred to the glowing Sun-God; in the front of Apollo's image was the Altar of the Country, composed of precious stones and metals,—of engraved and sparkling gems,—sculptured gold and silver,—wrought by the descendants of the Hiramic artists, whose renowned works gave extended and lasting fame to the truly Sacred Temple of Jerusalem. Upon the authority of the foredooming Prophet,—Ezekiel—who spoke of Tyrus two centuries and a half prior to this period, her Commerce (and which now was of the Phœnix character,—and from which fact writers have traced her name of Phœnice)—her Commerce and Shipbuilding were as renowned as her adventurious spirit was proverbial.
Even in that time her builders had perfected her beauty. The Tyrian Galleys were of peculiar strength and elegance, and their "means and appliances" are especially dwelt upon by the Prophet. Senir furnished the fir-wood for planks and decks,—Lebanon the cedar for masts, yards, and timber,—Bashan the oak for the powerful oars,—the Rowers' benches were of Ivory from Ethiopia and India,—the sails were of embroidered fine linen from Egypt,—and the awning canopies of blue and purple cloths, tinted with the renowned colour of her robes of royalty. Mariners were constantly received from Sidon and Arvad,—the important business of the caulkers was confined to the "wise men" of Gebal,—but the builders and pilots were Tyrians only. To all the Nations enumerated by Ezekiel from whence riches were received in exchange for merchandise, are now [335 B. C.] to be added the Islands in, and the capitals bordering upon, the Mediterranean,—viz., Rhodes, Sardinia, Sicily, Melita, Corsica, and the Baleares; Ægina, Crete, Candia, Cyprus, Corcyra, and all the Grecian and Ionian Isles; the newly-discovered lands of Britain and Hibernia, the former being named by the Tyrians;—every Port from the mouth of the Menander to the "Pillars" at Gibraltar; from the borders of Dalmatia to the opposite shores of the Adriatic;—from the shores of Gaul and Iberia to the harbours of Etruria,—and to all these commercial tributaries of Tyrus, are to be added those giants of antiquity, Athens, Rome, and Carthage! Truly, then, in the language of the inspired writer, Zechariah,—
"Tyrus did build herself a strong hold; and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the street."
The same false Commercial policy was pursued by the Tyrians, as in their more ancient days, when Pride and Envy were their injurious counsellors. Their hands were raised against every nation seeking to enrich itself through the means of Navigation;—those countries were viewed by the Tyrians as the mere instruments of their own advancement. Sidon and Carthage were alone excepted from the National jealousy; and even this exception to the rule was founded upon selfishness, arising from the memory of blood and kindred, and not from any sentiment of liberal policy. The Metropolis being now on the Island, they felt safe from the approach of an enemy by land,—while their surrounding walls rendered them "quiet and secure" from every assault by Naval warfare as then practised. In this imperial state of confident security, founded upon Pride, locality, but above all by commercial Monopoly, stood the Island-Kingdom of Tyrus, as her death-knell was sounded from afar by the rising Monarch of Macedonia.
Throughout the surrounding Nations the Islanders had "sown the wind,"—they were now, as a consequence, "to reap the whirlwind," and no one to check, or blight, the pride-harvest of the hurricane!
Alexander commenced his triumphant march in the year 336 B. C., and not having a sufficient cause for his foreign invasions (Persia and Media excepted), may be justly looked upon, at this day, as the human Juggernaut of Antiquity! The Prophet Daniel, two centuries before the period of which this event treats, stigmatized this vaunted hero, when comparing him with the Kings of Media and Persia,—the latter to the horns of the Ram, while the former is likened unto the brute Goat of the mountains.
"And the rough goat is the King of Grecia." [Daniel viii. 21.]
It is not necessary to trace the progress of Alexander in Asia, only so far as it may have had an influence upon the fate and fall of Tyrus.
After the Passage of the Granicus, and in the next year, the great victory at Issus, whereby the Persian kingdom was shaken, the lesser nations begun to contemplate the increasing power of Alexander with alarm, and to reflect upon the best means of averting impending ruin. The only alternative from battle was to become tributary, or to obtain the special favour of the Invader.