Adranodoros (or Andranodorus) was the son-in-law of the Greek Sicilian king Hiero II of Syracuse in the 3rd century BC. His wife was Hiero's daughter, Demarata. He was one of the fifteen guardians named by Hiero to counsel Hiero's fifteen-year-old grandson and successor, Hieronymus of Syracuse, after Hiero died. Adranodoros dismissed the other guardians, saying that they were not needed, and became Hieronymos's chief counsellor. He encouraged Hieronymus to change the allegiance of Syracuse from Rome to Carthage, and connect himself with Hannibal.[1]
Hieronymus was tyrannical, and was killed by a band of conspirators after ruling for a turbulent 13 months. Andranodoros attempted to occupy Sicily with the intention of usurping the royal power. He quickly surrendered to the Syracusans, and was elected one of their generals, along with Themistus, Hieronymus' brother-in-law.[2] Before long, the people of Syracuse became suspicious of him. A comedian and friend of Andranodoros's, named Ariston, reported to the other generals that the Andranodoros and Themistus were still plotting to seize power for themselves, and massacre the other leaders of the city.[3] The magistrates of the island ordered that Andranodoros be killed. As he entered the senate building, Andranodoros was assassinated,[3] along with members of the old royal family.[4]
The people of Syracuse rose up and demanded justice for Andranodoros's assassination. One of his killers, a soldier named Sopater, defended himself by claiming that Hieronymus' tyrannical actions were orchestrated by Andranodoros. He also claimed that Andranodoros and Themistus's conspiracy was orchestrated by their power-hungry wives, Hiero's daughter and granddaughter. The wives were then killed to appease the people's fury.[2]
Hannibal was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.
The Second Punic War was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Italy and Iberia, but also on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and, towards the end of the war, in North Africa. After immense materiel and human losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were once again defeated. Macedonia, Syracuse and several Numidian kingdoms were drawn into the fighting, and Iberian and Gallic forces fought on both sides. There were three main military theatres during the war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly, with occasional subsidiary campaigns in Sicily, Sardinia and Greece; Iberia, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success before moving into Italy; and Africa, where Rome finally won the war.
The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical Era, epoch, or historical period.
This article concerns the period 269 BC – 260 BC.
This article concerns the period 219 BC – 210 BC.
Marcus Claudius Marcellus was a Roman general and politician during the 3rd century BC. Five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic. Marcellus gained the most prestigious award a Roman general could earn, the spolia opima, for killing the Gallic king Viridomarus in single combat in 222 BC at the Battle of Clastidium. Furthermore, he is noted for having conquered the fortified city of Syracuse in a protracted siege during which Archimedes, the famous mathematician, scientist, and inventor, was killed, despite Marcellus ordering the soldiers under his command not to harm him. Marcus Claudius Marcellus died in battle in 208 BC, leaving behind a legacy of military conquests and a reinvigorated Roman legend of the spolia opima.
Hiero II, also called Hieron II, was the Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Greek Sicily, from 275 to 215 BC, and the illegitimate son of a Syracusan noble, Hierocles, who claimed descent from Gelon. He was a former general of Pyrrhus of Epirus and an important figure of the First Punic War. He figures in the story of famed thinker Archimedes shouting "Eureka".
The Battle of Agrigentum was the first pitched battle of the First Punic War and the first large-scale military confrontation between Carthage and the Roman Republic. The battle was fought after a long siege which started in 262 BC and resulted both in a Roman victory and the beginning of Roman control of Sicily.
The Mamertines were mercenaries of Italian origin who had been hired from their home in Campania by Agathocles, Tyrant of Syracuse and self-proclaimed King of Sicily. After Syracuse lost the Seventh Sicilian War, the city of Messina was ceded to Carthage in 307 BC. When Agathocles died in 289 BC it left many of his mercenaries idle and unemployed in Sicily. Most of them returned home but some, liking the climate and the prospect of adventure on a foreign island, remained. They played a major role in the lead-up to the First Punic War.
Jukka M. Heikkilä is a Finnish author. He writes historical fiction set in the ancient world.
