Alexander the Great's lost tunnel
May 11, 2010 6:18 PM Subscribe
I'm interested in Alexander the Great's tunnel through the chalk grottoes of Rosh Hanikra in 333 BC. Whatever happened to it?
I can't find much info about it online, the only information I can find is that he supposedly tunneled through Rosh Hanikra after having conquered Tyre, and the tunnel was large enough for him to march his entire army through.
But why is it that can no one find the tunnel? Rosh Hanikra's site isn't that sprawling, so wouldn't there be some sign of it? There were apparently three tunnels that were dug centuries (and millennia later,) but if there was already an existing tunnel, why would anyone need to make new ones? (I'm obviously missing something here-- could Alexander's tunnel have filled up with debris or eroded into nothingness?)
Also where was this event first referenced as having happened?
My google-fu has failed me, any help or interesting anecdotes about this feat would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I can't find much info about it online, the only information I can find is that he supposedly tunneled through Rosh Hanikra after having conquered Tyre, and the tunnel was large enough for him to march his entire army through.
But why is it that can no one find the tunnel? Rosh Hanikra's site isn't that sprawling, so wouldn't there be some sign of it? There were apparently three tunnels that were dug centuries (and millennia later,) but if there was already an existing tunnel, why would anyone need to make new ones? (I'm obviously missing something here-- could Alexander's tunnel have filled up with debris or eroded into nothingness?)
Also where was this event first referenced as having happened?
My google-fu has failed me, any help or interesting anecdotes about this feat would be much appreciated. Thanks!
It definitely could have eroded. I haven't visited the grottoes in years - my godparents lived at the kibbutz there - but there are all sorts of formations there, changing over time. The internet suggests that Alexander's tunnel was used as late as the Crusades, so that's quite a long span. Good luck with your search for more info!
posted by judith at 9:32 PM on May 11, 2010
posted by judith at 9:32 PM on May 11, 2010
According to Let's Go Israel
The British enlarged the natural chalk grottoes when they bore a tunnel through the cliffs during World War II in order to complete a railway line linking Turkey with Egypt. The nearby kibbutz, smelling the chance for a new tourist trap, blasted additional tunnels through the rock to improve access to the sea caves....
Other indications are that the path through the feature involved rock steps, so to the extent that it was a tunnel, it probably bore little resemblance to the exactitude of a modern rail or highway tunnel. In reality, it may simply have been connecting some otherwise separate grottoes.
But I'm tempted to go with oinopanton here. Google Books has some historical accounts that describe the "Ladder of Tyre" (the name for the cliffside road that traversed the promontory) with no mention of tunnels or Alexander at all.
Here's an account from 1824, though:
The road, a mile beyond this place, passes over the Ras-el-Abiad, or White Promontory, being occasionally cut through the calcareous rock. The road is about two yards in breadth. On the right, the rock is covered with bushes; on the left is a perpendicular precipice, "from which," says Maundrell, "the prospect down is very dreadful, by reason of the extreme depth and steepness of the mountains, and the raging of the waves at bottom." In a storm, the scene must be tremendous. It is, however, perfectly safe, being walled in where necessary. This pass is about a mile in length, and very much resembles some of the roads in North Wales. The tradition of the natives ascribes the cutting of it to the said Scander or Alexander the Great.
This road doubtless fell into disuse after the construction of the tunnels and probably the legend passed to the routes being used in a very urban-legendary fashion.
posted by dhartung at 10:52 PM on May 11, 2010
The British enlarged the natural chalk grottoes when they bore a tunnel through the cliffs during World War II in order to complete a railway line linking Turkey with Egypt. The nearby kibbutz, smelling the chance for a new tourist trap, blasted additional tunnels through the rock to improve access to the sea caves....
Other indications are that the path through the feature involved rock steps, so to the extent that it was a tunnel, it probably bore little resemblance to the exactitude of a modern rail or highway tunnel. In reality, it may simply have been connecting some otherwise separate grottoes.
But I'm tempted to go with oinopanton here. Google Books has some historical accounts that describe the "Ladder of Tyre" (the name for the cliffside road that traversed the promontory) with no mention of tunnels or Alexander at all.
Here's an account from 1824, though:
The road, a mile beyond this place, passes over the Ras-el-Abiad, or White Promontory, being occasionally cut through the calcareous rock. The road is about two yards in breadth. On the right, the rock is covered with bushes; on the left is a perpendicular precipice, "from which," says Maundrell, "the prospect down is very dreadful, by reason of the extreme depth and steepness of the mountains, and the raging of the waves at bottom." In a storm, the scene must be tremendous. It is, however, perfectly safe, being walled in where necessary. This pass is about a mile in length, and very much resembles some of the roads in North Wales. The tradition of the natives ascribes the cutting of it to the said Scander or Alexander the Great.
This road doubtless fell into disuse after the construction of the tunnels and probably the legend passed to the routes being used in a very urban-legendary fashion.
posted by dhartung at 10:52 PM on May 11, 2010
It could be apocryphal.
I agree with oinopaponton. I'm not at home with my books to check, but I don't remember reading about this in any of the main Alexander sources. Also, I'm certainly not an expert, and maybe someone who is will correct me, but there's just something about it that doesn't add up. It was summer (so, really hot) when he went through there, and after Tyre he didn't encounter much (any?) resistance until Gaza, so why would he have gone to the trouble of digging a tunnel? The Jewish Virtual Library article doesn't say it's a fact, and they don't cite a source (which they often do.) When I Googled it just now I got mostly tourism sites, which makes me think it's just one of those local legend-type things.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 8:40 AM on May 12, 2010
I agree with oinopaponton. I'm not at home with my books to check, but I don't remember reading about this in any of the main Alexander sources. Also, I'm certainly not an expert, and maybe someone who is will correct me, but there's just something about it that doesn't add up. It was summer (so, really hot) when he went through there, and after Tyre he didn't encounter much (any?) resistance until Gaza, so why would he have gone to the trouble of digging a tunnel? The Jewish Virtual Library article doesn't say it's a fact, and they don't cite a source (which they often do.) When I Googled it just now I got mostly tourism sites, which makes me think it's just one of those local legend-type things.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 8:40 AM on May 12, 2010
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posted by oinopaponton at 7:13 PM on May 11, 2010