Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1000

 980 SICILIA. time, next to Agrigentum and Syracuse, proliably the most flourishing city in Sicily, but it was wholly unprepared for defence, and was taken after a siege of only a few days, the inhabitants put to the sword or made prisoners, and the walls and public build- inc;s razed to the ground (Diod. xiii. 54 — 58). From thence Hannibal turned his arms against Hi- mera, which was able to protract its resistance some- what longer, but eventually fell also into his power, wlien in order to avenge himself for his grandfather's defeat, he put the whole male population to the sword, and so utterly destroyed the city that it was never again inhabited (Id. xiii. 59 — 62). After these exploits Hannibal returned to Carth.ige with his fleet and army. But his successes had now awakened the ambition of the Carthaginian people, who determined upon a second invasion of Sicily, and in b. c. 406 sent thither an army still larger than the preceding, under the command of Hannibal. Agrigentum, at this time at the very highest point of its power and opulence, was on this occasion the first object of the Carthaginian arms, and though the citizens had made every pre- paration for defence, and in fact were enabled to prolong their resistance for a period of eight months they were at length compelled by famine to surren- der. The greater part of the inhabitants evacuated the city, which shared the fate of Selinus and Hi- inera (Diod. xiii. 81, 91). Three of the principal Greek cities in Sicily had thus already fallen, and in the spring of B. c. 405, Himilco, who had succeeded Hannibal in the com- mand, advanced to the attack of Gela. Meanwhile the power of Syracuse, upon which the other cities had in a great degree relied for their protection, had been in great measure paralysed by internal dissen- .sions : and Dionysius now availed himself of these to raise himself to the possession of despotic power. But his first operations were not more successful than those of the generals he replaced, and after an ineffectual attempt to relieve Gela, he abandoned both that city and Camarina to their fate, the inha- bitants of both emigrating to Leontini. Dionysius was able to fortify himself in the supreme power at Syracuse, and hastened to conclude peace with Hi- milco upon terms which left the Carthaginians undis- puted masters of nearly half of Sicily. In addition to their fonner possessions, Selinus, Himera, and Agrigentum were to be subject to Carthage, while the inhabitants of Gela and Camarina were to be allowed to return to their native cities on condition of becoming tributary to Carthage (Diod. xiii. 114.) From this time Dionysius reigned with undisputed authority at Syracuse for a period of 38 years (B.C. 405 — 367), and was able at his death to transmit his power unimpaired to his son. But though he raised Syracuse to a state of great power and prosperity, and extended his dominion over a large part of Sicily, as well as of the adjoining part of Italy, his reign was marked by great and sudden changes of fortune. Though he had dexterously availed himself of the Carthaginian invasion to establish his power at Syracuse, he had no sooner consolidated his own authority than he began to turn his thoughts to the expulsion of the Carthagi- nians from the island. His arms were, however, di- rected in the first instance against the Chalcidic cities of Sicily, Naxos, Catana, and Leontini, all of which successively fell into his power, while he ex- tended his dominions over a gr^at part of the Sicel SICILIA. communities of the interior. It was not till lie had effected these conquests, as well as made vast pre- parations for war, by enlarging and strengthening the fortifications of Syracuse and building an enor- mous fleet, that he proceeded to declare war against Carthage,B.c.397. His first successes were rapid and sudden : almost all the cities that had recently been added to the Carthaginian dominion declared in his favour, and he carried his victorious arms to the extreme W. point of Sicily, where Motya, one of the chief strongholds of the Carthaginian power, fell into his hands after a long siege. But the next year (b. c. 396) the state of affairs changed. Himilco, who landed in Sicily with a large army, not only recovered Slotya and other towns that had been taken by Dionysius, but advanced along the N. coast of the island to Messana, which he took by assault and utterly destroyed. Dionysius was even compelled to shut himself up within the walls of Syracuse, where he was closely besieged by Himilco, but a sudden pestilence that broke out in the Car- thaginian camp reduced them in their turn to such straits that Himilco was glad to conclude a secret capitulation and retire to Afi-ica (Diod. xiv. 47 — 76). Hostilities with Carthage were renewed in B. c. 393, but with no very decisive result, and the peace concluded in the following year (b. c. 392) seems to have left matters in much the same state as before. In b. c. 383 war again broke out between Dionysius and the Carthaginians, bitt after two great battles, with alternate success on both sides, a fresh treaty was concluded by which the river Halycus was established as the boundary between the two powers. The limit thus fixed, though often infringed, continued to be recognised by several successive treaties, and may be considered as forming from henceforth the permanent line of de- marcation between the Carthaginian and the Greek power in Sicily (Diod. xv. 17). (For a more detailed account of the reign of Diony- sius and his wars with the Carthaginians, see the article Dionysius in the Biogr. Diet. Vol. I. p. 1033. The same events are fully narrated by Mr. Grote, vol. X. ch. 81, 82, and vol. xi. ch. 83.) Several important towns in Sicily derived their origin from the reign of the elder Dionysius and the revolutions which then took place in the island. Among these were Taurojienium, which arose in the place and not far from the site of the ancient Naxos, which had been finally destroyed by Diony- sius : Tyndaris, founded by the Syracusan despot on the N. coast of the island, with a body of colonibts principally of Messenian origin; Alaesa, in the same part of Sicily, founded by the Sicel chief Archouides; and Lilybaeum, which grew up ad- joining the port and promontory of that name, a few miles S. of Motya, the place of which it took as one of the principal Carthaginian ports and strongholds in the island. The power of Syracuse over the whole of the eastern half of Sicily appeared to be effectually consolidated by the elder Dionysius, but it was soon broken up by the feeble and incompetent government, of his son. Only ten years after the death of the father (B.C. 357), Dion landed in Sicily at the head of only a few hundred mercenary troops, and raised the standard of revolt; all the dependent subjects of Syracuse soon flocked around it, and Dion was welcomed into the city itself by the acclamations uf the citizens. Dionysius himself was absent at the time, but the island-citadel of Ortygia was held iiy