The Third Battle of Nola was fought in 214 BC between Hannibal and a Roman army led by Marcus Claudius Marcellus. It was Hannibal's third attempt to take the town of Nola. Once again, Marcellus successfully prevented the town's capture.
The siege of Syracuse by the Roman Republic took place in 213–212 BC. The Romans successfully stormed the Hellenistic city of Syracuse after a protracted siege, giving them control of the entire island of Sicily. During the siege, the city was protected by weapons developed by Archimedes. Archimedes, the prominent inventor and polymath, was slain at the conclusion of the siege by a Roman soldier, in contravention of the Roman proconsul Marcellus's instructions to spare his life.
Sicilia was the first province acquired by the Roman Republic, encompassing the island of Sicily. The western part of the island was brought under Roman control in 241 BC at the conclusion of the First Punic War with Carthage. A praetor was regularly assigned to the island from c. 227 BC. The Kingdom of Syracuse under Hieron II remained an independent ally of Rome until its defeat in 212 BC during the Second Punic War. Thereafter the province included the whole of the island of Sicily, the island of Malta, and the smaller island groups.
The city of Carthage was founded in the 9th century BC on the coast of Northwest Africa, in what is now Tunisia, as one of a number of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean created to facilitate trade from the city of Tyre on the coast of what is now Lebanon. The name of both the city and the wider republic that grew out of it, Carthage developed into a significant trading empire throughout the Mediterranean. The date from which Carthage can be counted as an independent power cannot exactly be determined, and probably nothing distinguished Carthage from the other Phoenician colonies in Northwest Africa and the Mediterranean during 800–700 BC. By the end of the 7th century BC, Carthage was becoming one of the leading commercial centres of the West Mediterranean region. After a long conflict with the emerging Roman Republic, known as the Punic Wars, Rome finally destroyed Carthage in 146 BC. A Roman Carthage was established on the ruins of the first. Roman Carthage was eventually destroyed—its walls torn down, its water supply cut off, and its harbours made unusable—following its conquest by Arab invaders at the close of the 7th century. It was replaced by Tunis as the major regional centre, which has spread to include the ancient site of Carthage in a modern suburb.
Hieronymus was a tyrant of Syracuse, Magna Graecia. He succeeded his grandfather, Hiero II, in 215 BC. He was at this time only fifteen years old, and he ascended the throne at a crisis full of peril, for the Battle of Cannae had given a shock to the Roman power, the influence of which had been felt in Sicily; and though it had not shaken the fidelity of the aged Hiero, yet a large party at Syracuse was already disposed to abandon the alliance of Rome for that of Carthage. The young prince had already given indications of weakness, if not depravity of disposition, which had alarmed his grandfather, and caused him to confide the guardianship of Hieronymus to a council of fifteen persons, among whom were his two sons-in-law, Andranodorus and Zoippus. But the objects of this arrangement were quickly frustrated by the ambition of Andranodorus, who, in order to get rid of the interference of his colleagues, persuaded the young king to assume the reins of government, and himself set the example of resigning his office, which was followed by the other guardians. Hieronymus now became a mere tool in the hands of his two uncles, both of whom were favourable to the Carthaginian alliance. Thrason, the only one of his counsellors who retained any influence over his mind, and who was a staunch friend of the Romans, was soon got rid of by a charge of conspiracy.
Epicydes or Epikudês was a Greco-Carthaginian of Syracusan descent who first served in Hannibal's army and then led the Syracusans in their struggle against Rome during the Second Punic War.
Ancient Carthage was an ancient Semitic civilisation based in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC, Carthage reached its height in the fourth century BC as one of the largest metropoleis in the world. It was the centre of the Carthaginian Empire, a major power led by the Punic people who dominated the ancient western and central Mediterranean Sea. Following the Punic Wars, Carthage was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC, who later rebuilt the city lavishly.
Gelo was the eldest son of Hiero II, king of Syracuse, Magna Graecia.
The history of Greek Sicily began with the foundation of the first Greek colonies around the mid 8th century BC. The Greeks of Sicily were known as Siceliotes.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William (1870). "Andranodorus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . Vol. 1. p. 170.
