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After the battle of Issus, Alexander took the Levant and the coastal Mediterranean cities, which were important trading citiesand had allowed the Achaemenids to derive much of their wealth and establish their navy, and proceeded into Egypt. In Syria and the Levant, his only major encounters were the sieges of Tyre and Gaza in 332 BC. <ref> For more on Alexander's campaigns in the Levant and Syria, see: Freeman, Philip. 2011. Alexander the Great. New York: Simon & Schuster, pg. 26. </ref> In Egypt, he was quickly accepted by the local population, as the Egyptians had revolted against the Achaemenids not long before Alexander and, therefore, saw this as an opportunity for new leadership. Here, he became considered the son of Amun, the chief of the Egyptian pantheon, further exalting him in the eyes of his new subjects. Alexander also began the process of founding cities, the most famous of which was Alexandria. It's position along the Mediterranean reflects a key change, where Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean worlds would be more strongly integrated in culture and trade in the centuries to come.<ref> For more on Alexander's time in Egypt, see: Bowman, Alan K. 1996. Egypt after the Pharaohs: 332 BC-AD 642 ; from Alexander to the Arab Conquest. 2. paperback printing. Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of California Press, pg. 22</ref>