Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/843

 SICILY

773

SICILY

island their mutual hatreds and jealousies. More- over, in the principal cities — such as Girgenti, Mes- sina, Catania, and Syracuse, the democratic and aris- tocratic governments had given way to the rule of tyrants, which resulted in frequent conspiracies, revo- lutions, and temporary alliances. During the sixth century B.C. it was chiefly Acragas, under the govern- ment of Phalaris (570-555), that upheld the prestige of Greece against Carthage. In 480 b. c, Hamilcar, invited by Terillos, tyrant of Himera, who had been overthrown by Theron, came with an immense army to restore Terillos, and later to subjugate the whole island. But Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, having been called on for aid, inflicted a great defeat on Hamilcar. That victory — which was not the first gained by Ge- lon over the Carthaginians — assured to Syracuse the hegemony of the Greek cities of the island. Gelon's

stirred up by the threats of the Syracusans, the Car- thaginians again sought to subdue the whole island. In 406 came the turn of Acragas the richest city in the island; the year following Gela and Camarina fell into the hands of the Carthaginians. In that year, how- ever, Dionysius, having become master of Syracuse, made peace with the Carthaginians, and so stopped their victorious march. To prepare for renewed war with them, he strengthened and extended his power by taking Catania, Enna, Na.xos, and Leontini. In 397 he expelled the Carthaginians from Motye. Himilco, the Carthaginian general, then attacked Syracuse, which seemed to prefer the gentle sway of the Carthaginians to that of its tyrant. But the stubbornness of the Spartan Pharacidas and a pestil- ence gained Dionysius a victory (396) and supremacy over the Greek portion of the island. An attack on

HE Harbour of brother Hiero being master of (k'la and married to the daughter of Thoon, tyrant of Acragas, Hiero suc- ceeded him and defeated the Etruscans, enemies of the Cumani (474). The inhabitants of Catania and Naxos had to migrate to Leontini, and a Doric colony was established at Catania. But soon after Hiero's death (471) his brother Thrasybulus was expelled; democracy triumphed at Syracuse and the other Greek cities, and Greek unity was at an end.

Ducetius, one of the chiefs of the Siculi, who were still masters of the interior, then conceived the hope of uniting his race and expelling all the foreigners from Sicily. He succooded in taking Catania (451) and defeated the Syracusans who had come to the aid of Montyon ; but in 452 he met with a reverse at Normae, and his army disbanded. The Siculi made no further efforts. The old rivalries broke out among the Greeks, and Athens intervened at the request of Leontini (427). For a moment the Sicilian Greeks recognized the danger of such intervention. At the Congress of Gela (424) a confederation of the Sicilian cities was formed for defence against all foreign pow- ers. This alliance did not last long. The dispute be- tween Selinus and Egesta (416), and the aid given by Syracuse to the former, led to the war between Athens and Syracuse, in which the latter appealed to Sparta for help. The Syracusans were victorious on sea, and the Spartans on land (413). Egesta then called upon the Carthaginians, and Hannibal, the nephew of Hamilcar, destroyed Selinus and, a little later, Hi- mera (409). Encouraged by these successes and

Palermo, Sicily Messina by the Carthaginian Mago was repulsed (393).

A peace having been concluded, which assured each sid(> its own territory, Dionysius thought of con- quering Italy. Two other wars (383, defeat of Cro- nium; 368, capture of Selinunte and Entella) gave the advantage to neither party. When Timoleon de- feated Dionysius II (343), the petty tyrants of the various cities again appealed for help to the Cartha- ginians, who were again defeated at Egesta (342). When Agathocles, the new tyrant of Syracuse, as- pired to the supremacy of the island he had to fight the Carthaginians (312-306). Finally, however, the latter succeeded, by the treaty of peace, in securing their own possessions and the independence of the other Greek cities in the island, — preventing the union of the Greeks, among whom new tyrants arose, all fighting with one another. This led to the inter- vention of the Carthaginians, on the one hand, and on the other of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, then at war with Rome (281-75). Pyrrhus caused the siege of Syracuse to be raised, stormed Eryx and Panormus, and cleared the enemy out of the whole island, with the exception of Lilyba;um. But when he began to appoint governors in Sicily, the Sicilians had recourse again to the Carthaginians and Pyrrhus returned to Italy (279). Meanwhile a military republic of Cam- panian mercenaries had been formed in Messina, and conquered almost the entire northern coast. Hiero II of Syracuse attacked these (269). Then some of the Mamertines, an Italic people, appealed for aid to