Agathocles of Syracuse

Agathocles
King of Syracuse
Depiction of a bust possibly belonging to Agathocles
Reign	317 - 289 BC
Predecessor	Timoleon
Successor	Hicetas
Born	361 BC Himera
Died	289 BC Syracuse
Consort	Theoxena
Issue	With first wife Archagathus Heracleides With Alcia? Lanassa Agathocles II With Theoxena Archagathus Theoxena
Greek	Ἀγαθοκλῆς
Father	Carcinus of Rhegium
Religion	Greek Polytheism

Coin of Agathocles.

Agathocles (Ancient Greek: Ἀγαθοκλῆς, Agathoklḗs; 361–289 BC) was a tyrant of Syracuse from 317 BC and king of much of Sicily from 304 BC until his death. Agathocles began his career as a military officer, and raised his profile as a supporter of the democratic faction in Syracuse against the oligarchic civic government. His opponents forced him into exile and he became a mercenary leader. He eventually made his way back to Syracuse and was elected as a general. A few years later he took control through a coup d'état. In practice he was a tyrant, although a democratic constitution theoretically remained in force.

Agathocles had led a long, costly war against the Carthaginians, who ruled the western half of Sicily between 311 and 306 BC. In a military campaign he led the invasion of Carthage's North African heartland in 310 BC. After initial successes he abandoned his army in Africa and returned to Sicily in 307 BC, where he made peace with the Carthaginians and restored the status quo ante bellum. He then assumed the royal title and managed to bring almost the entire Greek portion of Sicily, and part of Calabria, under his control. Agathocles came close to of bringing the entirety of Magna Graecia under his control but his attempt to establish a dynasty fell apart as a result of conflict within his family. He was assassinated in 289 BC and his kingdom instantly collapsed.

Biography

Agathocles was a son of Carcinus, who came from Rhegium. Carcinus was expelled from his hometown, so he migrated to Thermae Himeraeae and married a local citizen woman. Thermae, which was located on the north coast of Sicily, belonged to the western part of the island, which was under Carthaginian control. The couple had two sons, Antander and Agathocles. In 343 BC, when Agathocles was around eighteen years old, the family re-settled in Syracuse. Carcinus had answered a call from the commander Timoleon, which had overthrown the tyrannical regime of Dionysius II. Timoleon sought new citizens for the city, which had been depopulated by the civil wars. Thus, Carcinus and Agathocles acquired Syracusan citizenship. According to the sources, Carcinus was a potter and Agathocles followed him in his profession. Modern historians generally argue that he must have been a wealthy man who owned a pottery workshop. In later times, Agathocles frequently advertised his lower class origins and used them as part of his self-presentation as a ruler, since performative modesty and presenting himself as a man of the people would be important parts of his persona.

Agathocles began his military career during Timoleon's rule. He initially served as a soldier and then as an officer. Later, after Timoleon's death in 337 BC, Agathocles participated in an expedition against Acragas and began a relationship with the general, Damas, who promoted him to chiliarch. After Damas' death, Agathocles married his widow. This made him one of the richest men in Syracuse, which gave him a good platform to begin his political ascent.

After Timoleon's death, Syracuse descended into the traditional conflict between democrats and oligarchs. The oligarchs had the upper hand and ruled the city as a club, called "the Six Hundred." Agathocles' elder brother, Antander, was elected to a generalship, during this period, so he must have had good relationships with members of the ruling circle. Agathocles, on the other hand, spoke in the people's assembly and placed himself on the side of the opposition democrats, but he was unable to overcome their power. After a successful campaign to defend Croton in southern Italy from the Bruttii, he denied an award for bravery which he felt he had earnt. After this, he openly opposed the government and openly accused the leading oligarchs, Sosistratus and Heracleides, of seeking to become tyrants. These accusations were not successful and the two oligarchs solidified their power. Agathocles' situation in Syracuse was then untenable and he declared that he was compelled to leave the city. This does not necessarily mean that he was formally exiled.

Rulership

Silver drachma of Agathocles, depicting Apollo and the triskeles.

In 317 BC he returned with an army of mercenaries under a solemn oath to observe the democratic constitution which was established after they took the city. Having massacred the oligarchs and the richest of the citizenry, he thus made himself master of Syracuse, and he created a strong army and fleet and subdued the greater part of Sicily.

War with Carthage followed. In 311 BC Agathocles was defeated in the Battle of the Himera River and besieged in Syracuse. In 310 BC he made a desperate effort to break through the blockade and attack Carthage. He landed at Cape Bon in August 310 BC, and was able to defeat the Carthaginians for the first time, and establish a camp near Tunis. He then turned east and tried to take over coastal trading cities such as Neapolis and Hadrumetum, and on this occasion concluded an alliance with Ailymas, king of the Libyans according to Diodorus of Sicily, in an attempt to surround and isolate Carthage. After capturing Hadrumetum, Thapsus and other coastal towns, Agathocles turned his attention to central Tunisia. Before or during this campaign, he broke his alliance with Ailymas, whom he pursued and killed, but he kept his Numidian army, including war chariots they built.

In 309/8 BC, Agathocles began trying to sway Ophellas, ruler of Cyrenaica, as he was likely to prove a useful ally in Agathocles' war against the Carthaginians. To gain his allegiance, he promised to cede to Ophellas whatever conquests their combined forces might make in Africa, reserving to himself only the possession of Sicily. Ophellas gathered a powerful army from the homeland of his wife Euthydike (a descendant of Miltiades), Athens, where many citizens felt disgruntled after having lost their voting rights. Despite the natural obstacles that presented themselves on his route, Ophellas succeeded in reaching the Carthaginian territories after a toilsome and perilous march of more than two months. He was received by Agathocles with every demonstration of friendship, and the two armies encamped near each other, but a few days later, Agathocles betrayed his new ally by attacking the camp of the Cyrenaeans and having Ophellas killed. The Cyrenean troops, left without a leader, went over to Agathocles.

