Capital of Phoenicia?

[hoom]

I don't pretend to be a historical expert but I thought Tyre was the more important of the Phoenician cities?
So why is Sidon the capital of Phoenicia

[Kraxis]

Interesting... It was Tyre.

[Sinner]

As I recall Sidon was originally the top city, but that was something like a 1000 years before the game starts and in any case Tyre became the main Phoenician city a few centuries later.

[Kraxis]

As I recall Sidon was originally the top city, but that was something like a 1000 years before the game starts and in any case Tyre became the main Phoenician city a few centuries later.

That is more or less the point. Tyre spawned Carthage and most of the other settlements, it was the main hub of the economy ect ect... The Phoenecians were perhaps not in a nation like we want them to, but Tyre was certainly the city everybody looked to.

[Mithrandir]

Moved to Monastery.

[Accounting Troll]

Phoenicia was a collection of loosely allied city states, and not a proper nation. The main cities were Aradus, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre.

They generally managed to maintain good relations with the Cartagian Empire because as Carthage was a Phoenician colony, the Carthagians and Phoenicians regarded each other as brothers. The colonies founded by the Phoenician and Greek city states were usually politically autonomous from the very start as opposed to the colonies formed by the European powers in the Americas in the 16th-18th centuries.

[hoom]

Yes, but why did CA choose to use Sidon as the capital of the Phoenicia province for Rome:Total War?
(grumbles at moderator for moving a R:TW topic into the historical section)

[Armchair Athlete]

Alexander the great captured Tyre and slaughtered the population when he was conquering the Persian empire (before the game begins) so I guess after that Sidon was the principle city. Don't know if Tyre was rebuilt or not, I dont think so, but if it was it never recovered to its former glory again.

[Suppiluliumas]

Right you are. Alexander did not wish to leave Tyre active as a Persian naval base behind his lines, so he filled in about a half mile of the mediterranean sea to reach the walls. Very impressive stuff.

[hoom]

Not just that, but he took off his elite forces & went to conquor some nearby cities in order to gain manpower to do it.
When counter attacks damaged the mole, he stuck siege weapons on platforms between ships (ie catamaran style) & knocked down the thin part of the walls on the far side of the city to finally gain entry.

But its my understanding that Tyre quickly recovered & it was the Roman capital of Phoenicia.

[Armchair Athlete]

Just checked it out and you are right, it was rebuilt and became pretty important but not really until 126 BC, when it obtained self government from the Seleucids and started minting its own coins. As that is well after the starting date for RTW, I guess thats why they put Sidon as the capital of Phonecia and not Tyre.

[Plantagenet]

I don't think there was really a "capital" since there was no native political unity. However, Tyre was the greatest Phoenician city, famous for the "Tyrian Purple" that made it rich (among other things). Tyre was also the home city of the original founders of Carthage & Utica.