Читать книгу A Companion to Greek Warfare - Группа авторов - Страница 63

Our sources attest to much domestic upheaval and civil unrest in Sicily from the Archaic period onward. Syracuse alone suffered at least 27 episodes of social strife between the mid-seventh and the mid-third century. Several sources mention the expulsion of citizen groups, without giving the reasons that led to their removal. Thucydides, for example, says the Syracusan clan of the Myletidae took part in the foundation of Himera, without noting the context of their departure (6.5.1). Tyranny began on Sicily with the coup of the general Panaetius against the aristocrats of Leontini in 608 (Polyaen. 5.47). The rise to power of the infamous Phalaris of Acragas three decades later involved the killing of many citizens and the abduction of women and children (Polyaen. 5.1). These and other struggles for or against one-man rule were a leitmotif of the pre-Roman, Greek period in Sicily. Sieges and mass-killings were frequent. Agathocles, with his private army of allies and mercenaries and his massacre of leading aristocrats, was the last of this breed (Polyaen. 5.3).

Factions and civil groups conducted violent actions, too. The demos expelled the landowning elite, or Gamoroi, from Syracuse around 490 (Hdt. 7.155). They achieved this goal only by mobilizing the landowners’ slaves in revolt against their masters (FGrH 566 F8a), so the struggle for a democratic regime became linked to economic and social emancipation. Economic motives often caused discontent and upheaval, especially rivalries over land. The dispute between the demos and aristocracy of Leontini concerning land distribution after the peace of Gela in 424 can serve as an example (Thuc. 5.4).

Civil unrest also resulted from diverging loyalties, as evidenced by Acragas, where pro-Syracusan factions were expelled both in 413, during the Athenian expedition (Thuc. 7.50), and in 394, after a defeat of Dionysius at Tauromenium (Diod. Sic. 14.88.5). Policies of displacement also led to conflicts, as evident after the fall of the Deinomenids in the mid-fifth century, when old and new citizens of Syracuse argued over the right to hold public office (Diod. Sic. 11.72).

Foreign mercenaries, especially those who helped tyrants win and retain power, played a major role in these conflicts. In Syracuse, mercenaries to whom Gelon had granted civil rights battled Syracusan citizens. After a series of violent confrontations in Syracuse and the hinterlands of Gela and Acragas, the Greek cities allowed the mercenaries to retain their possessions and to settle in the city of Messana (Diod. Sic. 11.76.5–6). Bands of mercenaries also occupied sites of native origin, including the cities of Omphace and Cacyrum in the hinterland of Gela (FGrH 577 F1).

Nearly two centuries after mercenaries settled in Messana, this city again played a decisive role in the conflict between unemployed mercenaries and Greek Sicilians. Campanian mercenaries demanded political rights in Syracuse after the death of Agathocles in 289, but were rebuffed by the Syracusans. After leaving Syracuse, the mercenaries seized the city of Messana, renamed it Mamertina after the war-god Mamers, and prospered by raiding the surrounding countryside (Diod. Sic. 21.18). As already noted, the attempts of Hiero II and the Carthaginians to rid themselves of their troublesome neighbors resulted in the First Punic War.¹⁶

The role of mercenaries, along with the frequent displacement of populations, made the history of Greek Sicily peculiarly turbulent. So did colonization and the role played by outside powers. Rome put an end to this era of wars and upheavals, but introduced a new era, marked by revolts and slave rebellions.