Congress of Gela

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The Congress of Gela was a diplomatic meeting between a number of Sicilian cities in 424 BC. It brought a temporary halt to several years of warfare between cities on the island. At the conference, the Sicilian cities agreed to a Syracusan proposal to make peace and agree to a platform of "Sicily for the Sicilians" which has been compared to the Monroe Doctrine. Though the agreement was intended to be perpetual, both war and outside involvement in Sicilian affairs resumed within a few decades.

Sicily Island in the Mediterranean and region of Italy

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions, in Southern Italy along with surrounding minor islands, officially referred to as Regione Siciliana.

Syracuse, Sicily Comune in Sicily, Italy

Syracuse is a historic city on the island of Sicily, the capital of the Italian province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, next to the Gulf of Syracuse beside the Ionian Sea.

Monroe Doctrine US foreign policy regarding Latin American countries in 1823

The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas beginning in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to take control of any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. The Doctrine was issued on December 2, 1823 at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal had achieved, or were at the point of gaining, independence from the Portuguese and Spanish Empires.

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Background

For a period of several years in the mid-420s BC, Syracuse and its allies fought a war against Athens and its allies on the island. The war originated as a conflict between Syracuse and Leontini, but expanded when the Leontinians appealed to their ally Athens for support. By 426 BC, it had become a wide-ranging conflict including many Greek cities and native Sicels. Athenian forces, fighting alongside Rhegium, Leontini, Naxos, Kamarina, and various Sicel tribes, won several initial successes. In 426, Athenian forces captured the strategically vital city of Messina and attacked several other towns allied to Syracuse. Syracuse, which led an alliance including Locris, Gela, and other cities, regained the initiative by 425 BC, recaptured Messina, and threatened several of Athens' allies.

Athens Capital and largest city of Greece

Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence starting somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennium BC.

The Sicels were an Italic tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily during the Iron Age. Their neighbours to the west were the Sicani. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, but they rapidly fused into the culture of Magna Graecia.

Naxos (Sicily) human settlement in Italy

Naxos or Naxus was an ancient Greek city of Sicily on the east coast of the island between Catana and Messana. It was situated on a low point of land at the mouth of the river Acesines, and at the foot of the hill on which was afterwards built the city of Tauromenium.

Peace Initiative

Kamarina and Gela, two traditional allies, had found themselves on different sides of the conflict; Gela was an ally of Syracuse, while Kamarina was deeply hostile to that city. The two concluded an armistice in the late summer of 425. [1] Since a bilateral peace was unlikely to last if the rest of the island remained at war, the two cities invited all the belligerents to convene and discuss peace terms. The cities not only sent ambassadors but also granted them unusually broad power to conduct diplomacy. [2]

The Congress

The proceedings of the Congress are known largely through the writings of the historian Thucydides. Since Thucydides was not in Sicily at the time, his account of the specific speeches is certainly his own composition; historians have differed over whether the gist of the comments delivered is reflected in Thucydides account. Modern historians have generally concluded that Thucydides presents the general thrust of the meeting accurately, and his account is followed here. [3]

Thucydides Greek historian and Athenian general

Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" by those who accept his claims to have applied strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the deities, as outlined in his introduction to his work.

The meeting opened with complaints from various states about the wrongs done to them during the war. [4] It shifted tone, however, after a speech by Hermocrates, a Syracusan delegate. As reported by Thucydides, the speech consisted of an extended appeal to Sicilian unity and warning against the threat of Athens, an imperial power. [5] Hermocrates painted a picture of peaceful coexistence between the Greek cities of Sicily, supported by unified opposition to outside interference.

Hermocrates Syracusan general

Hermocrates was an ancient Syracusan general during the Athenians' Sicilian Expedition in the midst of the Peloponnesian War. He is also remembered as a character in the Timaeus and Critias dialogues of Plato.

Hermocrates' proposal has been compared to the Monroe Doctrine —both in its high-minded appeal to self determination and in its intrinsic benefit for the powerful state that proposed it. Syracuse, in 424, was the single largest and most powerful state on Sicily, and stood to dominate the island's politics if outside influences like Athens were excluded. [6] Whether because of persuasion, war-weariness, or a mixture of the two, the representatives at the conference agreed to conclude a peace on the basis of the status quo, with Syracuse ceding Morgantina to the Kamarinians in exchange for monetary payments. [7] The generals commanding Athens' fleet in the area acceded to the treaty and departed for mainland Greece, bringing an end to hostilities in the region.

Political war-weariness is the public or political disapproval for the continuation of a prolonged conflict or war. The causes normally involve the intensity of casualties—financial, civilian, and military. It also occurs when a belligerent has the ability to easily leave the conflict yet continues to stay. War-weariness normally leads to a distrust in government or military leadership and can spark protest and anti-war movements. It can also be fueled when a belligerent is found guilty of war crimes, which can create domestic and international backlash. Rates of enlistment and the morale of the armed-forces are often affected by war-weariness.

Morgantina Human settlement in Italy

Morgantina is an archaeological site in east central Sicily, southern Italy. It is sixty kilometres from the coast of the Ionian Sea, in the province of Enna. The closest modern town is Aidone, two kilometres southwest of the site. The site consists of a two-kilometre long ridge running southwest-northeast, known as Serra Orlando, and a neighboring hill at the northeast called Cittadella. Morgantina was inhabited in several periods. The earliest major settlement was made at Cittadella and lasted from about 1000/900 to about 450 BCE. The other major settlement was located on Serra Orlando, and existed from about 450 BCE to about 50 CE. Morgantina has been the subject of archaeological investigation since the early 20th century.

Notes

  1. ↑ Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 4.58
  2. ↑ Kagan, The Archidamian War, 266
  3. ↑ Kagan, The Archidamian War, p. 267. See footnote 24 for discussion of historical opinions on Hermocrates' speech.
  4. ↑ Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 4.58
  5. ↑ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 4.59-64
  6. ↑ Kagan, The Archidamian War, 267-268
  7. ↑ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 4.59-64

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