Battle of Messene

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Battle of Messene (397 BC)
Part of The Sicilian Wars
Carthage takes Messana 397 BC. Political boundaries and path of troop movements are inexact because of lack of primary source data. Modified from Map of Sicily designed by Marco Prins-Jona Lendering with all the Phoenician and Greek settlements as per permission given
Date Spring, 397 BC Location Messene Result Territorial changes Ionian Greek city Messene sacked
Belligerents
Messene	Carthage
Commanders
unknown	Himilco Hanno, Mago
Strength
unknown	unknown, 600 Triremes & transports
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Messene took place in 397 BC in Sicily. Carthage, in retaliation for the attack on Motya by Dionysius I of Syracuse, had sent an army under Himilco, to Sicily to regain lost territory. Himilco sailed to Panormus, and from there again sailed and marched along the northern coast of Sicily to Cape Pelorum, 12 miles north of Messene. While the Messenian army marched out to offer battle, Himilco sent 200 ships filled with soldiers to the city itself, which was stormed and the citizens were forced to disperse to forts in the countryside. Himilco later sacked and leveled the city, which was again rebuilt after the war.

[edit] Background

Carthage had stayed away from Sicilian affairs for seventy years after the defeat at Himera in 480 BC. However, Carthage, responding to the appeal for aid from Segesta against Selinus, had sent an expidition to Sicily under Hannibal Mago, and sacked Selinus and Himera in 409 BC.^[1] Responding to Greek raids on her Sicilian domain, Carthage launched another expedition that captured Akragas in 406 BC and Gela and Camarina in 405 BC. The conflict ended in 405 BC when Himilco and Dionysius, leader of the Carthaginian forces and tyrant of Syracuse respectively, concluded a peace treaty.^[2] The treaty left Carthage in direct or indirect control of 60% of Sicily, but confirmed Dionysius as the ruler of Syracuse. Dionysius spent the years between 405 and 398 BC fortifying Syracuse, securing his power, enlarging his army and navy, and expanding the territory under his control. He also put down rebellions against his rule and hired workmen to create new weapons such as the catapult and new ships such as the Quinquereme.^[3]

[edit] The tyrant tackles Carthage

In 398 BC, Dionysius sent an embassy to Carthage threatening to declare war unless they agreed to give up all Greek cities under their control. Before the embassy returned from Carthage, Dionysius let loose his mercenaries on Carthaginians living on Syracusan lands, putting them to the sword and plundering their property. He then set out for Motya with his army, accompanied by 200 warships and 500 transports carrying his supplies and war machines.^[4] Before he reached Motya, all the Greek cities and even some Sikan and Sicel ones had declared for him, killing Carthaginians and sending soldiers to join Dionysius, leaving only Panormus, Solus, Ancyrae, Segesta and Entella loyal to Carthage in Sicily. The army of Dionysius had swelled to 83,000 soldiers by the time it reached Motya.^[5] Dionysius captured Eryx, put Segesta and Entella under siege, then set about reducing Motya.

[edit] Motya falls

Motya was a strongly fortified city on an island in the middle of a lagoon. The citizens prepared to resist after cutting up the mole connecting the city to the mainland. Dionysius had to repair the mole, then use siege towers to get his battering rams close to the walls, breach the walls, and then send his soldiers to attack the town. While his army was occupied with these activities, Himilco sailed from Carthage to Motya and managed to surprise the Greek navy, most of which was beached on the shore.^[6]

Himilco destroyed a large number of the transports and trapped the Greek warships on the northern part of the lagoon. Dionysius responded by building a wooden plank road on the isthmus north of Motya and dragging his triremes to the open sea. Outsmarted, Himilco withdrew his fleet. Dionysius then commenced his assault on Motya, which fell despite stubborn resistance. Dionysius sacked the city, garrisoned the ruins and, keeping Segesta and Entella under siege, returned to Syracuse with most of his fleet and army for the winter. His brother Leptines of Syracuse kept 120 ships at Eryx, including at least thirty quinqueremes.^[7]

[edit] Carthage counters

Little is known of the activities of Carthage between 405 and 397 BC, during which time Dionysius had muscled his way through Sicily and had already broken an existing treaty by making war on the Sicels. Carthage may have been weakened by the plague brought over from Sicily in 405. When Motya was put under siege and most cities in Sicily broke free of Carthaginian control, Carthage sent the aforementioned naval force under Himilco, which achieved nothing. Carthage did not have a standing army, so nothing else could be done before enough mercenaries had been hired and marshalled. Carthage had began to recruit an army and man a fleet to send to Sicily. The final army may have included 50,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, 400 chariots, while the fleet included 400 Triremes and 600 transports.^[8]

Himilco, now elected “king”, sailed for Sicily in 397 BC with the army and fleet. He had given sealed orders to the ship captains, so that the actual destination was not revealed. The Punic fleet made for Panormus, and encountered the fleet of Leptines en route, which could do little except sink fifty transports, containing 5,000 men and 200 chariots, while an opportune wind helped the other transports to escape.^[9] From Panormus, where 3000 Sicilians joined his army, Himilco marched to Motya, capturing the city of Eryx through treachery on the way. Motya housed a mostly Sicel garrison under an officer named Biton, which was overcome easily. Himilco did not start rebuilding Motya, instead he chose to build a city at Lilybaeum. His next task was to raise the siege of Segesta, where the Greeks fled at the approach of the Carthaginians.

[edit] Path to Messene

While Himilco was busy dealing with Motya, Dionysius lifted the siege of Segesta and Entella and moved back to Syracuse. The Segestans had given the Greeks a hard time during the siege, managing to sally out at night and burn down the Greek camp. Dionysius probably chose not to confront the Carthaginians in Western Sicily because he was facing a superior army in Elymian territory (where only 2 cities had supported him, out of which Eryx had fallen, and the Halicyans, who had made an alliance with Dionysius after the fall of Motya, was about to switch sides again).^[10]

Messene, then known as Zankle, was one of the Greek cities which had treaties with Carthage in 480 BC. Carthage and Syracuse had both pledged to honor the independence of Messene and Sicels in the treaty of 405. As Dionysius had broken the treaty in 404 and furthermore Messene had joined Syracuse, Carthage was no longer bound by the treaty. The previous campaign led by Himilco in 406 had progressed eastward along the southern coast of Sicily toward Syracuse. Moreover, the cities subdued by Carthage in that expidition, Akragas, Gela and Camarina lay along this route, the capture of which would yield much booty and subtract allies from Syracuse. Himilco chose not to go this way, perhaps preferring to attack Syracuse directly.

The Carthaginian army returned to Panormus, and after leaving enough forces to defend the Carthaginian domian,^[11] Himilco sailed eastwards to Messene with 600 warships and transports. He did not even stop at Thermae to punish the city for rebellion but continued to Lipira, where he coaxed thirty talents of silver as tribute.^[12] All the Sicels except the Asserini had deserted the cause of Dionysius by this time, and Himilco made treaties with Thermae and Cephaledion to safeguard his supply route. From Lipara the Punic fleet sailed east and the Carthaginian army was disembarked at Cape Pelorum, 12 miles north of Messene.

[edit] Battle of Messene

The walls of Messene had fallen into disrepair,.^[13] and the city was not prepared for a siege. Furthermore, their cavalry and some soldiers were away serving with the army of Syracuse. This made the government of Messene decide to fight the Carthaginians away from the city, and accordingly most of the men marched north to confront the Carthaginians near their encampment.^[14] A prophesy had said that the Carthaginians will be water carriers in Messene,^[15] which had emboldened the Greeks, although the Carthaginians clearly outnumbered them at this point.

Women, children and valuables were removed from the city before the Greeks marched out. It is not known whether Messene had any ships at that time or their role in the coming battle. Himilco, informed about the approaching Greek army, decided to outflank them using his naval superiority. While part of his army assembled on the shore in Cape Pelorum, two hundred triremes were packed with picked soldiers and rowers and sent south to Messene. This contingent quickly reached the city, aided by the north wind, and landed the soldiers near Messene before the Greeks could double back.^[16]

The Carthaginians stormed the city, which fell quickly, but most of the existing population managed to escape, and scattered to various fortresses dotting the countryside. The soldiers of Messene also joined their families in the fortresses once the news of the capture of the city reached them. (This is not the first time the inhabitants of Zancle lost their city while their army was away. In 493 BC, the king of Zancle, Skythes, was away from the city, conducting a campaign against the Sicels near Kala Akte. He had invited colonists from Samos and Miletus to settle in Sicily. The tyrant of Rhegion, Anaxilus, persuaded the colonists to take over the unguraded city of Zancle. Skythes returned with his army, his city was in hostile hands. He called on Hippocrates of Gela for help. Hippocrates arrived with an army, imprisoned Skythes for stupidity, made a treaty with the occupiers where he got half the goods in the city and the army of Skythes as slaves. Once he left, Anaxilus got rid of the colonists and occupied Zancle.)^[17]

[edit] Aftermath

The capture of Messene gave the Carthaginians temporary control over the Strait of Messina, plus a harbor large enough to house the entire Punic fleet of 600 ships. The Carthaginians were not interested in the city and completely levelled it after sacking the place. Himilco next tried to reduce the fortresses in which the people of Messese had taken refuge, but gave up the attempt, as this proved too time consuming, and kept him from attacking Syracuse.^[18]

The Carthaginian army marched south along the eastern coast of Sicily, while their fleet sailed alongside. Dionysius had destroyed the cities of Naxos and Catana while expanding his power, giving Naxos to the Sicels and Catana to Campanian mercenaries. This meant fewer obstacles for Himilco to overcome along this route than along the southern coast of Sicily. Along the way, Himilco established the city of Tauromenium, and populated it with Sicels and non-Greeks. All the Sicels deserted Dionysius after this event and made treaties with Himilco, while the new city guarded the rear of the Carthaginians against the still unsubdued Greeks of Messene.

The city of Messene would later be rebuilt and cause trouble for both Carthage and Syracuse. Dionysius in the meantime was hiring mercenaries, building ships, freeing slaves to man them and strengthening the fortifications of Syracuse and Leontini.^[19] After persuading the inhabitants of Catania, (who were Campanians and had been settled there by Dionysius after he drove the original Greek inhabitants away)^[20] to move to Aetna, Dionysius made for Tauromenium with both his army and fleet. However, the belligerents were not destined to clash there.

[edit] Bibliography

• Baker, G. P. (1999). Hannibal. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 0-8154-1005-0. 
• Warry, John (1993). Warfare in The Classical World. Salamander Books Ltd.. ISBN 1-56619-463-6. 
• Lancel, Serge (1997). Carthage A History. Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 1-57718-103-4. 
• Bath, Tony (1992). Hannibal’s Campaigns. Barns & Noble. ISBN 0-88029-817-0. 
• Kern, Paul B. (1999). Ancient Siege Warfare. Indiana University Publishers. ISBN 0-253-33546-9. 
• Freeman, Edward A. (1892). Sicily Phoenician, Greek & Roman, Third Edition. T. Fisher Unwin. 
• Church, Alfred J. (1886). Carthage, 4th Edition. T. Fisher Unwin. 
• Whitaker, Joseph I.S. (1921). Motya, A Phoenician Colony in Sicily. G. Bell & Sons. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Diodorus Siculus translated by G. Booth (1814) Complete book (scanned by Google)
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).