THE TYRANNIES IN THE GREEK CITIES OF SICILY: 505-466 BC MICHAEL JOHN GRIFFIN Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Classics September 2005 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank the Thomas and Elizabeth Williams Scholarship Fund (Loughor Schools District) for their financial assistance over the course of my studies. Their support has been crucial to my being able to complete this degree course. As for academic support, grateful thanks must go above all to my supervisor at the School of Classics, Dr. Roger Brock, whose vast knowledge has made a massive contribution not only to this thesis, but also towards my own development as an academic. I would also like to thank all other staff, both academic and clerical, during my time in the School of Classics for their help and support. Other individuals I would like to thank are Dr. Liam Dalton, Mr. Adrian Furse and Dr. Eleanor OKell, for all their input and assistance with my thesis throughout my four years in Leeds. Thanks also go to all the other various friends and acquaintances, both in Leeds and elsewhere, in particular the many postgraduate students who have given their support on a personal level as well as academically. Of course, my family also deserve special mention here, with my parents David and Victoria Griffin and my brother James all providing support in many ways, throughout my time at university, both at Leeds and in Swansea. Finally, thanks must go to Mr. Peter Reason of Gorseinon College, near Swansea, who got me interested in Classics in the first place, even if I didn't know what it was before I started his course! 3 ARCTRA('T This thesis will examine the tyrants that ruled Gela and Syracuse during the early fifth century BC. It will approach the subject in a thematic manner, considering several aspects of the tyrants' rule which warrant particular attention. The first chapter will be concerned with our sources of information on the subject, with particular focus on the Bibliotheke of Diodorus Siculus. Being our main source of information, it is crucial that we understand Diodorus' work, especially since it has provoked much criticism in modern scholarship. Chapter two will be concerned with the tyrants' foreign policy, in particular we will examine the tyrants' relationship with other Greeks in Sicily and Southern Italy, and then their brief encounter with the Carthaginians. Chapter three is concerned with the tyrants' recruitment of mercenaries, an important subject given the militaristic nature of the tyranny, as well as a dominant theme in Classical Sicilian history. Next, the unusual subject of the `refounding' of already existing cities will be discussed. A phenomenon peculiar to Sicily, the four case studies give many clues regarding the nature of the tyranny in general. The way in which the tyrants, particularly Hieron, were presented to the rest of the Greek world, and to their own citizens, will be discussed next, considering evidence provided by the tyrants themselves as well as others. Finally, the impact of the tyranny on Sicily during the next century will be considered, with emphasis on the subjects already discussed in previous chapters, in order to conclude on the importance of the tyrants of Sicily in antiquity. 4 CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS 6 FIGURES 7 INTRODUCTION 8 TIMELINE 21 MAPS 24 CHAPTER ONE: SOURCES FOR THE TYRANTS 27 " Diodorus Siculus 28 " Attitudes towards Diodorus Siculus 30 " Diodorus' Aims 31 " Diodorus' Sources 35 " Philistus 35 " Ephorus 36 " Timaeus 40 " Diodorus' Use of Sources 46 " Herodotus and Thucydides 57 " Herodotus and Thucydides on Western Greek Affairs 61 " Conclusion 63 CHAPTER TWO: THE TYRANTS' FOREIGN POLICY 65 " Relations with Other Greeks 65 " The Tyrants of Gela 66 " Following Himera 69 " The Tyrants and Carthage 83 " Greeks and Carthaginians before 500 BC 84 " The Phoenician Silver Trade 85 " The Himera Campaign 92 " Conclusion 98 CHAPTER THREE: THE TYRANTS' USE OF MERCENARIES 100 " Tyranny, Mercenaries and Bodyguards 100 " Tyrants and the Hoplite Revolution 104 " Tyrants' Bodyguards 105 " Mercenaries in Sicily 108 " Gela Before the Fifth Century 108 " Hippocrates 110 " Hippocrates' Mercenaries 115 " Gelon 117 " Hieron 124 " Thrasybulus and the Fall of the Deinomenids 133 " Conclusion 134 CHAPTER FOUR: EARLY CASES OF REFOUNDATION IN SICILY 136 " Tyranny and City Foundation 137 " Camarina 138 " Zancle/Messana 146 " Catana/Aetna 154 " Himera 170 " Conclusion 173 5 CHAPTER FIVE: TYRANNY AND SELF-PRESENTATION 176 " Tyrants and Poets 177 " Homeric Kingship 180 " Competition at Games 185 " The Deinomenids and the Greek World 189 " Basileus, Tyrannos, Oikistes 191 " Dedications 196 " Conclusion 202 CHAPTER SIX: THE AFTERMATH OF TYRANNY AND THE 205 DEINOMENIDS' LATER INFLUENCE " Syracuse After the