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Siege of Syracuse (311–309 BC) 311 BC

Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.

Key facts

Year311 BCWikidata P580 (start time)
EraAncient (before 500)derived from year
LocationItalyNatural Earth (modern borders)
ContinentEuropeNatural Earth
War / conflictThird Greco-Carthaginian WarWikidata P361
Coordinates37.0692, 15.2875Wikidata P625

About the battle

The siege of Syracuse by the Carthaginians from 311 to 309 BC followed shortly after the Battle of the Himera River in the same year. In that battle the Carthaginians, under the leadership of Hamilcar the son of Gisco, had defeated the tyrant of Syracuse, Agathocles. Agathocles had to retreat to Syracuse and lost control over the other Greek cities on Sicily, who went over to the Carthaginian side.

When Hamilcar besieged Syracuse and blockaded its port, Agathocles did not confront him on the field. Instead, he made the audacious but very risky decision to invade Libya, the homeland of the Carthaginians. He managed to escape the naval blockade and had some successes in his expedition to Libya. Hamilcar had to send a part of his army back to Carthage to reinforce Libya. In 310 BC a first assault on the walls of Syracuse failed.

In 309 BC, Hamilcar attacked again in the cover of night to obtain the element of surprise. His advance on the walls was made in disorder however, and the Carthaginians were in turn surprised by a counterattack from the Syracusans. Even though the Carthaginians heavily outnumbered the Syracusans, the element of surprise, the darkness of night and the terrain made the Carthaginian army flee. Hamilcar was captured and killed by the Syracusans.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Syracuse (311–309 BC) (revision 1370745566), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

Location

37.0692, 15.2875 · Italy

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Nearby battles

Other battles of the Third Greco-Carthaginian War

Browse more: battles in Italy · Europe · Ancient battles

Further reading