Home > Hiero II of Syracuse

On the departure of Pyrrhus from Sicily ( 275 BC) the Syracusan army and citizens appointed him commander of the troops. He materially strengthened his position by marrying the daughter of Leptines, the leading citizen. In the meantime, the Mamertines , a body of Campanian mercenaries who had been employed by Agathocles, had seized the stronghold of Messana, whence they harassed the Syracusans. They were finally defeated in a pitched battle near Mylae by Hiero, who was only prevented from capturing Messana by Carthaginian interference. His grateful countrymen then made him tyrant (270).

In 264 BC he again returned to the attack, and the Mamertines called in the aid of Rome. Hiero at once joined the Punic leader HannoHanno is a name that can refer to the following entities: Hanno the elephant, Pope Leo X's pet Hanno the Elder, Carthaginian general Hanno the Great, Carthaginian general Hanno the Navigator, Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Rab, Carthaginian politician Ha, who had recently landed in Sicily; but being defeated by the consulFor modern diplomatic consuls see Consulate general. Consul (abbrev. was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. Under the Republic, the minimum age of election to consul for patricians was 40 years of a Appius Claudius Caudex, he withdrew to Syracuse. Pressed by the Roman forces, in 263Centuries: 4th century BC 3rd century BC 2nd century BC Decades: 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC Years: 268 BC 267 BC 266 BC 265 BC 264 BC 263 BC 262 BC 261 BC 260 BC 259 BC 258 BC Events First Punic he was compelled to conclude a treaty with Rome, by which he was to rule over the south-east of Sicily and the eastern coast as far as Tauromenium ( PolybiusPolybius ca 203 BC 120 BC) was a Greek historian of the Mediterranean world, especially the rise of the Roman Republic, which he attributed to Roman fitness and the excellence of Roman civic and military institutions. He is most valued for his account of i. 8-16; Zonaras Viii. 9).

From this time till his death in 215 BC he remained loyal to the Romans, and frequently assisted them with men and provisions during the Punic wars ( LivyTitus Livius (around 59 BC AD 17), known as Livy in English, wrote a monumental history of Rome from its supposed founding in 753 BC. Life and Works The book's title, Ab Urbe Condita ("From the Founding of the City"), makes Livy's ambition clear, but not xxi. 49-51, xxii. 37, xxiii. 21). He kept up a powerful fleet for defensive purposes, and employed his famous kinsman ArchimedesSee also Archimedes computer, Archimedes (disambiguation). Archimedes of Syracuse (circa 287 BC 212 BC), was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, physicist and engineer. He was killed by a Roman soldier during the sack of the city, despite orde in the construction of those engines that, at a later date, played so important a part during the siege of Syracuse by the Romans.

A picture of the prosperity of Syracuse during his rule is given in the sixteenth idyll of Theocritus, his favourite poet. See Diod. Sic. xxii. 24-xxvi. 24; Polybius i. 8-vu. 7; Justin xxiii. 4.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica