Читать книгу A Companion to Greek Warfare - Группа авторов - Страница 53

During the seventh and sixth centuries, Greeks seemingly spread along the northern and southern coasts of Sicily without major violence against indigenous populations. Yet the foundation of Acrae (663), Casmenae (644), and Camarina (599) by Syracuse curtailed the autonomy of non-Greek neighbors, as did the foundation of Acragas 50 miles west of Gela in 580. The tyranny of Phalaris of Acragas in the first half of the sixth century featured aggressive expansion. Diodorus (19.108) details the construction of several military outposts by the tyrant, and Polyaenus (5.1.4) refers to the submission of the unknown local settlement of Vessa to Phalaris. In the last decades of the sixth century, Acragas expanded across the hinterland of Sicily toward the northern shore.

During the sixth century, increasing territorial competition inspired new or rebuilt town defenses and numerous new hilltop strongholds in many locales. Then, in the early fifth century, many hilltop sites in the hinterland were abandoned, perhaps because of two political developments: the centralization of political power in Greek Sicily and the territorial hegemony exercised by the rising tyrannies.

In western Sicily, territorial competition had far-reaching consequences. Selinus, founded as an apoikia of Megara Hyblaea in 628, experienced uneasy relations with her Elymian neighbor Egesta from the early sixth century onward. Diodorus (5.9) mentions strife between the two cities beginning with the failed colonization attempt of Pentathlus. Since Selinus undoubtedly had expanding territorial interests, these affrays likely occurred over border issues. Despite the tension, thriving trade appears in the archaeological record, and Thucydides (6.6) names Selinus and Egesta as parties to the the only known agreement concerning intermarriage between a Greek and an Elymian settlement. In the last quarter of the fifth century, relations deteriorated so much that Egesta sought aid from more powerful cities.⁴ While the resulting Athenian Expedition had a major impact on Sicily, intervention by Carthage in 409 led to the destruction of Selinus and Himera and to a significant shift in the balance of power (see the subsection on Carthage).

During the colonial period, then, relations between Greek poleis and their non-Greek neighbors were in flux. No evidence exists for a united front among the local populations. Instead, politically independent communities continually acted as both allies and adversaries of the Greeks. During wars with Athens and Carthage, Sicel communities are repeatedly listed as participants on either side. Meanwhile, recognizable native elements were vanishing from the material culture by the mid-fifth century.⁵