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Battle Himera, 480 BC

Carthage (Hamilcar) vs Syracuse (Gelon)

Numbers reported Carthage, 300,000; Syracuse, 50,000 foot and 5,000 horse, plus the forces of Himera and Akragas.

Sources Herodotos; Diodoros; Pausanias

Herodotos VII.165-167 (Godley trans.as at www.perseus.tufts.edu, with some changes to the spelling of names):

(165) There is, however, another story told by the Sicilians: even though he was to be under Lacedaemonian authority, Gelon would still have aided the Greeks had it not been for Terillus son of Crinippus, the tyrant of Himera. This man, who had been expelled from Himera by Theron son of Aenesidemus, sovereign ruler of Acragas, at this very time brought against Gelon three hundred thousand Phoenicians, Libyans, Iberians, Ligyes (Ligurians), Elisyci, Sardinians, and Cyrnians (Corsicans), led by Hamilcar son of Hanno, the king of the Carthaginians. Terillus had induced him to do this partly through the prerogative of personal friendship, but mainly through the efforts of Anaxilaus son of Cretines, tyrant of Rhegium. He had handed over his own children as hostages to Amilcas, and brought him into Sicily to the help of his father-in-law; for Anaxilaus had as his wife Terillus' daughter Cydippe. Accordingly Gelon sent the money to Delphi, because he could not aid the Greeks.

(166) They add this tale too — that Gelon and Theron won a victory over Hamilcar the Carthaginian in Sicily on the same day that the Greeks defeated the Persian at Salamis. This Hamilcar was, on his father's side, a Carthaginian, and a Syracusan on his mother's, and had been made king of Carthage for his virtue. When the armies met and he was defeated in the battle, it is said that he vanished from sight, for Gelon looked for him everywhere but was not able to find him anywhere on earth, dead or alive.

(167) The story told by the Carthaginians themselves seems to have some element of truth. They say that the barbarians fought with the Greeks in Sicily from dawn until late evening (so long, it is said, the battle was drawn out), during which time Hamilcar stayed in his camp offering sacrifice and striving to obtain favorable omens by burning whole bodies on a great pyre. When he saw his army routed, he cast himself into the fire where he was pouring libations on the sacrifice; he was consumed by this and was not seen any more. Whether he vanished as the Phoenicians say, or in the manner related by the Carthaginians and Syracusans, sacrifice is offered to him, and monuments have been set up in all the colonists' cities, the greatest of which is in Carthage itself.

Diodoros XI.1.5 and 20.1-25.4 (Loeb edition):

(1.4-5) In accordance, then, with their agreements, the Carthaginians, collecting a great amount of money, gathered mercenaries from both Italy and Liguria and also from Galatia and Iberia; and in addition to these troops they enrolled men of their own race from the whole of Libya and of Carthage; and in the end, after spending three years in constant preparation, they assembled more than three hundred thousand foot-soldiers and two hundred war vessels.

(20) The Carthaginians, we recall, had agreed with the Persians to subdue the Greeks of Sicily at the same time and had made preparations on a large scale of such materials as would be useful in carrying on a war. And when they had made everything ready, they chose for general Hamilcar, having selected him as the man who was held by them in the highest esteem. He assumed command of huge forces, both land and naval, and sailed forth from Carthage with an army of not less than three hundred thousand men and a fleet of over two hundred ships of war, not to mention many cargo ships for carrying supplies, numbering more than three thousand. Now as he was crossing the Libyan sea he encountered a storm and lost the vessels which were carrying the horses and chariots. And when he came to port in Sicily in the harbour of Panormus he remarked that he had finished the war; for he had been afraid that the sea would rescue the Siceliotes from the perils of the conflict. He took three days to rest his soldiers and to repair the damage which the storm had inflicted on his ships, and then advanced together with his host against Himera, the fleet skirting the coast with him. And when he had arrived near the city we have just mentioned, he pitched two camps, the one for the army and the other for the naval force. All the warships he hauled up on land and threw about them a deep ditch and a wooden palisade, and he strengthened the camp of the army, which he placed so that it fronted the city, and prolonged so that it took in the area from the wall extending along the naval camp as far as the hills which overhung the city. Speaking generally, he took control of the entire west side, after which he unloaded all the supplies from the cargo vessels and at once sent off all these boats, ordering them to bring grain and the other supplies from Libya and Sardinia. Then, taking his best troops, he advanced to the city, and routing the Himerans who came out against him and slaying many of them, he struck the inhabitants of the city with terror. Consequently Theron, the ruler of the Acragantini, who with a considerable force was standing by to guard Himera, in fear hastily sent word to Syracuse, asking Gelon to come to his aid as rapidly as possible.

