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The Seventeenth Book of Diodorus: in Two Parts
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1When Niceratus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus
Atilius and Marcus Valerius, and the one hundred and twelfth Olympic Games were held, in which
Grylus of Chalcis was the victor.2 In this year,
Alexander buried the dead from his victory at Issus, including even those of the Persians who
had distinguished themselves by courage. Then he performed rich sacrifices to the gods and
rewarded those who had borne themselves well in battle with gifts appropriate to each, and
rested the army for some days.
[2]
Then he marched on towards
Egypt, and as he came into Phoenicia, received the submission of all the other cities, for
their inhabitants accepted him willingly.At Tyre, however, when
the king wished to sacrifice to the Tyrian Heracles,3 the
people overhastily barred him from entering the city;
[3]
Alexander became angry and threatened to resort to force, but the Tyrians cheerfully faced
the prospect of a siege. They wanted to gratify Dareius and keep unimpaired their loyalty to
him, and thought also that they would receive great gifts from the king in return for such a
favour. They would draw Alexander into a protracted and difficult siege and give Dareius time
for his military preparations, and at the same time they had confidence in the strength of
their island and the military forces in it. They also hoped for help from their colonists, the
Carthaginians.4
[4]
The king saw that the city
could hardly be taken by sea because of the engines mounted along its walls and the fleet that
it possessed, while from the land it was almost unassailable because it lay four furlongs away
from the coast.5 Nevertheless he determined to run every risk and make every effort to save
the Macedonian army from being held in contempt by a single undistinguished city.
[5]
Immediately he demolished what was called Old Tyre6 and set many tens of
thousands of men to work carrying stones to construct a mole two plethra in width.7 He drafted into service the entire
population of the neighbouring cities and the project advanced rapidly because the workers were
numerous.
1 332/1 B.C.
2 Nicetes was archon at Athens from July 332 to June 331 B.C. (Arrian. 2.24.6, calls him Anicetus). The consuls of 335 B.C. (Broughton, 1.139) were M. Atilius Regulus Calenus and M. Valerius Corvus. The 112th Olympic Games were held in July 332 B.C.
3 For this Heracles cp. B. C. Brundage, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 17 (1958), 225-236. The siege of Tyre is described by Curtius 4.2.1-4.18; Justin 11.10.10-14; Plut. Alexander 24.2-25.2; Arrian 2.16-24). It was the time of the great annual festival of the god (Curtius 4.2.10), and the Tyrians may have felt that to allow Alexander to sacrifice at that time would have meant acknowledging his sovereignty.
4 Justin 11.10.12. Curtius 4.3.19 reports that the Carthaginians were unable to send reinforcements.
7 Two hundred feet.
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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- LSJ, ἀπραγμ-άτευτος
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