Battle of Himera (480 BC)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Himera
Part of The Sicilian Wars
Date 480 BC
Location Himera
Result Syracuse remains the dominant power in Sicily
Belligerents
Syracuse
Agrigentum		 Carthage
Commanders
Gelo
Theron		 Hamilcar†
Strength
Probably less than the Carthaginian forces 300,000 (Ancient sources)
50,000 (Modern estimates)
 
Sicilian Wars
1st Himera  – Battle of Selinus  – 2nd Himera  – 1st Akragas  – Battle of Gela (405 BC)  – Siege of Motya (398 BC)  – Battle of Messana (397 BC)  – Battle of Catana (397 BC)  – 1st Syracuse  – Battle of Cabala  – Battle of Cronium  – Siege of Lilybaeum (368 BC)  – 2nd Syracuse  – Crimissus  – Battle of Abolus (338 BC)  – 3rd Himera  – 3rd Syracuse  – 1st Tunes  – 2nd Tunes

The Battle of Himera (480 BC), supposedly fought on the same day as the more famous Battle of Salamis,[1] or on the same day as the Battle of Thermopylae,[2] saw the Greek forces of Gelo, King of Syracuse, and Theron, the sole ruler of Agrigentum, defeating the Carthaginian force of Hamilcar, ending the Carthaginian threat to the Greek colonies on the island.

Hamilcar had led a large army from Carthage, Libya, Iberia, Liguria, Helisycia, Sardinia, and Corsica against the Sicilians.

After winning the battle, Gelon could not find Hamilcar despite exhaustive searching. Herodotus maintains that Hamilcar, unable to obtain a favorable omen during his many sacrifices that day and having heard that his army was on the brink of defeat, leaped into the flames. His body was supposedly completely incinerated.

For years afterwards, the Carthaginians offered sacrifices to him and erected monuments of him in their various colonies and a splendid monument in Carthage.

It is likely the army was substantial and strong, but probably at the very most 50,000 strong. There is no evidence to support anything like a 300,000-strong army, which would have been seen as an army of mythical size. Such an army could not be mustered, and more so, beaten by any ancient army, let alone the armies of claimants to small city-states in Greek Sicily. If Hamilcar killed himself prior to the battle's climax, as implied, the Greeks not only won, they anhihilated the gargantuan force.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Herodotus, 7.166
  2. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 11.24.1

[edit] References

[edit] External links