Part 1
Project Management 101: How Alexander the Great Could have Utilized Basic Information Systems to Aid his Conquests. Part 1/4.
Written by Seán Butler: Reviewed by Garry Tiscovschi and Mykola Babiy
This series aims to provide a brief course in how strategic information systems such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Project can enhance project management tools, all through the lens of Alexander The Great’s mighty Siege of Tyre. The series is divided into the following sections;
- Introduction to the Siege
- The Siege of Tyre and Strategic Information Systems used during its completion
- Initiating and Planning the Project
- Executing, Controlling and Closing the Project
The Siege of Tyre is considered one of Alexander’s greatest accomplishments, however, it was fraught with difficulties.
The Tyre settlement was divided into Old Tyre, occupying the land, and New Tyre occupying a fortified island roughly half a mile offshore. New Tyre not only possessed a powerful navy and mercenary army but it contained walls which are said to have towered to a height of 46 meters too, according the historian Arrian’s “Anabasis of Alexander” written in the second century AD. Whether the walls really stood that high is doubtful and open to debate, nonetheless, the Tyrians were certainly a force to be reckoned with. They had withstood countless sieges before ATG, perhaps most notably from the King of Babylon, 2 centuries earlier, which lasted 13 years !
ATG’s siege of New Tyre is an incredible feat to delve into… [To be continued in Part 2/4]
