Hiketas (tyrant of Leontinoi)

Hiketas († 339 or 338 BC in Lentini ) was an ancient Greek politician, military commander and tyrant in Sicily . For a time he ruled Syracuse , then he retired to Leontinoi (now Lentini) and exercised power there as a tyrant. He is not to be confused with the ruler of the same name , who in the early 3rd century BC. Ruled in Syracuse.

History of the climb

Southern Italy at the time of hiketa

Hiketas was from Syracuse. He was a friend of the local politician Dion , who in 357 BC. Took Syracuse with a small army of mercenaries and ended the rule of the tyrant Dionysius II over the city. Dion got into serious domestic political conflicts after his victory. He was suspected of seeking tyranny , which led to his increasing weakening and isolation. Eventually he was born in 354 BC. BC by an officer of his mercenary troops, the Athenian Callippus , overthrown in a coup and murdered on the orders of Callippus. Dion's sister and mother-in-law Aristomache , the long-time wife of the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse , and his pregnant wife Arete were imprisoned on the orders of Callippus, where Arete gave birth to her child, Dion's second son. However, Callippus was not a tyrant, but only after Dion's death the leading politician of the city within the framework of the democratic state system, which existed again after the end of the tyrant rule.

Callippus could only hold power for thirteen months. The partisans of Dion gathered in the city of Leontinoi and submitted to Hipparinos , a half-brother of Dionysius II and a nephew of Dion. With a surprise attack they succeeded in retaking Syracuse. Now Dion's relatives have been freed from captivity. At that time Hiketas was apparently among the supporters of Hipparinos in Syracuse, because Aristomache and Arete were entrusted to him. He had them brought to Greece, but they perished on the crossing. Plutarch reports that they were murdered en route on the orders of the Hiketas, who acted on behalf of Dion's enemies. This news is likely to be slander.

Hiketas did not stay in Syracuse at the court of the new tyrant Hipparinos, but withdrew to Leontinoi. There he assumed a leading position, but at that time probably not as a tyrant.

Choppy battles and demise

Syracuse in antiquity with the offshore island of Ortygia

When Dionysios II. 347 BC When he moved from southern Italy to Sicily with an expeditionary force and brought Syracuse back into his possession, his surprised opponents turned to Hiketas for help. The opposition gathered in Leontinoi and, together with Hiketas and his mercenaries, prepared to regain power. The Syracusan enemies of Dionysius turned to Corinth , the mother city of Syracuse, and asked for military help. Hiketas initially joined the request for help, although this step thwarted his plans and he saw it as a threat to his position. His goal was to get Syracuse into his possession. He advanced on Syracuse, but could not hold out a long siege and had to withdraw. On the march back, however, he was able to defeat Dionysius, who was chasing him, and then still occupy Syracuse. Only the island fortress Ortygia in front of the city remained in the hands of Dionysius.

The Carthaginians , who ruled western Sicily, wanted to use the turmoil in the Greek part of the island to advance east. Although they were traditional enemies of the Greeks, Hiketas came to terms with them in the expectation that they would support him and then give him a free hand in Syracuse.

In vain he advised the Corinthians against sending an expedition; they decided to comply with the request of the Syracusans and send a fleet under the leadership of the general Timoleon . After the arrival of Timoleon's fleet, Hiketas tried to persuade him to return home, since Dionysios had already been driven out. However, Timoleon took up the fight. He attacked a numerically far superior force of the Hiketas at Adranum (today Adrano , province of Catania ) surprisingly and defeated them. Then he achieved the surrender of Dionysius, who gave him Ortygia. Now Hiketas called the Carthaginians to help against Timoleon. A Carthaginian fleet entered the port of Syracuse, but could not do anything against Ortygia and withdrew again. Hiketas had no support from the urban population, especially since his Carthaginian allies were hated in Syracuse. He gave in 343 BC BC Syracuse and withdrew to Leontinoi to rule there as a tyrant. But he did not give up his hopes, but undertook in 342/341 BC. A futile foray into Syracuse.

Timoleon managed to repel the Carthaginians and overthrow the Sicilian tyrants who had allied themselves with them in eventful battles. Hiketas had first allied with Timoleon against the Carthaginians, then with the Carthaginians against Timoleon, and in the end was effectively isolated. When Timoleon advanced against Leontinoi, the mercenaries of the Hiketa wanted to avoid the hopeless fight. They captured Hiketas and his son Eupolemus and handed them over to Timoleon. Both were executed as tyrants and traitors. The female members of the hiketa were sentenced to death by the Syracusan people's assembly.

swell

The main sources are Diodor ( Libraries 16: 67–82) and Plutarch ( Timoleon 1–33, Dion 58). Plutarch portrays Hiketas extremely negatively, following a non-preserved anti-tyrant source.

literature

• Henry D. Westlake: Friends and Successors of Dion. In: Historia . Vol. 32, 1983, pp. 161-172.
• Helmut Berve : The tyranny among the Greeks. 2 volumes. Beck, Munich 1967.

Remarks

1. ↑ Plutarch, Dion 57f., Timoleon 33; on this Helmut Berve: Dion , Wiesbaden 1957, p. 120; Henry D. Westlake: Friends and Successors of Dion. In: Historia 32, 1983, pp. 161-172, here: 168.
2. ^ Henry D. Westlake: Friends and Successors of Dion. In: Historia 32, 1983, pp. 161-172, here: 168-170.
3. ^ Henry D. Westlake: Friends and Successors of Dion. In: Historia 32, 1983, pp. 161–172, here: 170.