The Persian Empire, including modern Lebanon, eventually fell to Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia.
He attacked Asia Minor, defeated the Persian troops in 333 BC, and advanced toward the Lebanese coast.
Despite his early death in 323 BC, Alexander's conquest of the eastern Mediterranean Basin left a Greek imprint on the area.
Emboldened by a victory over the Persian army at the Granicus River (334 BCE), Alexander went on to take the entirety of Asia Minor.
By allowing the city to remain independent, Alexander would not possess total control of the Mediterranean coast, thereby providing his newly conquered territories with a weak spot, should the Persians deploy naval vessels.
Finally, by taking Tyre, Alexander would have conquered the whole of Phoenicia, further proving his status as a conqueror and also completely cutting off the Persians from access to the Mediterranean sea while simultaneously depriving them of their largest contributor to their navy.
[4] These rituals served to further reinforced the Hellenistic culture on the Phoenicians by making typical Greek activities, such as dramatic contests, commonplace with in the territory.
Despite the reinforcement of Greek culture in cities like Tyre, there was no apparent effort to completely remake Phoenicia under the control of Alexander.
The eastern part—Phoenicia, Asia Minor, northern Syria, and Mesopotamia fell to Seleucus I, founder of the Seleucid dynasty.
This settlement, however, failed to bring peace because Seleucus I and Ptolemy clashed repeatedly in the course of their ambitious efforts to share in Phoenician prosperity.