Deinomenids 206 " Carthage in the Fifth Century 217 " Mercenaries 222 " Self-representation 225 " Conclusion 231 CONCLUSION 233 BIBLIOGRAPHY 241 6 ABBREVIATIONS AJA American Journal of Archaeology AJP American Journal of Philology ArchClass Archeologia Classica ASAA Annuario della scuola archeologica di Atene e delle missioni Italiane in Oriente BCH Bulletin du correspondence hellenique BICS Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies CAH Cambridge Ancient History CHA Cambridge History of Africa CP Classical Philology CQ Classical Quarterly GNS Schweizer Münzblätter HSCPh Harvard Studies in Classical Philology JDAI Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies JRS Journal of Roman Studies MEFRA Melanges de l'Ecole francaise de Rome MonAL Monumenti Antichi pubblicati a cura dell'Accademia dei Lincei RE Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft REA Revue des etudes anciennes RA Revue Archeologique RhMus Rheinisches Museum für Philologie RSI Rivista Storica Italians SCI Scripta Classica Israelica SNR Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau IVS Wiener Studien 7 FIGURES 1- Stemmata of the Sicilian Tyrants 20 2- Map of Sicily 24 3- Physical Map of Sicily 25 4- Map of the Western Mediterranean 26 5- Map of Southern Italy 77 6- Zeus Aetnaeus. Silver Attic Tetradrachm 167 7- Zeus Raping Thalia. Neck Amphora from Paestum 167 8- The Charioteer 202 8 INTRODUCTION This thesis will examine two dynasties of tyrants, the Pantarids and the Deinomenids, who ruled in the Sicilian cities of Gela and Syracuse between 505 and 466 BC. The period of concern to us is, of course, one of great significance in the wider context of Greek history, even of the history of the Western world as a whole, with the Persians' failed attempts at subjugating Greece in 490 and 480-79 having a pivotal role not only in preserving Greek freedom but also in aiding its cultural, intellectual and political development, most notably in Athens. It is for this reason that the subject of Sicily during this time is usually treated as a peripheral matter, even though this is one of the most critical periods in that region's history. Although there were cases of tyranny in Sicily before 505, it is only at this point, at the end of the Archaic period, when tyrants in Sicily start making an impact on the Greek historical record such as other tyrants had done before, for example Peisistratos in Athens, and the Cypselids at Corinth. Tyranny was certainly not an unknown phenomenon in Sicily; both Panaetius of Leontini and the infamous Phalaris of Acragas ruled their cities in the seventh and sixth centuries respectively', and sixty years following the fall of the Deinomenids, in 406 BC, Dionysius took control of Syracuse and held power there for 39 years, his son ruling for a further ten until 3572. Despite the fact that the phase of tyranny in the early fifth century occurred at a time of great importance, that they reigned for a long time and had a huge influence on the island of Sicily for a long time even after their downfall, and that there is a healthy amount of coverage of their reigns in the surviving ancient sources, there seems to be only a small amount of scholarly interest in this subject. This is especially the case when it comes to scholarship in the English language. General works on Sicilian history include Moses Finley's Ancient Sicily and Woodhead's The Greek Cities of the JVest,but by far the best known study of this period is T. J. Dunbabin's The Western Greeks, which covers the history of the Greeks in Italy and Sicily from the beginnings down to 480 BC. However, this does not consider the reigns of Hieron and Thrasybulus, who reigned after the cut-off point of the book, leaving several important 1 for hear Panaetius and Phalaris - Ar. Pol. 1310b; Phalaris also see Pind. Pyth. 1.95-8, where we of the bronze bull in which the tyrant's enemies were placed and roasted alive. 2 For more on fourth century Sicily, see the final chapter, 205ff. 9 issues such as propaganda and the foundation of Aetna untouched. Dunbabin's work, published in 1948, is also very dated in parts, especially in regard to the many excavations that have taken place since. Anthony Andrewes' The Greek Tyrants does of course cover the whole period, but with such a small amount of space one is only given a general impression of the two dynasties, and even this coverage is shared with that of Dionysius and his successors. Aside from these, and more extensive general works such as the Cambridge Ancient History, in which David Asheri deals with the subject of Sicily for this period, one is left only with more specialised studies on tyranny such as James McGlew's Tyranny and Political Culture in Ancient Greece, although this does not necessarily mean the Sicilian tyrants get equal coverage with others.