Saturday 19 May 2007

Not-so-great Alexander?

© National Geographic News

According to National Geographic News, Alexander may not have been so Great after all. New research has shown that changing sea levels and shifting sands helped him to conquer the island city of Tyre in 332 B.C.

Scholars have always wondered at the amazing feat of engineering which Alexander's army accomplished in constructing a 740m-long causeway to connect Tyre with the mainland. But now, researchers have found evidence to suggest that the waters were probably only 1-2m deep!

The building of the 60m-wide causeway still ranks as a major undertaking.

(A view of how the causeway might have looked can be seen on the cover of this Ancient Siege Warfare book.)

1 comment:

  1. Interesting bit of information but Alexander still went onto to greater feats of military conquests. That said I believe his general Parmenion has recieved a raw deal when anaylizing Alexander's victories. The old general deserves more credit than he gets.

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