The great Persian War and its preliminaries : $b A study of the evidence, literary and topographicalGrundy, G. B. (George Beardoe)
History
The great Persian War and its preliminaries : $b A study of the evidence, literary and topographical
Grundy, G. B. (George Beardoe)
Greece -- History -- Persian Wars, 500-449 B.C.
Λέγεται δὲ καὶ τάδε ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν Σικελίῃ οἰκημένων, ὡς ὅμως, καὶ μέλλων
ἄρχεσθαι ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων, ὁ Γέλων ἐβοήθησε ἂν τοῖσι Ἕλλησι, εἰ μὴ
ὑπὸ Θήρωνος τοῦ Αἰνησιδήμου Ἀκραγαντίνων μουνάρχου ἐξελασθεὶς ἐξ
Ἱμέρης Τήριλλος ὁ Κρινίππου, τύραννος ἐὼν Ἱμέρης, ἐπῆγε ὑπ’ αὐτὸν τὸν
χρόνον τοῦτον φοινίκων καὶ Λιβύων καὶ Ἰβήρων καὶ Λιγύων καὶ Ἑλισύκων
καὶ Σαρδονίων καὶ Κυρνίων τριήκοντα μυριάδας, καὶ στρατηγὸν αὐτῶν
Ἀμίλκαν τὸν Ἄννωνος, Καρχηδονίων ἐόντα βασιλέα˙ κατὰ ξεινίην τε τὴν
ἑωυτοῦ ὁ Τήριλλος ἀναγνώσας, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν Ἀναξίλεω τοῦ Κρητίνεω
προθυμίην, ὁς Ῥηγίου ἐὼν τύραννος, τὰ ἑωυτοῦ τέκνα δοὺς ὁμήρους
Ἀμίλκᾳ, ἐπῆγε μιν ἐπὶ τὴν Σικελίαν, τιμωρέων τῷ πενθερῷ·
Then there follows the statement that Gelon and Theron defeated
Hamilcar in Sicily the same day as Salamis was fought, after which we
get two accounts—the first presumably Greek, probably Syracusan, the
second Carthaginian—of Hamilcar’s disappearance in the battle, and a
further statement to the effect that the Carthaginians sacrificed to
him, and set up statues to him in Carthage and her colonies.
It is noticeable that in neither account does Herodotus mention Himera
as the locality of the battle.
Of the treasures sent by Gelon to Delphi, he tells us (vii. 163) that
Gelon, fearing that the Greeks might succumb to the Persian, but
considering it quite an impossible thing for the tyrant of Sicily
to go to Peloponnese to be put under the command of Lacedæmonians,
sent, immediately on hearing of the passage of the Hellespont by
the Persians, a certain Cadmus with three ships to Delphi with much
treasure and friendly words (καραδοκήσαντα τὴν μάχην ᾕ πεσέεται˙ καὶ ἤν
μὲν ὁ βάρβαρος νικᾷ, τὰ τε χρήματα αὐτῷ διδόναι, καὶ γῆν τε καὶ ὕδωρ
τῶν ἄρχει ὅ Γέλων˙ ἤν δὲ οἱ Ἕλληνες, ὀπίσω ἀπάγειν), and (_VII_. 164)
we are told that when the Greeks won in the sea-fight, and Xerxes
departed, Cadmus returned to Sicily, bringing all the treasure with
him.
A fragment of the history of Ephorus (Frag. _III_ Schol. Pind. Pyth.
I. 146) gives the following account of the matter:—
Ἐκ δὲ Περσῶν καὶ Φοινίκων πρέσβεις πρὸς Καρχηδονίους [παραγενέσθαι]
προστάσσοντας ὡς πλεῖστον δέοι στόλον˙ εἰς Σικελίαν τε βαδίζειν, καὶ
καταστρεψαμένους τοὺς τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων φρονοῦντας πλεῖν ἐπὶ Πελοπόννησον.
#THE CARTAGINIAN INVASION OF SICILY.#
Diodorus, xi. 1, says:—
“Ὁ δὲ Ξέρξης.... βονλόμενος πάντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀναστάτους ποιῆσαι,
διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς Καρχηδονίους περὶ κοινοπραγίας, καὶ συνέθετο
πρὸς αὐτοὺς. ὥστε αὐτὸν μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κατοικοῦντας Ἕλληνας
στρατεύειν,
“Καρχηδονίους δὲ τοῖς αὐτοῖς χρόνοις μεγάλας παρασκευάσασθαι δυνάμεις,
καὶ καταπολεμῆσαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ Ἰταλίαν
οἰκοῦντας.”
These are the historical passages which bear on the subject.
Of non-historical passages, we have in the “Poetics” of Aristotle, 23,
a reference to the coincidence in date of the battles of Salamis and
Himera.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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