The Sicilian Wars: War between the Greeks and Carthaginians

[guy]

Archaeologists uncovered the remains of dozens of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Himera. Evidence for mass burials of war dead is extremely rare in the ancient Greek world. (Courtesy Soprintendenza Archeologica di Palermo)
 

Most of us have little understanding of the Sicilian Wars: the series of wars between Greece and Carthage from 480 BCE to 306 BCE. Below is an excellent video on the first of these wars. Here’s some background information:

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Sicily proved to be the battleground between two of the premiere civilizations in the Mediterranean.  The Doric Greeks and the Phoenician Carthaginians battled for control over the island as a vital crossing point and stronghold for trade.  Whoever controlled the island could control North/South and East/West sea lanes. Therefore, the competition between the Greek allied city-states often led by Syracuse and the North African city of Carthage raged for decades.

The conflict for Sicily was a series of seven individual wars between various Greek city-states and Carthaginian troops.  To control Sicily was to have control over vital trade routes.  It has been suggested that Carthage was primarily interested in keeping the trade routes to Sardinia open, and hence needed a secure western Sicily to accomplish that goal.  However, the Doric Greeks were aggressive in expanding their sphere of influence by ejecting the Ionians, removing Carthage, and dominating that trade for themselves.  Thus, the seven Sicilian Wars.  To put it in perspective, the famous failed siege of Syracuse by Athens took place during the second Sicilian War.

 

Here is some background information on the First Battle of Himera during the First Sicilian War:

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It was one of the ancient world's greatest battles, pitting a Carthaginian army commanded by the general Hamilcar against a Greek alliance for control of the island of Sicily. After a fierce struggle in 480 B.C. on a coastal plain outside the Sicilian city of Himera, with heavy losses on both sides, the Greeks eventually won the day. As the years passed, the Battle of Himera assumed legendary proportions. Some Greeks would even claim it had occurred on the same day as one of the famous battles of Thermopylae and Salamis, crucial contests that led to the defeat of the Persian invasion of Greece, also in 480 B.C., and two of the most celebrated events in Greek history.

The fullest account comes from Diodorus Siculus. The historian claims that Hamilcar sailed from Carthage with a huge army of some 300,000 troops, but a more realistic figure is probably around 20,000. Along the way, Hamilcar's fleet ran into a storm that sank the transports carrying his horses and chariots. Undeterred, the general set up a fortified seaside camp on the shore west of Himera to protect his remaining ships and built walls to block the western land approaches to the city. The outnumbered Greek defenders sallied out from the city to protect Himera's territory, only to lose the first skirmishes.

Although the Greeks received reinforcements, they were still outnumbered. In the end, they got lucky. According to Diodorus, scouts from Gelon's camp intercepted a letter to Hamilcar from allies who promised to send cavalry to replace the losses he had suffered at sea. Gelon ordered some of his own cavalry to impersonate Hamilcar's arriving allies. They would bluff their way into Hamilcar's seaside camp and then wreak havoc. The ruse worked. At sunrise the disguised Greek cavalry rode up to the Carthaginian camp, where unsuspecting sentries let them in. Galloping across the camp, Gelon's horsemen killed Hamilcar (although the historian Herodotus says Hamilcar killed himself) and set fire to the ships drawn up on the beach. At that signal, Gelon advanced from Himera to meet the Carthaginians in pitched battle.

Scholars have long questioned Diodorus' description of these events, but in 2008 Vassallo's team began to excavate part of Himera's western necropolis, just outside the city wall, in preparation for a new rail line connecting Palermo and Messina. The excavations revealed 18 very rare horse burials dating to the early fifth century B.C. These burials remind us of Diodorus' account of the cavalry stratagem the Greeks used against Hamilcar. Were these perhaps the mounts of the horsemen who bluffed their way into the Carthaginian camp?

 

 

Buried near the soldiers were the remains of 18 horses that likely died during the battle, including this one that still has a bronze ring from its harness in its mouth. (Pasquale Sorrentino)

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At first the Carthaginian troops fought hard, but as news of Hamilcar's death spread, they lost heart. Many were cut down as they fled, while others found refuge in a nearby stronghold only to surrender due to lack of water. Diodorus claims 150,000 Carthaginians were killed, although the historian almost certainly exaggerated this number to make the Greek victory more impressive. The Carthaginians soon sought peace. In addition to surrendering their claim to Himera, they paid reparations of 2,000 talents, enough money to support an army of 10,000 men for three years. They also agreed to build two temples, one of which may be the Temple of Victory still visible at Himera today.

 

 

 

https://archive.archaeology.org/1101/features/himera.html

http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2019/12/men-of-bronze-greeks-vs-carthage.html?m=1

Edited July 18, 2022 by guy