(21) Gelon, who had likewise held his army in readiness, on learning that the Himerans were in despair set out from Syracuse with all speed, accompanied by not less than fifty thousand foot-soldiers and over five thousand cavalry. He covered the distance swiftly, and as he drew near the city of the Himerans he inspired boldness in the hearts of those who before had been dismayed at the forces of the Carthaginians.  For after pitching a camp which was appropriate to the terrain about the city, he not only fortified it with a deep ditch and a palisade but also dispatched his entire body of cavalry against such forces of the enemy as were ranging over the countryside in search of booty. And the cavalry, unexpectedly appearing to men who were scattered without military order over the countryside, took prisoner as many as each man could drive before him. And when prisoners of the number of more than ten thousand had been brought into the city, not only was Gelon accorded great approbation but the Himerans also came to hold the enemy in contempt. Following up what he had already accomplished, all the gates which Theron through fear had formerly blocked up were now, on the contrary, opened up by Gelon through his contempt of the enemy, and he even constructed additional ones which might prove serviceable to him in case of urgent need.

In a word Gelon, excelling as he did in skill as a general and in shrewdness, set about at once to discover how he might without any risk to his army outgeneral the barbarians and utterly destroy their power. And his own ingenuity was greatly aided by accident, because of the following circumstance. He had decided to set fire to the ships of the enemy; and while Hamilcar was occupied in the naval camp with the preparation of a magnificent sacrifice to Poseidon, cavalrymen came from the countryside bringing to Gelon a letter-carrier who was conveying dispatches from the people of Selinus, in which was written that they would send the cavalry for that day for which Hamilcar had written to dispatch them. The day was that on which Hamilcar planned to celebrate the sacrifice. And on that day Gelon dispatched cavalry of his own, who were under orders to skirt the immediate neighbourhood and to ride up at daybreak to the naval camp, as if they were the allies from Selinus, and when they had once got inside the wooden palisade, to slay Hamilcar and set fire to the ships. He also sent scouts to the hills which overlook the city, ordering them to raise the signal as soon as they saw that the horsemen were inside the wall. For his part, at daybreak he drew up his army and awaited the sign which was to come from the scouts.

(22) At sunrise the cavalrymen rode up to the naval camp of the Carthaginians, and when the guards admitted them, thinking them to be allies, they at once galloped to where Hamilcar was busied with the sacrifice, slew him, and then set fire to the ships; thereupon the scouts raised the signal and Gelon advanced with his entire army in battle order against the Carthaginian camp. The commanders of the Phoenicians in the camp at the outset led out their troops to meet the Siceliotes and as the lines closed they put up a vigorous fight; at the same time in both camps they sounded with the trumpets the signal for battle and a shout arose from the two armies one after the other, each eagerly striving to outdo their adversaries in the volume of their cheering. The slaughter was great, and the battle was swaying back and forth, when suddenly the flames from the ships began to rise on high and sundry persons reported that the general had been slain; then the Greeks were emboldened and with spirits elated at the rumours and by the hope of victory they pressed with greater boldness upon the barbarians, while the Carthaginians, dismayed and despairing of victory, turned in flight.

Since Gelon had given orders to take no prisoners, there followed a great slaughter of the enemy in their flight, and in the end no less than one hundred and fifty thousand of them were slain. All who escaped the battle and fled to a strong position at first warded off the attackers, but the position they had seized had no water, and thirst compelled them to surrender to the victors. Gelon, who had won a victory in a most remarkable battle and had gained his success primarily by reason of his own skill as a general, acquired a fame that was noised abroad, not only among the Siceliotes, but among all other men as well; 6 for memory recalls no man before him who had used a stratagem like this, nor one who had slain more barbarians in one engagement or had taken so great a multitude of prisoners.

