Cover photo: Destruction of the Athenian army at Syracuse, by J.S. Davis, “The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century”, 1900, colourised. Integration of indigenous Sicilians into the state of Syracuse took place just 25 years earlier than the Athenian expedition at Sicily.

The first references to the people of the Sicels date back to the late 13th century BC, when the Egyptians of the era of Pharaoh Merneptah mentioned them as part of the Sea Peoples (Shklsh=Shekelesh) who conducted raids in Syria and the Egyptian Delta.

Text by Manolis Chatzimanolis.

Although historians disagree today about their initial homeland, with some placing it in the eastern Mediterranean, others on the shores of Illyria, and still others in southern Italy, it is certain that at some point in the early 1st millennium BC, under pressure from neighboring peoples, they crossed the Strait of Messina and, after driving out the indigenous Sicels, settled in the northern and eastern part of Sicily, giving the large island their name (Thucydides: History 6.1.1-6.2.6, Diodorus Siculus: Library of History).

There, they were found in the late 8th century BC by the first colonists from mainland Greece. The Greeks founded their colonies on the coasts, and some of the natives were either expelled inland, while others were transformed into dependent farmers of the new immigrant landed aristocracy. Greek influence penetrated deeply into the interior of the island, and by the 5th century BC, Sicilian communities had been largely Hellenized. Crucial to this process was the fact that many of these communities were parts of the territories of the more powerful Greek city-states, such as those of Acragas or Syracuse.

In 466 BC, the tyrant Thrasybulus of Syracuse, the last representative of the Deinomenid dynasty that had ruled the city since 491 BC, was forced to resign from the throne and retire to the Locrians of southern Italy after an uprising of the Syracusans. Having rid their city of tyranny, the Syracusans expelled the mercenaries of the Deinomenids in their service and established a moderate democratic regime in the city. However, their decision not to grant political rights to the approximately 7,000 former mercenaries and foreigners who remained in Syracuse after the fall of the tyranny was to have grave consequences: Just two years after the fall of Thrasybulus, new clashes erupted in the troubled city, this time between the citizens and the foreigners demanding equality.

This conflict, which kept the Syracusans occupied for almost a year (464-463 BC), occurred concurrently with another event. A prominent Sicel named Ducetius founded the city-state of Mineo on the island’s interior and, having proclaimed himself king of the Sicels, began a struggle to unite his people under his rule. After capturing the Sicel city of Morgantina, he formed an alliance with the Syracusans, who had meanwhile expelled the foreigners from their city, and together they besieged the city of Catania, where retired mercenaries of the tyrant Hieron of Syracuse (478-466 BC) had also settled. The combined forces of Ducetius and the Syracusans expelled the mercenaries, who settled in the city of Aetna (ancient Inessa), and restored the former Chalcidian inhabitants of Catania, who had been forcibly transferred to Syracuse by the tyrant Gelon (491-478 BC).

Similar developments occurred throughout the Greek cities of Sicily. The tyrannies were overthrown, democratic institutions and political exiles were restored, and the expelled mercenaries of the tyrants were settled by agreement in the city of Messene (463-462 BC). The long-lasting peace and political stability that followed (with the exception of the failed attempt of a prominent Syracusan in 454 BC to impose tyranny on the city) allowed the Syracusans to thrive and assert hegemony among the Sicilian cities. In 453 BC, in an attempt to eliminate Etruscan piracy on the island, they sent a fleet of 60 triremes under the command of Apelles, who, after raiding the coasts of Etruria and Corsica, reached the island of Aethalia (modern Elba), which he captured.

During this period when the Syracusans were asserting control of the Tyrrhenian Sea, Ducetius united successfully the cities of the native Sicels into a Commonwealth (Κοινόν) (with the exception of the city of Hybla) and founded a new city, Paliké, which he fortified with strong walls. Believing then that he had strengthened himself enough, he decided to turn against the Greek cities on the coast. After capturing Aetna, he attacked the fortified Motyon, which belonged to the territory of the Acragantines (452 BC).

