Magonids

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The Magonids were a political dynasty of Ancient Carthage from 550 BCE to 340 BCE. The dynasty was first established under Mago I, under whom Carthage became pre-eminent among the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean.[ citation needed ] Under the Magonids, the Carthaginian Empire expanded to include Sardinia, Libya, and for almost a decade much of Sicily. [1]

Contents

Nature of Magonid rule

Leading experts on Carthage have been sceptical as to whether it is even possible to reconstruct the internal history of Carthage, [2] and this needs to be borne in mind in relation to the Magonids. Mago and his successors probably ruled less like kings and more like tyrants or political strongmen. [3] Diodorus, however, describes them as kings according to the law, which implies a legal procedure rather than a naked seizure of power. Similarly, Herodotus tells us that Hamilcar I was "king by valour," implying selection rather than hereditary succession. [4]

In 480 BCE, after Hamilcar I's death, the king lost most of his power to an aristocratic Council of Elders. In 308 BCE, Hannonian Bomilcar attempted a coup d'état to restore the monarch to full power, but failed, so that Carthage became in name as well as in fact a republic. [5] [6]

List of leaders

Rule

With the arrival of Mago, Carthaginian foreign policy appears to have changed dramatically. If previously Carthage had tentatively colonized the island of Ibiza on its own, it now took the lead, establishing itself firmly as the dominant Phoenician military power in the western Mediterranean.

Mago was succeeded by his son Hasdrubal I. The next successor was Hamilcar I, the son of Hasdrubal's brother Hanno. Carthage, always trying to rid itself of its opponent, the Greeks, might even have entered into an alliance with the Persian Xerxes (the accounts are unsure) in order to defeat the joint foe. Herodotus tells that it was believed that the decisive battle of Himera between Carthaginian and Greek forces on Sicily took place on the very same day that the Greeks met with the Persians in the famous battle of Salamis in 480 BCE in Greece itself. [11] But the Greeks were victorious in both battles and Hamilcar met his death at Himera.

After Hamilcar's death, the dynasty continued with Hamilcar's son Hanno II 'the Navigator' up to 440 BCE, under whom a large part of Carthage's African dominions were conquered and more of the Atlantic coast of Africa was explored and settled. Great advances were also made in African inland trade. Meanwhile, Carthage appeared to make an effort in keeping itself out of any new wars on Sicily.

This peace and newly acquired vast trading empire also helped rebuild the Carthaginian military forces. By 410 BCE Hannibal I (son of Gisco and grandson of Hamilcar) was the king of Carthage. He immediately set out on a new campaign in Sicily, which in 409 BCE ended in the utter destruction of the city of Selinus, ally of the powerful Greek city state of Syracuse. Hannibal achieved true notoriety with the sheer destruction he wrought and with the cruelty with which he slaughtered thousands of prisoners.

It was at the siege of the Greek city of Agrigentum that an epidemic swept through the Carthaginian camp which killed Hannibal. Hannibal's cousin Himilco II (son of Hanno the Navigator and grandson of Hamilcar) now assumed the reins of power of Carthage. He was only formally crowned king in 396 BCE, but this most likely means that a Carthaginian king could only be installed in the city of Carthage itself and so he had to wait to receive his title formally until he returned home from Sicily.

He spent his time on Sicily in an on-and-off war with the great Syracusan tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse until in 396 BCE he was disastrously defeated, fleeing Sicily with Carthaginian refugees whilst abandoning his remaining mercenary troops to be slaughtered by the victorious Greeks. Himilco later committed suicide.

Mago II, another member of this family inherited the title of leader at first. His first task was to try and quell a Libyan revolt which came close to overthrowing Carthaginian rule altogether. Thereafter he set out to Sicily again and later even to southern Italy, to occupy himself with Dionysius. What Mago II lacked in military ability he made up for with diplomatic skill. But finally he fell in the Battle of Cabala (378/375 BCE) in southern Italy against the Syracusan army. Finally, Carthage and Syracuse agreed a peace.