(23) Because of this achievement many historians compare this battle with the one which the Greeks fought at Plataea and the stratagem of Gelon with the ingenious schemes of Themistocles, and the first place they assign, since such exceptional merit was shown by both men, some to the one and some to the other. And the reason is that, when the people of Greece on the one hand and those of Sicily on the other were struck with dismay before the conflict at the multitude of the barbarian armies, it was the prior victory of the Sicilian Greeks which gave courage to the people of Greece when they learned of Gelon's victory; and as for the men in both affairs who held the supreme command, we know that in the case of the Persians the king escaped with his life and many myriads together with him, whereas in the case of the Carthaginians not only did the general perish but also everyone who participated in the war was slain, and, as the saying is, not even a man to bear the news got back alive to Carthage. Furthermore, of the most distinguished of the leaders of the Greeks, Pausanias and Themistocles, the former was put to death by his fellow citizens because of his overweening greed of power and treason, and the latter was driven from every corner of Greece and fled for refuge to Xerxes, his bitterest enemy, on whose hospitality he lived to the end of his life; whereas Gelon after the battle received greater approbation every year at the hands of the Syracusans, grew old in the kingship, and died in the esteem of his people, and so strong was the goodwill which the citizens felt for him that the kingship was maintained for three members of this house.

However, now that these men, who enjoy a well deserved fame, have received from us also the eulogies they merit, we shall pass on to the continuation of the preceding narrative.

(24) Now it so happened that Gelon won his victory on the same day that Leonidas and his soldiers were contesting against Xerxes at Thermopylae, as if the deity intentionally so arranged that both the fairest victory and the most honourable defeat should take place at the same time.  After the battle at the city of the Himerans twenty warships made their escape from the fight, being those which Hamilcar, to serve his routine requirements, had not hauled up on shore. Consequently, although practically all the rest of the combatants were either slain or taken prisoner, these vessels managed to set sail before they were noticed. But they picked up many fugitives, and while heavily laden on this account, they encountered a storm and were all lost. A handful only of survivors got safely to Carthage in a small boat to give their fellow citizens a statement which was brief: "All who crossed over to Sicily have perished."

The Carthaginians, who had suffered a great disaster so contrary to their hopes, were so terror-stricken that every night they kept vigil guarding the city, in the belief that Gelon with his entire force must have decided to sail forthwith against Carthage.  And because of the multitude of the lost the city went into public mourning, while privately the homes of citizens were filled with wailing and lamentation. For some kept inquiring after sons, others after brothers, while a very large number of children who had lost their fathers, alone now in the world, grieved at the death of those who had begotten them and at their own desolation through the loss of those who could succour them. And the Carthaginians, fearing lest Gelon should forestall them in crossing over to Libya, at once dispatched to him as ambassadors plenipotentiary their ablest orators and counsellors.

(25) As for Gelon, after his victory he not only honoured with gifts the horsemen who had slain Hamilcar but also decorated with rewards for prowess all others who had played the part of men. The fairest part of the booty he put to one side, since he wished to embellish the temples of Syracuse with the spoils; as for the rest of the booty, much of it he nailed to the most notable of the temples in Himera, and the rest of it, together with the captives, he divided among the allies, apportioning it in accordance with the number who had served with him. [...]

Gelon, after dismissing the allies, led the citizens of Syracuse back home, and because of the magnitude of his success he was enthusiastically received not only among his fellow citizens but also throughout the whole of Sicily; for he brought with him such multitude of captives that it looked as if the island had made the whole of Libya captive.

Pausanias, Description of Greece VI.19.7 (Jones & Ormerod trans., Heinemann 1918, as at www.perseus.tufts.edu):

Next to the treasury of the Sicyonians (at Olympia) is the treasury of the Carthaginians, the work of Pothaeus, Antiphilus and Megacles. In it are votive offerings – a huge image of Zeus and three linen breastplates (thorakes linoi), dedicated by Gelo and the Syracusans after overcoming the Phoenicians in either a naval or a land battle.

