This article is about the specific polity Syrakousai and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Syracuse was founded in 734 or 733 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Tenea. Initally a colony, it became an independent city-state and a regional power in Sicily, controlling directly or indirectly the eastern part of the island. Syracuse became a Roman ally and vassal during the First Punic War.
Establishment
January 733 BC: Corinth founds Sirakousai in Sicily.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Were a series of conflicts fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse (Sicily) over the control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean.
January 489 BC: Cleander of Gela and his brother Hippocrates successfully took over both Ionian and Dorian Greek territory, and by 490 BC, Zankle, Leontini, Catana, Naxos, besides neighboring Sicel lands and Camarina had fallen under Gelan control.
January 484 BC: Gelo, successor of Hippocrates, captured Syracuse in 485 BC and made the city his capital.
January 464 BC: In 465 BC, the city of Syracuse rebelled against the rule of Gela.
January 464 BC: In 465 BC, the city of Megara in Sicily rebelled against the rule of the tyrant Theron of Akragas. The territory was subsequently taken over by the powerful city-state of Syracuse, led by the tyrant Hieron I.
1.1.Third Sicilian War
Was a conflict fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse (Sicily) over the control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean.
September 398 BC: By 398 BC, Dionysius had consolidated his strength and broke the peace treaty, commencing the Siege of Motya and capturing the city.
January 397 BC: Himilco responded decisively to Dionysius I, leading an expedition which not only reclaimed Motya, but also captured Messina.
September 397 BC: Himilco laid siege to Syracuse itself after decisively defeating the Greeks in the naval Battle of Catana. .
January 395 BC: Diodorus Siculus writes that the territory of Abakainon was expropriated by Dionysius I, Tyrant of Syracuse.
January 395 BC: Henna, in 396 BC, passed into the hands of the Syracusans.
January 395 BC: In 396 BC, the city of Henna was conquered by the Syracusans, led by the famous Greek general Dionysius I. This marked a significant expansion of Syracusai's territory in Sicily during this time period.
January 395 BC: Morgantina, in 396 BC, was conquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse.
January 395 BC: Carthage lost her new Greek conquests - Motya, Messina, Selinus, Thermae, Akragas, Gela and Camarina - to Syrakousai.
January 395 BC: In 396 BC a plague ravaged the Carthaginian forces, and they collapsed.
1.2.Fourth Sicilian War
Was a conflict fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse (Sicily) over the control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean.
January 375 BC: After the battle of Cronium the Carthaginians received Selinous and Acragas.
1.3.Fifth Sicilian War
Was a conflict fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse (Sicily) over the control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean.
January 366 BC: Dionysius again attacked Punic possessions in 368 BC, and laid siege to Lilybaeum. The defeat of his fleet was a severe setback. After his death in 367 BC, his son Dionysius II made peace with Carthage, and Carthage retained her Sicilian possessions west of the Halcyas and Himeras rivers.
1.4.Seventh Sicilian War
Was a conflict fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse (Sicily) over the control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean.
January 314 BC: In 315 BC, Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, seized the city of Messana, present-day Messina. Agathocles was a powerful and ambitious ruler who sought to expand his territory and influence in Sicily during this time. The capture of Messana was a strategic move in his efforts to control the region.
January 310 BC: Hamilcar, grandson of Hanno the Navigator, successfully led the Carthaginian counterattack. He defeated Agathocles in the Battle of the Himera River in 311 BC. Agathocles had to retreat to Syracuse while Hamilcar won control over the rest of Sicily.
January 310 BC: Hamilcar, son of Gisgo and grandson of Hanno the Great, led a campaign against Agathocles of Syracuse during the Third Sicilian War. He laid siege of Syracuse from 311 to 309 BC.
January 309 BC: The two armies met in the first Battle of White Tunis outside Carthage. The Carthaginian army, under Hanno and Hamilcar, was defeated. Agathocles and his forces laid siege to Carthage, but it was too strongly fortified for them to assault. Instead, the Greeks slowly occupied the whole of northern Tunisia.
January 308 BC: In desperation, Agathocles secretly led an expedition of 14,000 men to the mainland of Africa, hoping to save his rule by leading a counterstrike against Carthage itself. In this, he was successful: Carthage was forced to recall Hamilcar and most of his army from Sicily to face the new and unexpected threat.
January 306 BC: The Syracusan invaders were defeated by Carthage in 307 BC.
January 305 BC: Syracusan tyrant Agathocles negotiated a peace treaty with the Carthaginians in 306 BC, in which he retained control of the eastern half of the island.
Was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world.
2.1.Sicilian Expedition (Peloponnesian War)
Was an Athenian military expedition in Sicily against the poleis of Syracuse, an ally of Sparta. The expedition ended in a devastating defeat for the Athenian forces.
June 414 BC: In the spring of 414 BC the Athenians took the initiative again (for the last time) and began the siege of Syrakousai. With a coup d'état they managed to take the strategically important Epipolai (high field) north of the city.
June 414 BC: The Athenian fleet took the portof Syrakousai.
September 413 BC: After having finished their resources they Athenians tried to escape by sea and land but were unsuccesfull and were captured by the syracusans.
Conquests by Dyonisus I "the Elder", tyrant of the Polis of Syracuse (Sicily).
January 402 BC: In 403 BC, the city of Katane was conquered by Dionysius the Elder, a tyrant of Syracuse. As a result, the inhabitants of Katane were deported to Syracuse, marking a significant shift in power and control in the region.
January 402 BC: In 403 BC, the city of Katane was conquered by Dionysius the Elder, a tyrant of Syracuse. As a result, the inhabitants of Katane were deported to Syracuse, consolidating Dionysius' power in the region.