In 480 BCE, following Hamilcar I's death, the King lost most of his power to an aristocratic Council of Elders. In 308 BCE, Bomilcar attempted a coup d'etat to restore the monarch to full power, but failed, which led to Carthage becoming in name as well as in fact a republic. [5] [6]

Timeline

550 BCE: Mago I takes power.

540 BCE: A Carthaginian-Etruscan alliance had expelled the Greeks from Corsica after the Battle of Alalia.

530 BCE: Mago dies and Hasdrubal I takes power.

Mid 520s BCE: Hasdrubal, along with his brother Hamilcar I, launches an expedition against Sardinia.

510 BCE: Hamilcar I takes power.

509 BCE: Treaty was signed between Carthage and Rome indicating a division of influence and commercial activities. This is the first known source indicating that Carthage had gained control over Sicily and Sardinia, as well as Emporia and the area south of Cape Bon in Africa.

483 BCE: Carthage launches First Sicilian War against Greece in an attempt to gain control of Sicily

480 BCE: Carthage suffers a disastrous loss at Battle of Himera in which Hamilcar is killed, ending the First Sicilian War. Hanno II, also known as Hanno the Navigator, takes power. The Tribunal of 104 is established, severely weakening the power of the Kings. Carthage becomes a republic.

440 BCE: Hanno's reign ends, under whom a large part of Africa was added to Carthage's dominion and more of the Atlantic coast of Africa was explored and settled. Himilco I takes power.

410 BCE: Hannibal I takes power. The same year, he invades Sicily.

409 BCE: Invasion of Sicily ends with destruction of the city of Selinus, ally of the powerful Greek city of Syracuse.

406 BCE: Himilco II takes power after Hannibal dies of disease.

396 BCE: Himilco is disastrously defeated in Sicily by Dionysius I of Syracuse and commits suicide. Mago II takes power.

392 BCE: After crushing Libyan revolt, Mago ends war with Dionysus in Sicily.

378/375 BCE: Mago defeated and killed at Battle of Cabala in central Sicily by the Syracusan army.

377 BCE??: Mago's son Himilco Mago defeats Dionysius at Battle of Cronium. Syracuse and Carthage make peace.

348 BCE: Second treaty signed with Rome, now a significant power in Italy.

344 BCE: Mago III dies. Hanno III takes power.

340 BCE: Hanno III attempts a coup d'etat against the Council of Elders to restore full monarchical power, but he fails, and is executed.

See also

Related Research Articles

Hamilcar was a common Carthaginian masculine given name. The name was particularly common among the ruling families of ancient Carthage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Himera (480 BC)</span> Battle of the Sicilian Wars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Syracuse (397 BC)</span> Unsuccessful siege by Carthage during Sicilian Wars

The siege of Syracuse in 397 BC was the first of four unsuccessful sieges Carthaginian forces would undertake against Syracuse from 397 to 278 BC. In retaliation for the siege of Motya by Dionysius of Syracuse, Himilco of the Magonid family of Carthage led a substantial force to Sicily. After retaking Motya and founding Lilybaeum, Himilco sacked Messana, then laid siege to Syracuse in the autumn of 397 BC after the Greek navy was crushed at Catana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sicilian Wars</span> Series of wars in Magna Graecia (580–265 BC)

The Sicilian Wars, or Greco-Punic Wars, were a series of conflicts fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse over control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean between 580 and 265 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Carthage</span> Aspect of history

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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Himera (409 BC)</span> 5th-century BC battle in Sicily

Near the site of the first battle and great Carthaginian defeat of 480 BC, the Second Battle of Himera was fought near the city of Himera in Sicily in 409 between the Carthaginian forces under Hannibal Mago and the Ionian Greeks of Himera aided by an army and a fleet from Syracuse. Hannibal, acting under the instructions of the Carthaginian senate, had previously sacked and destroyed the city of Selinus after the Battle of Selinus in 409. Hannibal then destroyed Himera which was never rebuilt.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Gela (405 BC)</span> 5th-century BC battle in Sicily

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The Battle of Messene took place in 397 BC in Sicily. Carthage, in retaliation for the attack on Motya by Dionysius, had sent an army under Himilco, to Sicily to regain lost territory. Himilco sailed to Panormus, and from there again sailed and marched along the northern coast of Sicily to Cape Pelorum, 12 miles (19 km) north of Messene. While the Messenian army marched out to offer battle, Himilco sent 200 ships filled with soldiers to the city itself, which was stormed and the citizens were forced to disperse to forts in the countryside. Himilco later sacked and leveled the city, which was again rebuilt after the war.

