PHOENICIAN PERIL - By Mark Stoker (mstoker@mailexcite.com)
==========================================================

Scenario Instructions:
----------------------
The year is 573 BC. Tyre has just survived a thirteen-year Babylonian 
siege. Although the city is still standing, our once-mighty navy has 
been decimated and our economy is in ruins. The Greeks have seized 
many of our Mediterranean colonies, and they now control most of our 
trade routes. The Tyrian Temple was also pillaged, and statues of the 
gods Baal and Astarte were carted off.

Because the loss of these powerful Artifacts has demolished the 
morale of the Tryians, the King of Tyre has ordered you to recover 
them. He has given you complete control of his army to complete this 
task. Our ally, Sidon, has also offered assistance. Although we do 
not know the exact location of the statues, it has been rummored that 
they are currently being held by either the Greeks or Egyptians.

And finally, the Babylonians have just finished building a Wonder of 
the World: The Hanging Gardens. You may need to destroy it to 
establish the Phoenicians as a world power.



Objectives:
-----------
-Capture the two Artifacts, and either bring them to the Tyrian 
 Temple, OR hold them for 2000 years.

-Protect the Tryian Temple.



Hints:
------
-Attack the Babylonian Wonder as soon as you can. If it stands for 
 2000 years, you lose.

-You can get help from your ally, Sidon.

-Historically, the Phoenicians were never strong enough to hold 
 off the powerful armies from Assyria, then Babylon, and then Persia. 
 However, they were often rich enough to buy them off. In this 
 scenario, you can avoid war by paying tribute to the Persians and 
 Babylonians.

-Aquire gold by trading with your allies.

-The Persians and Babylonians hate each other more than they hate 
 you. They might annihilate each other before they attack you.

-The Phoenicians have awesome Juggernaughts.



History:
--------
The most powerful Phoenician city was Tyre, which was probably 
originally founded as a colony of Sidon, and was mentioned in 
Egyptian records of the 14th century BC as being subject to Egypt. 
It became independent when Egyptian influence in Phoenicia declined 
and soon surpassed Sidon as a trade centre, developing commercial 
relations with all parts of the Mediterranean world. In the 9th 
century BC colonists from Tyre founded in northern Africa the city 
of Carthage, which later became Rome's principal rival in the West. 
Tyre is also frequently mentioned in the Bible as having had close 
ties with Israel.

For much of the 8th and 7th centuries BC Tyre was subject to 
Assyria, and in 585-573 BC it successfully withstood a prolonged 
siege by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (Ezekiel 26-28:19). 
Between 538 and 332 BC it was ruled by the Achaemenian Kings of 
Persia. In this period it lost its hegemony in Phoenicia but 
continued to flourish. Probably the most famous episode in the 
history of Tyre was its resistance to the army of the Macedonian 
conqueror, Alexander the Great, who took it after a seven-month 
siege in 332 BC. After its capture, 10,000 of the inhabitants were 
put to death, and 30,000 were sold into slavery.