Commentary
This was the first major battle between Greeks and Carthaginians in Sicily. Diodoros gives us the tale that Carthage planned to "subdue the Greeks of Sicily", in concert with the Persians; but Herodotos' more circumstantial account has them called in by friendly Greeks as a matter of personal dynastic ties, and gives no indication that their aims went further than restoring the minor city of Himera to friendly rule.

Both main accounts agree that the battle started at dawn, though Herodotos makes it a longer fight than does Diodoros. While they differ as to the fate of Hamilcar, both agree that he was offering sacrifice rather than commanding his troops.

Neither account tells us much detail about the fighting. According to Diodoros, it was decided by the ruse of the Syracusan cavalry pretending to be Selinountines – more Greeks sympathetic to Carthage. The loss at sea of the horses and chariots left Hamilcar without any mounted arm, so he was in great need of local assistance in that area. Indeed, while the chariots feature in several later battles, there is little evidence that Carthage at this period had the strong cavalry force that we hear of in the third century.

Excellent, Duncan.

Herodotus has Xerxes spend 'four full years' in preparation for his invasion of Greece and Diodorus has Carthage spend 'three years in constant preparation' for their invasion of Sicily, and both launched in the same year.  In each case the objective was ostensibly a single city (Athens for the Persians, Himera for the Carthaginians), but the previous attempts by Persian emissaries to obtain earth and water showed that Xerxes' objectives went much further than just Athens.  And while Carthaginian campaigns in Sicily were often mountain-brought-forth-mouse efforts, one suspects that the immediate rationale and ultimate objectives in Carthage's 480 BC campaign may not have been entirely the same thing.

The point about Carthaginian cavalry is an interesting one.  When we meet them at the Crimisus in 480 BC, Carthaginian cavalry are conspicuous by their non-participation, though chariots are present in some numbers.  Hamilcar in 480 BC "lost the vessels which were carrying the horses and chariots" in a storm, making one wonder just how much cavalry (as opposed to chariotry) the Carthaginians actually possessed in this period.

Pausanias' thorakes linoi are interesting, given earlier discussions on the subject elsewhere.

Patrick

Polyainos, Stratagems I.27.2:
When Himilco, king of Carthage, invaded Sicily, Gelon, who was then the tyrant of the Sicilians, marched against him, but did not venture to risk a battle. Instead he put his own clothes on Pediarchus, who was commander of the archers, and very much resembled him in appearance, and ordered Pediarchus to march out of the camp in order to attend a sacrifice on the altars. The band of archers followed him, dressed in white clothes, and carrying myrtle branches in their hands, but with bows secretly concealed under them. They had been ordered to use the bows against Himilco, as soon as they saw him advancing to sacrifice in a similar manner. When Himilco, not suspecting any trickery, came forward to make a sacrifice, a shower of arrows suddenly cut him down, while he was performing the ceremonies and offering libations.

This does not name Himera, and the Carthaginian commander is here Himilco rather than Hamilcar; but the motif of his death while offering sacrifice suggests that this may be another version of Himera. There is little reason to think it reliable.

Polyainos, Stratagems I.28:
Theron, in a battle against the Carthaginians, put the enemy to flight. But the Sicilians immediately fell to plundering the tents in the enemy's camp, and while they were thus distracted, they were overwhelmed by the Iberians, who had come to the assistance of the Carthaginians. Theron, perceiving the carnage that was likely to follow, dispatched a body of men to wheel behind the camp and set fire to the farthest tents. The enemy, who had lost their tents and now saw the camp on fire, hurried back to their ships; but the Sicilians pursued them closely, and killed most of them before they could board the ships.

Does this anecdote also relate to Himera? It doesn't look as if Theron would have fought any other major battle against Carthaginians. The attempted flight to the ships fits Himera, as does the use of fire - though against tents here rather than Diodoros' ships. In which case this could be describing an incident late in the battle, a rally by some Iberian mercenaries once the Greeks were already in the enemy camp. Perhaps it comes via some source anxious to give Theron a share of Gelon's credit.