Syracuse
In 412 BC Diocles, opposing Hermocrates and his friends, led a democratic revolution at Syracuse. After the Spartan defeat at Cyzicus (410 BC) the democrats deposed and exiled Hermocrates in absentia. In 409 BC he returned to Sicily with an army funded by Pharnabazus. He seized Selinus and had some military successes against the Carthaginians; this turned Syracusan public opinion against Diocles, who was forced into exile. In 407 BC Hermocrates marched on Syracuse, but his attempted coup failed and he was killed. Most of his followers were killed or exiled. Among those that survived was a young officer, Dionysius-I the Elder (c.65; r.405-367 BC).
Great numbers of refugees were now found in the outskirts of Syracuse and other cities. Dionysius, who now headed the party of Hermocrates, in an address to the assembly attributed the fall of Acragas to the incompetence of the Syracusan generals and then had them replaced by others, one of whom was himself. He restored all the exiles of his party and then under the pretext that his life was threatened, obtained a bodyguard of one thousand men for his protection, which he used to make himself master of Syracuse.
In spring 405 BC Himilco had left his winter base at Acragas and marched along the coast to Greek Gela. He set up camp near the sea on the west of the city and moved battering rams to the walls of the city. He made some breaches in the walls, but the defenders managed to keep the attackers at bay during the day and repair the walls at night.
Dionysius with thirty thousand hoplites and four thousand infantry supported by fifty triremes marched to Gela, where he camped east of the city. After blockading the Carthaginian fort for twenty days he decided to attack, but failed to coordinate his troops: the Italiots (=Italian Greeks) marched along the coast and prematurely attacked the fort from the south and were driven back; the marines who had sailed along the coast to assist the Italiots in their assault, covered their escape into the city; the Siciliots (=Sicilian Greeks) marched north of the city but were late in attacking the fort from the east and were also driven back; Dionysius with his mercenaries were delayed coming through the city and never got into the action; and north of the camp the cavalry when threatened by the Carthaginians retreated into the city.
While the Greek army was far from beaten, Dionysius nevertheless decided to evacuate the city. During the night the Greek troops and the Geloan population fell back to the next city along the coast, Camarina. Here, he persuaded its citizens to leave their city and join his retreat to Syracuse. The Italiots marched off towards the Messina Strait.
Angered by Dionysius’ abandonment of two Greek cities, the cavalry rode on to Syracuse and raised the citizens against him. Dionysius hurried in pursuit, burned the city gate at Achradina that had been closed against him, then killed most of his opponents and exiled the rest. His mercenaries and Siciliots arrived the following day. The people of Gela and Camarina, distrusting Dionysius, joined the fugitives from Acragas in Leontini.
The Carthaginians plundered Gela and Camarina, and encamped before Syracuse during the summer. When a devastating plague spread among the Carthaginians they offered terms to Dionysius that he was glad to accept: western Sicily was to be Carthaginian; Selinus, Himera, Acragas, Gela and Camarina were to remain unfortified and pay tribute to Carthage; Leontini, Messana and the Sicels were to be autonomous; Carthage was to keep full control of the Phoenician cities in Sicily; Dionysius was confirmed as ruler of Syracuse.
During the winter and into the summer of 404 BC Dionysius worked to consolidate his position. He fortified Ortygia as an island refuge and garrisoned it with his mercenaries, and tried to gain support by redistributing landed property to citizens and non-citizens, including liberated slaves. However, the people were resentful since with no elections having been held for the generalship it was felt that they had been tricked into accepting as a tyrant a man who had failed as a soldier, had banished many of their fellow citizens, and had distributed among aliens and slaves the property of true citizens.
In summer 404 BC Dionysius prepared to attack the Sicel town of Herbessus. While he was laying the siege his soldiers rebelled and killed their commander, Doricus. Dionysius fled to Ortygia. The rebels marched back to the city and occupied the Epipolae Plateau, cutting Dionysius off from the interior of Sicily, and sent out an appeal for naval help; eighty ships were sent from Messana and Rhegium. Blockaded by land and sea, Dionysius was now in serious difficulties. He hired twelve hundred mounted Campanian mercenaries in western Sicily to come to his aid and in the end routed the civilian forces. He then dismissed the Campanians, disarmed the citizens, strengthened his forces, built further walls (eventually one of them enclosed the whole of Epipolae), and hired workmen to create new weapons like the catapult (a mechanically strung bow) and new ships like the quinquereme.
In 403 BC he attacked the Sicel towns of Herbessus and Herbita, gained by treachery the Chalcidian towns of Naxus and Catana, and intimidated Leontini into surrender. To secure control of the strait he won the alliance of Messana with a gift of territory, and the goodwill of Locris by marrying the daughter of a leading Locrian, but Rhegium rejected his advances and became his bitter enemy. The Spartans sent an emissary, Aristus, to assist him in establishing his rule. Having secured eastern Sicily Dionysius spent the next few years preparing for a war with Carthage.
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