Coin of Agathocles, depicting Nike nailing up a war trophy.

Gold coin of Agathocles, depicting Athena and a thunderbolt; the reverse legend names him as basileus ("king").

After several victories, he was finally completely defeated (307 BC) and fled secretly to Sicily. After concluding peace with Carthage in 306 BC, Agathocles styled himself king of Sicily in 304 BC, and established his rule over the Greek cities of the island more firmly than ever. A peace treaty with Carthage left him in control of Sicily east of the Halycus River. Even in his old age, he displayed the same restless energy and is said to have been contemplating a fresh attack on Carthage at the time of his death.

His last years were plagued by ill health and the turbulence of his grandson Archagathus, at whose instigation he is said to have been poisoned; according to others, he died a natural death. He was a born leader of mercenaries, and, although he did not shrink from cruelty to gain his ends, he afterwards showed himself a mild and popular "tyrant". Agathocles restored the Syracusan democracy on his deathbed and did not want his sons to succeed him as king.

Family

Agathocles was married three times. His first wife was the widow of his patron Damas, by whom he had two sons:

• Archagathus, who was murdered by the army in Africa in 307 BC after Agathocles abandoned it. He had one son, also called Archagathus, who was Agathocles' main general and heir in the 290s BC, but became involved in a succession dispute with his younger uncle, also called Agathocles, and was assassinated immediately after his father's deat in 289 BC.
• Heracleides, who was murdered with his brother in Africa in 307 BC.

Agathocles' second wife was Alcia, with whom he had two children:

• Lanassa, second wife of King Pyrrhus of Epirus and mother of Alexander II of Epirus.
• Agathocles, who was murdered in a succession dispute shortly before his father's death.

Agathocles' third wife was Theoxena, who was the second daughter of Berenice I and her first husband Philip and thus a stepdaughter of Ptolemy I Soter, king of Egypt. She escaped to Egypt with their two children following Agathocles' death in 289 BC:

• Archagathus and Theoxena, who escaped to Egypt in 289 BC. Their descendants included Agathocleia and Agathocles of Egypt, who were Ptolemy IV's chief mistress and chief minister respectively, and dominated Egypt in the first years of Ptolemy V's reign.

Legacy

Agathocles was cited as an example "Of those who become princes through their crimes" in chapter 8 of Niccolò Machiavelli's treatise on politics - The Prince (1513).

He was described as behaving as a criminal at every stage of his career. Machiavelli claimed:

Agathocles, the Sicilian, became King of Syracuse not only from a private but from a low and abject position. This man, the son of a potter, through all the changes in his fortunes, always led an infamous life. Nevertheless, he accompanied his infamies with so much ability of mind and body that, having devoted himself to the military profession, he rose through its ranks to be Praetor of Syracuse.

Machiavelli goes on to reason that Agathocles' success, in contrast to other criminal tyrants, was due to his ability to commit his crimes quickly and ruthlessly, and states that cruelties are best used when they

are applied at one blow and are necessary to one's security, and that are not persisted in afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects.

However, he came to glory as much as he did brutality by repelling invading Carthaginians and winning the loyalty of the denizens of his land.

Family tree of Agathocles

Magas

Antigone of Macedon

Carcinus of Rhegium

Philip

Berenice I

Ptolemy I king of Egypt

1.(unknown)

Agathocles I tyrant of Syracuse, king of Sicily

3.Theoxena Elder

Ptolemy II king of Egypt

2.Alcia

Archagathus Elder general ∞ Theoxena

Heracleides military officer

Agathocles II

Lanassa

Pyrrhus I king of Epirus

Antigone

Archagathus of Libya epistates of Cyrenaica ∞ Oenanthe

Theoxena Younger

Ptolemy III king of Egypt

Archagathus Younger military officer

Agathocles Elder ∞ Oenanthe

Ptolemy IV king of Egypt

Agathoclea

Agathocles Younger

Ptolemy V king of Egypt

Primary sources

• Diodorus Siculus Library of History Books 19–21.
• Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus Book 22.
• Polyaenus 5.3
• Polybius 9.23

Bibliography

• Agostinetti, Anna Simonetti (2008). "Agatocle di Siracusa: un tiranno-operaio". Aristonothos. 2: 153–160.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Agathocles". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 370.
• Bennett, Chris (2012). "Ptolemaic Dynasty Affiliates". www.instonebrewer.com. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
• Berve, Helmut (1953). Die Herrschaft Des Agathokles. Munich: Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Consolo Langher, Sebastiana Nerina (2000). Agatocle: da capoparte a monarca fondatore di un regno tra Cartagine e i Diadochi. Messina: Di.Sc.A.M. ISBN 978-88-8268-004-6.
• Habicht, Christian (1997). Athens from Alexander to Antony. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674051119.
• Lehmler, Caroline (2005). Syrakus unter Agathokles und Hieron II.: die Verbindung von Kultur und Macht in einer hellenistischen Metropole. Berlin: Verlag Antike. ISBN 978-3-938032-07-7.
• Meister, Klaus (1984). "Agathocles". In Walbank, F. W.; Astin, A. E.; Frederiksen, M. W.; Ogilvie, R. M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 7 Part 1. The Hellenistic World (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 384–411.

Further reading

• Tillyard, H.J.W. (1908). The History of Agathocles. Cambridge: CUP. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009.
• Schubert, Rudolf (1887). Geschichte des Agathokles. W. Koebner.

External links

• Coinage of Agathocles
• Agathocles- Encyclopædia Britannica
• Agathocles of Syracuse- Ancient History Encyclopedia