Siege of Akragas (406 BC) - Background

Background

Carthage had stayed away from Sicilian affairs for almost seventy years following the defeat at Himera in 480 BC; during the intervening time Greek culture had started to penetrate the Elymian, Sikanian and Sicel cities in Sicily. The Greek tyrannies of Syracuse and Akragas, which were responsible for the victory at Himera, had fallen apart by 460 BC and the Greeks had to fend off the challenge of Ducetius in addition infighting among themselves. The inactivity of Carthage regarding Sicily changed in 411 when the Ionian Greek (former Elymian) city Segesta clashed with the Dorian Greek city Selinus and got the worst of the conflict. Segesta then appealed to Carthage for aid. This appeal came at a time when the mainland Greek cities were locked in the Peloponnesian War, and Syracuse, an ally of Sparta, was not focused on Sicily. The Syracusan fleet was operating in the Aegean Sea, and Syracuse was in conflict with Naxos and Leontini, two Ionian Greek cities sympathetic to another Ionic city, Athens, the enemy of Sparta.

The Carthaginian Senate, after some debate, agreed to intervene on behalf of Segesta. Carthage raised an army and fleet for the expedition in 410 BC and dispatched the force to Sicily afyer diplomatic efforts for a compromise between Selinus and Segesta had failed. Hannibal Mago of Carthage led the expedition, took the city of Selinus by storm in 409 and then also destroyed the city of Himera. Syracuse and Akragas, the leading Greek cities in Sicily, did not confront Carthage at that time, and the Carthaginian army withdrew with the spoils of war after garrisoning their territory in Western Sicily. For three years, a lull fell on Sicily. However, no treaties had been signed between the Greeks and Carthaginians to signal a closure of hostilities.