Sicilian Wars: Carthage vs. Syracuse
As the Carthaginian Empire expanded its dominance over both shores of the Mediterranean, it increasingly came into conflict with another great maritime power: Greece, located in southern Italy and Gaul ( in Massalia ). Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, directly opposite Carthage, and home to a large number of Greek colonies, would be at the heart of this rivalry. During the 5th and 4th centuries BC, there were no fewer than seven wars between the Greeks and the Carthaginians for control of Sicily.
Context
From the 6th century BC, several Greek colonies were established in southern Italy. The Greek influence in this area was so great that the Romans called it Magna Graecia (Great Greece). In Sicily, the main Greek colony was Syracuse, founded around 734 BC by settlers from the city of Corinth. The Greeks of Sicily were divided into two groups: the Ionians and the Dorians.
Sicily also had some ancient Phoenician colonies. These cities were initially independent, then came under Carthaginian control around 540 BC. At that time, there was no armed confrontation between the Greeks and the Carthaginians.
Around 510, Prince Dorius of Sparta, after the failure of his colony project in Tripoli , settled in the region of Erix. His colony, isolated from the other Greek cities of Sicily, faced hostility from the surrounding Carthaginian cities. A few years later, Dorius and his companions were attacked and killed by the inhabitants of the neighboring city of Segesta, allied with Carthage. This was the first armed clash between Greeks and Carthaginians in Sicily. The survivors left for the south of the island, where they captured the Greek city of Heraclea Minoa.
By the beginning of the 5th century, most of the Greek cities in Sicily had fallen under the rule of tyrants (authoritarian rulers, contrary to Greek democratic ideals). Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, who controlled the largest territory, made an alliance with Theron of Akragas, forming a united front of Dorian Greeks, against the Ionian Greeks and native Sicilians. Faced with this threat, the Ionians formed an alliance with Carthage.
First Sicilian War (480)
After the First Sicilian War: territory of Syracuse (red), territory controlled by Syracuse (yellow) and territory controlled by Akragas (blue); black spots: Carthaginian cities
In 483, Theron of Akragas deposed Tyrelus, the Ionian tyrant of Himera, who had asked Carthage for help. The Carthaginians intervened in 480, fearing that an alliance between Gelon and Theron would take control of all of Sicily.
The Carthaginian army under King Hamilcar I was defeated at the Battle of Himera. Hamilcar was killed in the battle or committed suicide after his defeat, according to sources. However, Carthage retained its territory in Sicily.
This defeat brought about profound changes in Carthaginian society: the aristocratic government was replaced by an elected assembly, with a king with purely symbolic powers .
Middle period (410-480)
The victory of the Syracuse-Akragas axis marked the beginning of an era of prosperity for the Greek colonies in Sicily. The spoils of war would be used to build public buildings.
This period is also marked by the fall of the Greek tyrants and the establishment of democratic and oligarchic regimes in Syracuse and Akragas, as well as in other Greek cities.
Second Sicilian War (410-404)
The Second Sicilian War broke out after a series of clashes between the cities of Selinus, an ally of Syracuse, and Segesta, an ally of Carthage. After trying in vain to resolve the conflict diplomatically, the Carthaginians landed in Sicily, captured Selinus, then Himera, and withdrew.
Syracuse and Acragas, the two most powerful cities in Sicily, did not intervene. However, the rebel Syracuse general Hermocratus raised an army to attack the Carthaginian possessions in Sicily. He was initially victorious, but was killed at Syracuse in 407.
After his death, Carthage launched a punitive expedition. The Carthaginians captured Akragas, then Gela and Camarina, and inflicted several defeats on the forces of Dionysius I, the new tyrant of Syracuse. However, the Carthaginian army was decimated by a plague, forcing its generals to enter into a peace treaty with Syracuse, which nevertheless imposed a tribute on the last cities occupied by Carthage: this was the height of Carthaginian power in Sicily.
Third Sicilian War (398-393)
In 398, Dionysius the Elder, having consolidated his power, besieged and captured the Carthaginian city of Maatiea, in violation of the peace treaty. The Carthaginians intervened and recaptured Maatiea, then captured Messina. In 397, after a decisive victory over the Greek fleet at the naval Battle of Catania, they besieged Syracuse itself. The Carthaginian forces were again decimated by plague, forcing them to lift the siege. Carthage lost its recent conquests, but retained the rest of its territory.
For the next few years, Carthage would be busy fighting rebellions in Africa. In 393, the Carthaginians attempted to retake Messina, but failed. With both sides facing internal difficulties, a new peace treaty would finally be concluded, in which Carthage and Syracuse would agree to leave their rival in peace within their sphere of influence.
Fourth Sicilian War (383-376)
Dionysius the Elder resumed hostilities in 383. Carthage formed an alliance with the Greeks of southern Italy to attack the Sicilians on two fronts. In 378, the Carthaginians were defeated in Sicily. They first wanted to negotiate a new peace treaty, but Dionysius the Elder demanded that they withdraw from the island entirely, a condition that was unacceptable to them. Fighting resumed and the Carthaginians finally won a decisive victory in 376.
Fifth Sicilian War (368-367)
In 368, Dionysius the Elder besieged Lilybaeum. His fleet was defeated, a serious setback to his war effort. After his death in 367, his son and successor Dionysius II the Younger made peace with Carthage.
Sixth Sicilian War (345-333)
Carthaginian soldier
Towards the end of the reign of Dionysius the Younger, the Carthaginians took advantage of divisions between rival political factions in Syracuse to enter the city, at the invitation of one of these factions. They would be quickly expelled.
In 343, Timoleon, the new ruler of Syracuse, attacked Carthaginian possessions in Sicily. A Carthaginian relief expedition was defeated in 339. Carthage was forced to sign a peace treaty that allowed it to retain control only over the western half of the island.
Seventh Sicilian War (311-306)
In 311, Agathocles, the new tyrant of Syracuse, attacks Carthaginian territory in Sicily, in violation of the peace treaty. A Carthaginian counterattack drives him back and forces him to retreat to Syracuse. The Carthaginians occupy all of Sicily, except for the besieged Syracuse.
In desperation, Agathocles leads an armed expedition to Africa to attack Carthage itself. His gambit works: the Carthaginian forces in Sicily are forced to lift the siege and return to defend Carthage.
The first battle in Africa was a defeat for the Carthaginians. Agathocles then besieged Carthage, but the city was so well fortified that he could not hope to take it. He made an alliance with Eilimas, king of the Numidians Massilian , one of Masinissa's ancestors , and occupied all of present-day northern Tunisia.
Agathocles' forces were finally defeated and expelled in 307. The following year, a new peace treaty was concluded.
After the Sicilian Wars
At the end of the Sicilian Wars, Carthage controlled most of the island. Syracuse now controlled only the south and east, from Gela to Messina.
Then the Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus, at war with Rome (280-275), invaded Sicily in 279, in order to expel the Carthaginians. He captured a few cities, but after the failure of his siege of Lilybaeum, he returned to Italy in 276. Pyrrhus's military campaign in Sicily can be considered the final episode of the wars between the Greeks and the Carthaginians for control of the island.
Sicily before the First Punic War
Finally, the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage also took place in Sicily . Rome entered the war in support of the Mamertines, a group of Italian mercenaries who were occupying the area of Messina. After this war, the Carthaginians were expelled from Sicily.
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