Every so often we encounter one of those figures who, of some interest in their own right, turn out to be of great importance not so much for their own deeds as for the (usually unintended) results of those deeds. Several spring to mind: Philip II of Macedon, whose deeds paved the way for those of his successor Alexander; Justin I of Byzantium, whose reign provided training for Justinian; Galerius, whose actions brought about the rise of Constantine - the last thing he wanted; and so on. Agathokles was one such, setting the stage as he did for the conflict between two great powers. The first was Carthage, which he fought to a standstill; the second was Rome, with which republic he had nothing of importance to do.

     To understand the situation we need to set the scene. Syracuse, the most important city in Sicily, was a Corinthian colony. Founded around 633 BC, roughly a century after the founding of Carthage, it was situated near but not at the point nearest the Italian mainland, south of Mt. Aetna; near enough to control the straits, but not so near as to be the obvious target for everyone for whom Bruttium had become unsafe. Syracuse had the great advantages of good farmland, a strong defensive position, and a fine natural harbor, and the city prospered.

     Syracuse was not the only Greek city, and the Greeks weren't the only inhabitants. The natives, the Siceliotes, were as quarrelsome as the Greeks, both among themselves and with anyone else. Of ancient, certainly pre-Italic stocks (first Sicani, then Siculi, before 1000 BC), they founded their own towns, and settled in some of the Greek cities, some of which were important. The largest was Akragas, whose chequered history of prosperity contrasted with devastation at the hands of some enemy (particularly when the Carthaginians destroyed it in 406 BC), was typical of the area.

     The third ingredient in this volatile mixture of peoples was the Carthaginians. Carthage itself was a Phoenician colony, which was "king of the hill" in its own territories, and without much need for military expansion at home developed into a nation of (generally) peaceful traders. So commercial, in fact, was the Punic outlook that Carthage should perhaps be described more as a business concern than a city ("Ba'al, Tanit and Sons, Inc."). The Carthaginian interest in Sicily mainly concerned trade routes; the Spanish silver mines and the trading bases in Sardinia needed to be kept busy and prosperous, and the easiest way to do this was to control towns on the west end of Sicily. Hence the Carthaginian concern; hence also the tendency to make peace on what looks to us like bad terms even from a strong military position. A few towns in the interior were of trivial importance to the maritime corporation/city. They first set up shop on an island off the western end of Sicily, but since the best way to deal with pirates is to occupy all of their bases, they settled on the main island, founding the city of Lilybaeum. From this base they used a powerful fleet to keep trade routes open.

Siculo-Punic Silver half-Shekel Male head / Horse. Lot 162

     Syracuse itself had a complicated career by the time of Agathokles's coup in 316 BC. The dominant city of the island, despite the best efforts of everybody else, the Corinthians who founded it settled loosely around the shore of the bay. Soon learning the value of fortification, and of position, they fortified the Achradina heights early, and from this base sent out their own colonies, the most notable of which was Kamarina.

     None of these cities were of great importance before 500, and the details are obscure. As the main source is Diodorus's "Library", best described as a compost heap of information, written in the first century BC, long after the events, solid fact can be hard to come by. By 500 the picture is clearer. In the 480s we find Gelon, the tyrant originally of Gela, by then of Syracuse (having captured it in 485), attempting to deal with a massive Carthaginian attack. His ally, Theron tyrant of Akragas, was the winner in the quadriga race in the Olympic games of 476 BC, so we have a victory ode by Pindar which notes the events.

Silver Tetradrachm of Agathokles Head of Persephone / Nike

erecting trophy. In the finest style. -- Lot 52

     The two tyrants combined their armies in the face of an army of 100, 000 soldiers of an army determined to end any threat they posed to Punic trade. The decisive battle took place at Himera, where the Greeks crushed their Punic foes decisively; the loot from the battle provided the foundation for the prosperity for both cities for the following century. Gelon was succeeded by his brother Hieron I, Olympic victor in several different equestrian events from 480. Under his rule Syracuse prospered; it also intervened in affairs of neighbors near and far, whether capturing Naxos and expelling its inhabitants in 476, or sending a fleet to help the Greeks of Cumae defeat an Etruscan invasion. When Theron died in 472 his successor was able to provoke Hieron but not able to handle the consequences, and after disposing of this Thrasydaeus, Hieron was undisputed master of the Greek part of Sicily. A patron of the arts, like all Greek tyrants at least pretended to be, he attracted the literary good-will of Aeschylos, who wrote his drama Aetnae for Hieron.

