Battle of Himera

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In the battle of Himera in 480 BC Chr. Conquered Gelo , tyrant of Syracuse , and Theron of Akragas as leader of Alliance of Greek-Sicilian city states at Himera that of Hamilkar mentioned Carthaginian army, which Hamilcar was killed. Hamilcar ruled Carthage between 510 and 480 BC. As a result, Carthage had to pay compensation and for some time gave up its ambitions in Sicily . As a result, the cities of Syracuse and Akragas became the dominant centers of power in Sicily for the next centuries.

prehistory

The occasion for the battle was the expulsion of Terillos , the ruler of Himera, by Theron of Akragas in 483 BC. Terillos asked the Carthaginians for help, who then equipped a large force , as they expected to encounter resistance not only from Theron but also from Gelon. The Greek sources speak of 300,000 men on 3,000 transport ships, which is undoubtedly an exaggeration to glorify the later Greek victory. However, it is likely that the Carthaginian army was larger than the Greek.

The Carthaginian fleet landed unhindered in Panormos and marched against Himera, where Hamilcar pitched his tents west of the city. His fleet was beached at the estuary where the port was located. Gelon appeared, camped south of Himera, with about 24,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 horsemen.

course

Gelon had intercepted a message from Hamilcar to the city of Selinus , in which the cavalry division promised by the city was requested. Thereupon he sent his own cavalry to the agreed meeting point at the Carthaginian ships. The guards were fooled and mistook the incoming riders for the expected cavalry division from Selinus. The Syracusans managed to set the Carthaginian ships on fire and kill the completely unprepared Hamilcar. According to a Carthaginian account handed down by Herodotus , however, Hamilcar sacrificed himself to the gods by throwing himself into the fire.

After this coup , the Greeks attacked the Carthaginian camp. The leaderless and demoralized defenders offered little resistance. Since the ships were mostly destroyed, they had no escape and were captured.

Effects

Carthage asked for peace after this devastating defeat. Gelon granted it on relatively mild terms. Carthage had to pay war compensation of 2,000 talents in the form of over fifty tons of silver and finance the construction of two temples. This led to a peace between Carthage and the Sicilian cities that lasted around 70 years.

In the centuries that followed, the Greek victory at Himera was exaggerated in history, starting with the First Pythian Ode by the poet Pindar . The formation of the legend of the barbaric threat to civilization (i.e. Greece) by Carthage began and was complemented by the fact that at the same time as the Battle of Himera, the Persians were also defeated by the Greeks in the Battle of Salamis . This gave rise to the myth that the two battles not only took place on the same day, but that the Persians and Carthaginians also discussed and coordinated their ventures. Gelon, who was celebrated as a hero, benefited from this representation.

Main sources

literature

  • Moses I. Finley : Ancient Sicily . Beck, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-406-04039-X
  • Marc Hofer: tyrants - aristocrats - democrats. Studies on the state and rule in the Greek Sicily from Phalaris to the rise of Dionysius I. Peter Lang, Bern 2000, ISBN 3-906762-84-X
  • Michael Kleu: From intervention to rule. On the intention of Carthaginian interventions in Sicily up to the peace of 405. In: David Engels u. a. (Ed.): Between ideal and reality. Rule in Sicily from ancient times to the late Middle Ages . Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-515-09641-6 , pp. 13-36
  • Stella P. Revard: Politics, Poetics, and the Pindaric Ode 1450-1700 . Brepols, Turnhout 2010, ISBN 978-2-503-52896-0
  • BH Warmington: Carthage. The rise and fall of a world power . Title of the original English edition: Carthago . Robert Hale Ltd., London 1960. Translation from English by Paul Baudisch. FA Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1964, p. 52 f.

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