Until then, the Syracusans, preoccupied with their internal affairs and with the expulsion of tyrannical regimes from the cities of the Siceliots, had tolerated the hegemony of Ducetius. Awakened, however, by the strengthening of the Sicilian hegemon, they sent their general Volcon to reinforce the Acragantines. In the battle that ensued, however, Ducetius and his Siceliots defeated the united army of the Acragantines and the Syracusans and, after capturing Motyon, installed a Sicilian garrison there.

The humiliating defeat by their former subjects angered the Syracusans, who, after executing Volcan for his failure, elected a new general the following year and sent him with a strong army to subdue Ducetius. In the fierce battle that took place at the location of Nomae, the Syracusans defeated the united Sicels, driving them into retreat and killing many of them during their withdrawal. Of those Sicels who survived the battle, most sought refuge in their mountain strongholds in the interior of the island, while soon the Acragantini also arrived in the area, and after recapturing Motyon, they joined forces with the Syracusans.

As the Sicel strongholds began to fall one by one to the united forces of the two most powerful Greek cities in Sicily, Ducetius, abandoned by the majority of his followers and fearing that the rest were conspiring against him, decided to seek refuge in Syracuse. After entering the city at night, he sat as a suppliant at the altars located in the Agora and placed himself and his country at the disposal of the Syracusans. Surprised by the turn of events, the city’s rulers convened the Assembly of the People and posed the question to the populace of what should be done with Ducetius.

While demagogues demanded the Sicel leader’s head, ultimately the more moderate citizens prevailed, advocating for his pardon. After releasing Ducetius, the Syracusans sent him into exile in their metropolis, Corinth, even providing him with the necessary means for his livelihood (451 BC).

The Sicel leader remained in exile until 440 BC. During this time, the Acragantini, fearing the growing power of the Syracusans and resentful that they had decided Ducetius’s fate without consulting them first, declared war on their former allies. The two rival factions rallied all the Greek cities of Sicily around them, and in a major battle near the River Himera, the Syracusans emerged victorious. Although the details of the peace treaty concluded between the two rivals have not been preserved, judging from the events that followed, we can infer that what the Syracusans gained was primacy among the Greek cities and hegemony over the native Sicels.

Indeed, the Syracusans subsequently turned against the Sicel cities, dominating all except the powerful city of Trinacria. While the Syracusans besieged the city along with all their allies, Ducetius reappeared in Sicily. Having violated the agreement with the Syracusans, he escaped from Corinth and, after arriving with his supporters in northern Sicily, founded a new city, Kali Akti. Attracting a multitude of followers, including the leader of the city Erbita Archonides, and taking advantage of the difficult war the Syracusans waged against the inhabitants of Trinacria, he sought to re-emerge as the leader of the Sicels. However, he fell ill and died the same year, relieving the Syracusans of a fierce opponent. They soon conquered Trinacria as well, wiping the powerful city off the map and selling its inhabitants into slavery.

With this victory, the Syracusans laid the foundations for the emergence of Syracuse as the most powerful among the city-states of Magna Graecia, a true metropolis of the Mediterranean. The incorporation of the native Sicels into the state of the Syracusans in 439 BCE and the further development of their naval and military forces due to the wealth they gained from heavy taxation gave them the necessary confidence to seek the gradual subjugation of the entire island. The pressure they would exert on the Chalcidian colonies on the eastern Sicilian coast (Leontini, Catana, Naxos) in the following years would also serve as the catalyst for Athens’ involvement in Sicilian affairs, a city that at that time was also shaping its own hegemonic policy in the West, a fact that would have long-term consequences for the entire Greek world.

The Sicels, having failed to gain political and national independence, would be assimilated both politically and culturally by their Greek neighbors in the subsequent years.

Sources

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica.

Thucydides, Histories.

Bibliography

History of the Greeks, publ. Domi, Athens, 2006.

J. Hall, “History of the Archaic Greek World, ca. 1200-479 BC“, John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2013.

V. Parker, “A History of Greece, 1300 to 30 BC”, publ. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.