     The Syracusans had had enough of tyrants by the time Hieron died; he was followed by a democracy in 466, which being based as it was on "class struggle" rather than on anything more generally supported, the result was inevitable. Syracuse never lacked ambitious demagogues, and between "rabble-rousers" and would-be mercenary coup leaders the city teetered on the brink of tyranny most of the time. Of course this meant that, with all fighting spirit directed toward domestic opponents, Syracuse found it difficult to maintain power elsewhere. Nonetheless the city rallied in 416 BC to deal with a greater threat than Carthage.

     The Athenian invasion of Sicily during the Peloponnesian War was one of those things for which the best reason given was that it seemed like a good idea at the time. Syracuse had been fairly peaceful, other than the usual squabbles, for some time, and seventy years of uninterrupted commerce had made the city rich. The Athenians decided that they could use the money. Of course they had to take the city first. Theucidides describes in detail the ensuing disaster: defeated on land, they tried to make a break for it before their enemies tightened the sea blockade; the attempt at escape was put off by an eclipse, as a bad omen; what followed was worse. The Syracusans reinforced their fleet; the Athenians were decisively defeated, they tried to make their way overland, and were trapped and forced to surrender. Most of them died in the stone-quarries of the Latomae; the rest were sold as slaves.

     The Carthaginians were soon on the move again, and as usual the city panicked. They called in an experienced soldier who, to nobody's surprise, took over; this was Dionysos I. In military terms he proved a benefactor, as he realized the importance of strong fortifications. He built a wall which enclosed the fortress of Euryalos, and the new walls repelled the best efforts of the Carthaginians. The war dragged on for some time longer, and ended as these wears usually did, by petering out into a stalemate.

     Dionysos reigned until 367 BC, and was followed by his son, Dionysos II. This latter was one of those who helped give the term "Tyrant" its bad connotations. Schooling provided (reluctantly) by Plato didn't help; eventually the citizens decided to fight fire with fire, and appealed to the mother city, Corinth, for help. It came in the form of one Timoleon with an army, drove out Dionysos, reestablished sound government, and soon found itself embroiled with the usual Punic enemy. Timoleon proved himself good value for money as a mercenary commander; at the famous battle of the Crimisos River he attacked the Carthaginians as they crossed the river. After a hard fight the Carthaginians suffered crushing defeat; the resulting treaty confined them to the west end of the island.

     Timoleon ruled with an iron hand, crushing bandits and would-be tyrants of other towns ruthlessly, and establishing sound government in Syracuse. He attempted to set up a limited oligarchy; too limited for the oligarchs, not limited enough for the rest, the system soon collapsed after his abdication. Both sides looked for assistance, and the democrats chose Agathokles.

     Agathokles was born at Thermae, around 361, the son of Karkinos a potter from Rhegium. What sort of pots his father made is uncertain; there is of course a difference between those who made crude utility vessels on the one hand and those who made the fine painted wares which feature in so many museums. The story goes that the father, having been told by some dream that the child would grow up to be a great evil, set him out to die of exposure. The child's mother, not happy about this, smuggled him into the house of her brother. When the child reached the age of seven his father learned the truth, and since Agathokles seemed promising, took him back. They all eventually moved to Syracuse, lured by a general offer of citizenship offered in an effort to help repopulate the city. Eventually the father rose to become a well-off manufacturer; but Agathokles rose higher.

Silver Stater of Kroton Delphic tripod / Incuse of eagle. -- Lot 41

     Eventually elected as a general for some minor campaigns, Agathokles served with some distinction. This earned him the jealousy of some of the oligarchs, since he was "only a potter", but it gained him the patronage of a very rich citizen named Damas. Some of the ancient authors state that it was more than simply patronage; but as the sources are generally hostile, and claiming that A was B's lover rather than mere friend or patron was then, as it is now, the stock-in-trade of malicious gossip. Whatever the exact relationship, they all got along very well, and when Damas died his widow married Agathokles, bringing him a considerable fortune.

