| Battle near Lilybaeum | Phoenicians/Selinusians | 580 |
| Sea Battle off Alalia | Etruscans/Phocaeans | 537 |
| Battle at Cumae | Cumaeans/Etruscans | 524 |
| Battle at Eryx | Carthaginians/Greeks | 510 |
| Battle at Himera | Syracusans/Carthaginians | 480 |
| Sea Battle off Cumae | Cumaeans/Etruscans | 474 |
| Battle at Catana | Syracusans/Catanians | 460 |
| Battle at Elba | Syracusans/Etruscans | 453 |
| Battle at Motyum | Sicels/Syracusans | 451 |
| Battle at Nomae | Syracusans/Sicels | 450 |
| Battle of Himera River | Syracusans/Acragantines | 446 |
During the eleventh and tenth centuries BC the Phoenicians planted trading posts in Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and Iberia. In the eighth century BC the Etruscans spread their trade to Corsica, Sardinia and Iberia. In the mid-eighth century BC Greek colonisation began with the planting of Cumae in Italy c.750 BC and Naxus in Sicily c.735 BC. Around 650 BC Carthage established hegemony over the other Phoenician settlements throughout the Mediterranean and at its peak its influence extended over most of the western Mediterranean
Phoenicians and Carthaginians
The Phoenicians planted trading posts all over the coast of Sicily. They traded with the Elymi, Sicani and Siculi but never penetrated the island. When the Greek colonists arrived the Phoenicians withdrew to Motya, Panormus and Solus in the western part of the island. These cities remained independent until they became part of the Carthaginian hegemony some time after 540 BC.
In c.580 BC the Phoenicians and the Elymi united to defeat the Greeks of Selinus in their colonisation attempt in the area of the future Lilybaeum (396 BC). In 510 BC the Carthaginians defeated a Greek attempt led by the Spartan Dorieus to colonise Eryx in western Sicily. Conflict between the two peoples culminated in the Battle of Himera in 480 BC, when the Carthaginians were defeated by a coalition of Greek states.
Etruscans
By the mid-sixth century BC the Etruscans had extended their trade routes southwards and founded colonies in Campania (Capua was founded c.600 BC). Persian pressure drove refugees, especially from Asia Minor, westwards. In c.560 BC on the eastern coast of Corsica, Phocaeans from Ionia settled a colony at Alalia that particularly threatened Etruscan interests. In c.537 BC the Etruscans, with some Phoenician support, defeated the Phocaeans in a sea battle and forced the abandonment of the settlement.
In c.524 BC The Etruscans tried to strengthen their control in Campania by attacking Cumae, but they were defeated on land by the Cumaeans under Aristodemus (c.60; r.c.504-c.490 BC). In 478 BC Gelon died and his brother Hieron-I (r.478-467 BC) moved from Gela to become tyrant of Syracuse, while Gela passed to another brother, Polyzalus. In 474 BC in a great sea battle off Cumae the Etruscans with Carthaginian support were defeated by the Cumaeans in alliance with Hieron. Another blow to Etruscan naval power was inflicted in 453 BC at Elba in Tuscany, again by the Syracusans, when they raided the mineral regions of northern Eretria.
Ducetius (d.440 BC)
When Hieron died he was succeeded by the tyrant Thrasybulus (r.465-464 BC) who ruled for only eleven months before being overthrown and soon replaced by a democracy. In 460 BC war broke out between Syracuse and its former colony Catana. Ducetius, a prominent Hellenised Sicel, helped Syracuse defeat the Catanians in revenge for the former occupation of Siculi land by Catana. Ducetius drove the Catanians into nearby Aetna, and regained land lost in Hieron’s day. Trading on this success he united central Sicily by 452 BC and founded Palice, which became his capital. But in 451 BC he began to encroach on Greek territory by capturing Aetna and this resulted in open warfare with Syracuse.
The Syracusans regrouped over the winter and in the spring their army moved directly against Ducetius, while the men of Acragas made an attack on Motyum. The Syracusans came upon Ducetius near the small village of Nomae and were to bring him into open battle this time, gaining what Diodorus called a hard-fought victory. Most of the defeated Siculi retired to their hilltop strongholds. Ducetius threw himself at the mercy of the Syracusans, who exiled him to Corinth.
In 446 BC Ducetius returned to Sicily to found a mixed colony of Greeks and Sicels at Cale Acte on the northern coast. The Acragantines – partly because they considered the coast of Himera belonged to them, and partly because the Syracusans had freed Ducetius without consulting their allies – declared war on Syracuse.
The Greek cities of Sicily were divided, some lined up with Syracuse, others with Acragas. The two armies met at the Himera (=Salso) River (not to be confused with the river of the same name in the north), on Acragas’ eastern frontier. A pitched battle was fought in which more than a thousand Acragantines fell. Syracuse and her allies then proceeded to conquer the Sicels and enslave the survivors. Syracuse was now the greatest state in Sicily.
Alliances with Athens
During the 450s BC, probably to secure new sources of grain supply in case their route to Black Sea supplies was cut, Athens began to show an interest in Sicily. By making alliances with Segesta in 458/7 BC or 454/3 BC and Halicyae, Leontini and Rhegium (across the strait) in 454/3 or a bit later, Athens set herself in opposition to Dorian Syracuse. When the Peloponnesian War broke out, Syracuse, Taras (the daughter state of Sparta) and their satellites sent corn to the Peloponnese.
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