v49_0087 - SICILY - SYRACUSE Litra, (MB, Æ 21)

SICILY - SYRACUSE

(405-367 BC)

Dionysos the Elder

During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), Syracuse had to face on its territory the formidable Athenian expedition led from 415 BC by Alcibiades and Nicias. After the recall of the former, the Athenian fleet was cast in the port of Syracuse and the Athenians were defeated on the Assinarios in 413 BC, Nicias put to death and the survivors of the Athenian army condemned to hard labor in stone quarries (latomies). In 409, the Carthaginians invaded the island again and seized Selinunte and Himera, then Agrigento in 405 BC. Dionysius of Syracuse seized power and drove back the invaders in 397 BC .-C. The reign of Dionysius the Elder lasted another thirty years and it was Timoleon who succeeded him.