     In 325 he was sent as part of an expedition to assist Kroton against the Bruttians, who were generally regarded as the barbarians of south Italy. Agathokles served with great distinction; the oligarchs, alarmed, insisted on keeping him from gaining any reward. He in turn brought two of them up on charges of attempting tyranny; the same charge was used against him, more successfully. Sentenced to exile, he eluded the force sent to murder him, then took up the mercenary trade in Italy.

     Revenge is sweet, to some at least, and it must have given Agathokles great satisfaction when he scrounged up a force of "riff-raff" troops to assist Rhegion against an army from Syracuse, lead by precisely those oligarchs who had exiled him. He inflicted a decisive defeat on his old enemies, which so discredited them that they fell from power. Agathokles, now the shining light of Syracuse, was recalled, and had to defend the city against the oligarchs, who did not take their exile gracefully. Characteristic of the man was his rescue of a body of troops trapped in the streets of Gela, caught when an attack failed. He set his trumpeters to sound the attack call on the sides, on the city wall. In the darkness the men of Gela thought that the Syracusans were coming to their comrades' aid, and split up to meet the new threats; this weakened the Gelon force sufficiently that Agathokles was able to break out and get back to camp.

Bronze Tetras of Akragas. Crab with prawn below -- Lot 43

     The Syracusans mistrusted him, however, and when the Carthaginians began to stir they called for another general from Corinth. This general, Akestorides, soon fell out with Agathokles, who he had exiled on the usual charge of attempting a tyranny. He collected a band of troops and, based in Morgantina, roamed the interior of Sicily, capturing Leontini and using it as a base against his enemies in Syracuse. They in turn appealed to Carthage, Agathokles, knowing well the Carthaginian attitude, soon came to an understanding with Hamilcar, the Punic commander, and acted as negotiator between the two powers. Appointed magistrate in Syracuse to this end, he used his army to purge his opponents, backed by both Carthage and the democrats in Syracuse. Here his background as a potter helped him immensely; he was "one of us" to the commons. At least four thousand were killed in the ensuing massacre; another six thousand or so went into exile, mainly to Akragas. After the usual bit of street theater - with the typical sort of attempted abdication and false display of modesty - he "reluctantly" accepted acclamation as sole supreme commander.

     Agathokles then turned his attention to his neighbors. He twice attacked Messena unsuccessfully, earning a censure from the Carthaginians, who however did nothing about it. As the exiles from Syracuse used it as a base Agathokles wanted it out of the way. The exiles for their part kept badgering the Carthaginians to attack. Eventually in 312 he took it; then the Carthaginian senate, responding to complaints, protested and condemned the general Hamilcar, replacing him with another Hamilcar, son of Gisgo. Agathokles, using this as an excuse, especially since his treaty partner had been condemned without a hearing, decided to wage open war. In Hamilcar, however, he ad met his match, and soon enough he had been twice defeated and soon found himself besieged in Syracuse.

     With characteristic audacity Agathokles decided that the best defense really was offense. He decided to take the war to Carthage. Accordingly he outfitted a transport fleet for an expedition to "an uncertain destination". The arrival of a grain fleet provided the necessary diversion for running the blockade; the Carthaginians started after the grain-ships, broke off to chase the troop transports, and missed both. Thus at a stroke Syracuse received provisions and the troops got away. The Carthaginians pursued them, but they were able to beach and burn their ships on the African beach before the arrival of their enemies.

     At first fortune favored them. The Syracusans won over many of the local tribes, and took towns and cities as they passed. The Carthaginians weren't about to ignore this assault, and levied a citizen army three times the size of the Syracusan force. Despite the worries of his troops, Agathokles decided to attack, knowing that with a trained army against raw troops the only worry was that the arms of his soldiers would tire from all that work. The Carthaginians fought like sheep, and were butchered.

     The city, not surprisingly, flew into a panic. Never having suffered even the threat of a siege, they ascribed the disaster to their neglect of their deities. Notable among these was the god Moloch, identified by Diodoros with Kronos, to whom they had been in the habit of sacrificing children by burning them alive. The Carthaginians were determined to make up for lost piety by burning two hundred children from the "best" families, with hundreds of others.

