Siege of Tire (314–313 BC)

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Siege of Tire (314–313 BC)
Part of: Diadoch Wars
date Spring 314 to summer 313 BC Chr.
place Tire
output Siege successful
consequences Antigonus takes control of Syria and Phenicia
Parties to the conflict

Antigonids

Tire

Commander

Antigonos Monophthalmos
Andronikos of Olynthos

?

Troop strength
according to Diodor:
120 ships

unknown
losses

unknown

unknown

The siege of Tire was one from 314 to 313 BC. Chr. Ongoing military conflict over the city of Tire .

As the first major confrontation in the Third Diadoch War , the siege is one of the historical events in the age of the Diadochs , which followed the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Was followed. The warlord Antigonos Monophthalmos conquered the old Phoinikische port city and at the same time all other cities of the regions and thus became sole ruler of the entire Asian part of the Alexander empire .

background

Since the death of Alexander in 323 BC Its generals, called "successors" (Diadochi), found themselves in a relentless struggle for supremacy in its world empire. In these wars, characterized by manifold coalitions, which were only interrupted by short phases of peace, in their early phase the supporters of an Alexander Empire that was concerned with unity and preservation fought against the representatives of particularist interests who intended to divide the empire in their favor.

After the second diadoch war, by the year 316 BC. BC five Diadochi set up their own domains in the area of ​​the Alexander Empire, which they ruled as independent rulers after the extermination of the old royal family. These were Cassander in Macedonia , Ptolemy in Egypt and Phenicia , Lysimachus in Thrace , Asandros in Caria and finally Antigonos Monophthalmos , who ruled the regions of Asia Minor , Mesopotamia and Iran . Formally, the imperial unity continued and Kassander claimed the imperial reign for himself after his victory over Polyperchon . In fact, however, after his victory over Eumenes , Antigonus had risen to become the most powerful diadochi, who ruled almost the entire Asian part of the Alexander Empire by acting as the actual ruler and dismissing or installing governors at his own discretion.

With his appearance and his superior military power, Antigonus aroused fears among the other independent Diadochi, who banded together and gave him an ultimatum, according to which he would remove the provinces he held west of the Euphrates (Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia) as well as those in his hand Should distribute Reichsschatz to them. Antigonus immediately rejected these conditions because he would have given up the foundations of his power, whereupon the Allies declared war on him.

The siege

Tire as well as all other port cities of Phoinikiens and the province of Koilesyria were located 315 BC. Under the control of Ptolemy. He had appropriated these areas at the beginning of the Second Diadoch War (319/318 BC), which were of outstanding strategic importance due to their shipyards and their function as trading centers. After Antigonus at the outbreak of war in the winter of 315 BC He had militarily secured Asia Minor and sent followers to the Aegean Islands and Greece to win allies there, he moved in the spring of 314 BC. BC in Phenicia and immediately occupied the old town of Tire, which was on the coast. The Ptolemaic occupation, however, had withdrawn to the new town, which was located on an island off the old town, the siege of which Antigonos now began.

An exact sequence of the siege of Tire is not recorded by the ancient authors, not even with the main source for that time, Diodorus , although he assumes a duration of one year and three months, making it the longest siege of the entire Diadoch Wars. A situation similar to that of Alexander earlier in 332 BC is likely to have arisen for Antigonus. ( Siege of Tire (332 BC) ), in that he could only force the defenders to give up by sealing off the island by means of a sea blockade. It is not known whether the famous dam that Alexander had built on the island was still intact. In his descriptions, the author mainly concentrated on the political and military measures for the war as a whole, which Antigonus initiated from his field camp in front of Old Tire. When he appeared, all local Phoenician city kings immediately submitted to his rule in view of his vastly superior military strength, with which he brought Phoenicians under his control without a fight, except for Tire. In Tripoli , Byblos and Sidon, as well as in four ports in Cilicia , he had large shipyards set up, in which a war fleet was to be built using the trees in Lebanon and the Taurus Mountains to support the siege and to gain sovereignty at sea. In the absence of a larger army, Ptolemy sought to advance against Antigonus with his fleet from Egypt, with Seleucus as his admiral. By the summer of 314 BC BC, however, Antigonos already had a larger fleet with which he could reach Cyprus and include several cities there. He himself then temporarily handed over command of the siege to his general Andronikos in order to take the cities of Joppa and Gaza himself , whereby he now also brought Koile Syria under his control.

Shortly afterwards, Alexander , the son of the former imperial regent Polyperchon , appeared in the field camp of Tire, who, on behalf of his father, decided to form an alliance with Antigonus, although both had previously been opponents during the Second Diadoch War. Obviously, on this occasion, Polyperchon had transferred his claim to the reign that Cassander had taken from him to Antigonus. He had Cassander declared an enemy of the Reich in relation to his assembled army, accusing him of the murder of Queen Olympias and the illegal imprisonment of King Alexander IV and his mother. In addition, because of his marriage to Thessalonike , he insinuated that he would strive for the royal diadem himself and that he wanted to promote declared enemies of Macedonia and the Greeks by founding Thebes and Olynthus . With regard to the Greek Poleis , Antigonos also issued a proclamation in which he called for the restoration of their political autonomy and the withdrawal of the Macedonian garrisons stationed there since the Lamic War , who were loyal to Cassander. Referring to this, he justified his military engagement in Greece, where he was represented by his follower Aristodemos of Miletus .

Around June 313 BC Finally, the Ptolemaic occupation of Tire capitulated and Antigonus was able to take possession of the city, which he secured with an occupation. From Diodor’s short report on the surrender it can be inferred that it had taken place after the island had been sealed off for a long time by the Antigonid fleet. Obviously, by this point in time, Antigonos' fleet building program had matured to such an extent that the city of Ptolemy could no longer be appalled from the seaside. In addition to its own shipyards, Antigonos was also supplied with ships from the ports of Hellespont and Rhodes , so that at the end of the day he had 120 available for the siege. The hopelessness of a relief and an emerging food shortage may have ultimately been the decisive factor for the defenders to surrender.

consequences

Until his death in 301 BC At the Battle of Ipsos , Tire, as well as Phenicia and Syria as a whole, remained firmly under the rule of Antigonus. A 312 BC The counteroffensive of Ptolemy, who had triumphed over Demetrios Poliorketes in the battle of Gaza , was repulsed in the same year. The Antigonid occupation of Tire had stopped Ptolemy decisively.

literature

  • RH Simpson: Antigonus, Polyperchon and the Macedonian Regency , in: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte Vol. 6 (1957), pp. 371-373
  • RH Simpson: Antigonus the One-Eyed and the Greeks , in: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte Vol. 8 (1959), pp. 385-409
  • RM Errington : Diodorus Siculus and the Chronology of the Early Diadochoi, 320-311 BC , in: Hermes 105 (1977), pp. 478-504
  • Edward M. Anson: The Chronology of the Third Diadoch War , in: Phoenix Vol. 60, No. 3/4 (2006), pp. 226-235
  • Richard A. Billows: Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State (1997), pp. 112-117

Individual evidence

  1. For dating see Errington, Anson and Billows.
  2. Diodorus 19, 57, 1-2.
  3. Diodor 18, 43, 1-2.
  4. Diodorus 19, 58, 1.
  5. Diodorus 19, 61, 5. Alexander had 332 BC. Used not more than half a year.
  6. Diodorus 19, 58, 1.
  7. Diodorus 19, 58, 2-4.
  8. Diodorus 19, 58, 6 and 59, 1-2.
  9. Diodor 19, 61, 1-4.
  10. Diodorus 19, 61, 5.
  11. Diodorus 19, 62, 8.