The next year Himilco returned to Sicily with a new army. This victory swayed all of Syrakousai to his side and is renowned as one of the first sieges that relied on artillery. He immediately pushed far to the west and conquered the island of Motya. He also sent a shipment of grain to the Romans for some goodwill on Great Greece (Megále Hellas) herself.
Through ruthless diplomacy and hard-pressing "persuasion" he managed to gain control of Messana and some of the Greek cities on the east of the island. Fully aware that to win the hearts of the citizens, he had to attack Carthage once again, and he started to make preparations for his attack. Dionysos struck back hard he liberated slaves, redistributed the lands, and helping the poor of the city. As early as 404 BCE they revolted en masse. The people of Syrakousai, however, despised Dionysios for what they saw as surrender. Carthage retreated from the east of Sicily and contended with the previously independent cities on the west of Sicily, while Dionysios held onto Syrakousai. The Greeks were miraculeously saved from conquest when a great plague struck and ravaged the Carthaginian army.
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Now only Syrakousai and its surrounding cities as well as the most northeastern tip of Sicily were still free from Carthaginian rule. At that point, Dionysios marched towards the west, only to be defeated and forced to retreat to Syrakousai. Some very important cities, including Akragas or Agrigentum, Himera and Selinus had fallen, and now a Carthaginian commander by the name Himilco besieged Gela (which was an important ally of Syrakousai). The Carthaginian general Hannibal (not to be confused with Hannibal, the scourge of Rome ) had conquered numerous cities on the island of Sicily. The years before his accension had been marked primarily by continued Carthaginian expansion on the island of Sikilia.
The first true display of power came when Dionysios the First named himself strategos autokrator.ĭionysios ascended the throne (though a slightly unfounded term) in the year of 405 BCE. The comparison with Massalia is perhaps somewhat unfounded, as there had been a great foreign population in Massalia, mostly Celtic, and Syrakousai had managed to stay Hellenic throughout the ages.
It became one of the most important Greek cities west of Hellas self, next to cities as Taras, Kroton and Massalia. Quickly, Syrakousai grew into a great Polis. According to the legend, the founder of Syrakousai was a man named Archias, who went into self-imposed exile after a terrible plague that had tormented the city of Korinthos. Remarkebly enough, Syrakousai can trace its origins back to Tenedos of Troezen, after which Tenea was named. Syrakousai was founded by Doric settlers from Korinthos and Tenea in either 735 or 734 BCE.
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