January 402 BC: After a failed attempt to establish a democratic government in Naxos, the city was enslaved by Syracuse in -403. Syracuse was a powerful city-state in Sicily led by the tyrant Dionysius I at the time. The conquest of Naxos was part of Syracuse's expansionist policies in the region.
January 402 BC: Naxos (in Sicily) was conquered by Syracuse in 403 BC.
January 394 BC: The people of Rhegium planted the exiles from Naxos and Catana in 395 BC as a counterpoise to Dionysius the Elder's foundation of Tyndaris; but Dionysius soon took it.
January 394 BC: Dionysus I of Syrakousai signed another peace treaty with Herbita in 396/5 BC.
January 387 BC: In 388 BC, Rhegion was subjugated by Dionysius the Elder, who was the tyrant of Syracuse from 388 to 351 BC.
Conquests by Agathocles, tyrant of the Polis of Syracuse (Sicily).
January 316 BC: In -317 B.C., Agathocles, the ruler of Syracuse, laid siege to the city of Engyon. The siege resulted in the conquest of Engyon by Syracuse in 311 B.C. Agathocles was a prominent Greek tyrant and general who played a significant role in the history of Sicily during this time.
January 315 BC: Syracuse resumed the hegemonic policy around 316 BC by the tyrant Agathocles, who subdued the other Sicilian cities, proclaiming himself "Βασιλεύς τῆς Σικελίας " (Basilèus teas Sikelìas) i.e. "King of Sicily".
January 310 BC: In 317 BC, Agathocles, a powerful ruler of Syracuse, laid siege to the city of Gela, eventually conquering it in 311 BC. Gela was an important Greek colony in Sicily, and its fall to Agathocles marked a significant victory for Syracuse in its quest for dominance in the region.
January 310 BC: Agathocles was a tyrant of Syracuse who sought to expand his power over other cities in Sicily. Gela was a Greek colony founded in the 5th century BC. The conquest of Gela by Agathocles was part of his aggressive military campaigns to dominate the region.
January 303 BC: Lipara prospered, but in 304 BC Agathokles took the town by treachery.
January 300 BC: The city of Kasmenai was abandoned towards the end of the 4th century BC.
January 293 BC: In 294 BC Agathocles, Tyrant of Syracuse conquers Hipponion.
January 288 BC: Later we find Taormina included in the Hellenistic reign of the Siceliot sovereign Agathocles.
Were a series of conflicts that were fought between the generals of Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, over who would rule his empire following his death.
5.1.Third War of the Diadochi
Was a war between Macedonian Generals that saw Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander fight against Antigonus.
January 311 BC: The city fell under the brutal control of the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles. Diodorus states that in Centuripe, around 312 BC, there was a Syracusan military garrison.
Were treaties of alliance between the Greek cities of southern italy and the Roman Republic.
January 281 BC: The cities of Reggio, Locri and Crotone asked to be placed under the protection of Rome.
Was a war between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Epirus.
7.1.Sicilian Expedition (Pyrrhic War)
Was a military expedition of Pyrrhus, the ruler of Epirus, in Sicily.
January 276 BC: Pyrrhus subdued the areas under Carthaginian control. After seizing Eryx he moved against the Mamertine mercenaries who had seized Messana.
January 275 BC: Molossian king Pyrrhus leaves Sicily.
Were a series of wars between 264 and 146 BC fought between Rome and Carthage. The wars ended with the Roman conquest of the Carthaginian Empire.
8.1.First Punic War
Was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean. .
8.1.1.Invasion of Sicily
Was the Roman invasion of Sicily during the First Punic War.
January 263 BC: The Romans protected the flank of the advance of the Carthaginians by conquering Adranon and besieging Centuripae, which surrendered.
January 263 BC: The city of Catania surrendered to the Roman Republic.
January 262 BC: The Romans besiege Syracuse. Tyrabt Hiero II asks for peace and becomes an ally of Rome.
January 551 BC: Kamarina is defeated and then destroyed by the Syracusans.
January 464 BC: After the death of the Syracusan tyrant and the defeat of Thrasybulus of Syracuse, which marked the end of the dynasty of the Dinomenids, the city was reconquered by the Katanaioi.
January 350 BC: Rhegion becomes independent from Syracuse.
January 349 BC: Gela (Sicily) was refounded in the IVth centyry BC.
January 341 BC: Adranon was conquered by Timoleon at 343-342 BC.
January 341 BC: The city of Adranon was conquered by Timoleon of Syracuse in 343-342 BC.
January 338 BC: Agyrion was under the dominion of the tyrant Apolloniade, who will remain in power until 339 BC, when the city will be freed by Timoleon.
January 338 BC: Akragas was refounded in IV Century BC.
January 330 BC: Herbessos was a Sikel community, Hellenised in IVth Century BC.
January 330 BC: Tauromenion was an Hellenic polis from the IVth Century BC.
January 330 BC: Stielanaioi was an Indigenous community, Hellenised in the IVth Century BC.
January 300 BC: Mytistratos was a greek polis in ancient Sikelia from ca. 300 BC.
January 279 BC: Syracuse attacked and defeated Akragas.
Disestablishment
January 262 BC: The Romans besiege Syracuse. Tyrabt Hiero II asks for peace and becomes an ally of Rome.
Selected Sources
Hansen, M. G. / Nielsen, T. H. (2004): An inventory of archaic and classic polities, Oxford University Press, pp. 1328-1337
Spence, I. (2002): Historical Dictionary of Ancient Greek Warfare, Scarecrow Press, p. XXII
Tucker, S.C. (2011) Battles that changed History - An Encyclopedia of World Conflict, ABC-CLIO, pp.25-29
Syrakousai