     They also did not neglect practical measures. They collected the bronze rams from the ships Agathokles had burnt on the beach, and sent them to Hamilcar to show them to the citizens at Syracuse, claiming a bogus victory. Agathokles anticipated this move, and sent a messenger. Some of the citizens wavered until the messenger brought news of the recent Greek victory; at which Hamilcar, in baffled rage, launched a general attack which was beaten off. A while later he launched another; this one was not only defeated, like that against Timoleon while crossing a river, but Hamilcar was captured and executed. The Carthaginian effort in Sicily fell apart as a result of this loss.

Bronze Hemelitron of Timoleon Head of Zeus / Thunderbolt -- lot 51

     Meanwhile Agathokles made alliance with Ophellas, Ptolemy I's viceroy of Cyrene, who had dreams of independence. OIphellas brought a powerful force. The generals had differing aims, and conspired against each other; Agathokles won.

     By this time the presence of the diversion was no longer necessary, as the siege of Syracuse had been abandoned and what was left of the Carthaginian army recalled for home defense. Agathokles decided, however, to deal with Carthage once and for all with his augmented force. He blockaded Carthage itself, having captured all its major port towns. Carthage, cut off from all sources of supply, was well on its way to a very disadvantageous peace.

     It was not to be. Agathokles wasn't the first commander to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but he was certainly in the grand tradition. Some Siciliotes, based in Akragas, set up a league of towns against both Syracuse and Carthage, achieved considerable success under a competent general named Xenodikos. Agathokles left his son in charge in Africa.

     As it turned out he left where he was needed, since the son was completely incompetent, to deal with a problem which no longer existed when he arrived in Sicily. The Syracusans scraped up a force under one Leptines, who met Xenodikos and crushed his army, which henceforth stayed in Akragas, and the league fell apart. All Agathokles did was to purge some malcontents and raise more troops for Africa.

     By that time, in 307, the situation in Africa had gone from excellent to hopeless. The Carthaginians responded to Greek raids by sending out three forces, each of which might be inferior to the Greek army, but was able to deal with any garrisons and raiding-parties. Archagarthos, son of Agathokles, split up his forces in reply, and two columns fell into ambushes and lost heavily.

     Agathokles tried to remedy the situation by a vigorous attack on his arrival. The assault at Tunis was heavily defeated, and with his army totally demoralized Agathokles realized that the game was up. So he escaped secretly back to Sicily, leaving the army to surrender on what terms it could get after first killing Archagathos.

     Agathokles soon gained a reputation for unnecessary cruelty, not only by massacring the people of Segesta, an allied city, in order to raise money, but also by executing all of the relatives of the soldiers in the army which killed Archagathos. This was followed by a further campaign in Sicily, where he defeated the exiles, then beat the remnants of Carthaginian power back to the western tip of the island.

     By 304 Agathokles had settled things to his liking. The Carthaginians had settled on the basis of the status quo, and the exiles were dead, out of Sicily, or quiet. At this point he decided to adopt the style of the successors of Alexander, and give himself the title of king. He also struck coins in honor of his great victories, ignoring his appalling defeat in Africa.

     The remainder of his reign was quiet. He intervened in Italy with varying success, mainly against the Bruttians. At home he was less successful. Married three times, his sons by his first wife had been killed by the army in Africa. By his second he had a son and a daughter; the daughter was eventually married to Pyrrhos, then to Demetrios the Besieger. The son was groomed for the succession, but was assassinated by a son of that Archagathos who had done so poorly in Africa. Agathokles himself died, apparently of bone cancer, in 289 BC, leaving the city in a democracy (the Fourth), but after a very short while it fell under yet another tyrant.

     The end results of the reign of Agathokles were favorable to Rome; hence the attitude of Scipio, who regarded him as a great example of a great commander. After all, he showed the Romans how to defeat Carthage by example. He also left the way open for the Romans to fight Carthage: a band of Campanian mercenaries, the 'Mamertini" in his pay took Messena by treachery after his death, then found themselves threatened by all parties in Sicily, and appealed to Rome for help. Rome, wanting to put a stop to the ambitions of both Syracuse and Carthage, responded. The result of the First Punic War established Rome as a power in Sicily, as a naval power in general, and brought Syracuse under control as an ally. It became a province when it revolted after the death of Hieron II, but that is another story.

     To most numismatists the legacy of Agathokles is his often magnificent coinage. His real legacy, however, was the effective conquest of the Mediterranean for Western, Graeco-Roman civilization rather than Eastern, Phoenico-Punic. For better or worse, it was Agathokles who set the stage.