7 - Sicily, 478-431 b.c.

Summary

After the battle of Himera in 480 (see CAH IV² 771-5), Sicily was once again divided into four main political blocs. The western corner of the island was the ‘epicracy’, or dominion, of Carthage, with major centres at Panormus, Solus and Motya, and no territorial changes despite the Greek victory. The Elymian enclave, with its main cities of Segesta, Eryx and Entella, also remained subject to Carthage, though culturally hellenized, and Greek Selinus, while aspiring to neutrality, remained subservient to Carthage as well. Although Punic Sicily flourished throughout the fifth century, Carthage itself was notably absent from Sicilian affairs. Greek Sicily also remained divided into its three epicracies under their respective ruling dynasties: the Deinomenids at Syracuse, the Emmenids at Acragas and the Anaxilads at Rhegium. To these three all other Siciliote cities were subject; Syracuse controlled Naxus, Leontini, Catana and Camarina; Acragas dominated Gela and Himera; and Messana was united with Rhegium. The determining force was no longer the Greek-Punic antagonism of the 480s, but the maintenance of the balance of power between the two main epicracies, the Syracusan and the Acragantine, the latent rivalry between them suddenly erupting in unexpected ‘wars’. The Sicel (and Sican) heart of the island, separated from, yet connected with, the Greek coastal fringe by a large Hellenized belt, remained unaffected by fifth-century changes, whereas the Hellenized Sicel zones, especially the part subject to Syracuse in eastern Sicily, were to play a role in an extraordinary though unsuccessful attempt at autonomy.