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The Battle of Chrysas was a battle fought in 392 BC in the course of the Sicilian Wars, between the Carthaginian army under Mago and a Greek army under Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse, who was aided by Agyris, tyrant of the Sicel city of Agyrium. Mago had been defeated by Dionysius at Abacaenum in 393, which had not damaged the Carthaginian position in Sicily. Reinforced by Carthage in 392, Mago moved to attack the Sicles allied with Syracuse in central Sicily. After the Carthaginians reached and encamped near the river Chrysas, the Sicels harassed the Carthaginian supply lines causing a supply shortage, while the Greek soldiers rebelled and deserted Dionysius when he refused to fight a pitched battle. Both Mago and Dionysius agreed to a peace treaty, which allowed the Carthaginians to formally occupy the area west of the River Halycus, while Dionysius was given lordship over the Sicel lands. The peace would last until 383, when Dionysius attacked the Carthaginians again.

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Mago II, also known as Magon, was Shofet of Carthage from 396 to 375 BCE, and was a member of the Magonid dynasty. He became Shofet after the suicide of Himilco II in 396 BCE and was succeeded by Mago III in 375 BCE.

Himilco was a member of the Magonids, a Carthaginian family of hereditary generals, and had command over the Carthaginian forces between 406 BC and 397 BC. He is chiefly known for his war in Sicily against Dionysius I of Syracuse.

The siege of Segesta took place either in the summer of 398 BC or the spring of 397 BC. Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, after securing peace with Carthage in 405 BC, had steadily increased his military power and tightened his grip on Syracuse. He had fortified Syracuse against sieges and had created a large army of mercenaries and a large fleet, in addition to employing catapults and quinqueremes for the first time in history. In 398 BC he attacked and sacked the Phoenician city of Motya despite a Carthaginian relief effort led by Himilco II of Carthage. While Motya was under siege, Dionysius besieged and assaulted Segesta unsuccessfully. Following the sack of Motya, Segesta again came under siege by Greek forces, but the Elymian forces based in Segesta managed to inflict damage on the Greek camp in a daring night assault. When Himilco of Carthage arrived in Sicily with the Carthaginian army in the spring of 397 BC, Dionysius withdrew to Syracuse. The failure of Dionysius to secure a base in western Sicily meant the main events of the Second Sicilian war would be acted out mostly in eastern Sicily, sparing the Elymian and Phoenician cities the ravages of war until 368 BC.

The siege and subsequent sacking of Camarina took place in 405 BC during the Sicilian Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercenaries of the ancient Iberian Peninsula</span>

Mercenary life is recorded as a custom of Iron Age Spain, particularly in the central area of the Iberian peninsula. Departing from the native tribe and applying to serve in others was a way for economically disadvantaged youth to escape poverty and find an opportunity to use their fighting skills. Starting from 5th century BC, mercenary life would become a true social phenomenon in Hispania, with great numbers of fighters from distant lands coming to join the armies of Carthage, Rome, Sicily and even Greece, as well as other Hispanic peoples.

References

  1. ↑ Caven, Brian (1990). Dionysius I: War-lord of Sicily . Yale University Press. pp.  122. ISBN   9780300045079. magonids.
  2. ↑ e.g. C G Picard 1983, p279
  3. ↑ Roberts, Peter (2006). Excel HSC Ancient History. Pascal Press. pp. 60–61. ISBN   9781741251791.
  4. 1 2 3 Carthage, a history, Serge Lancel, p113
  5. 1 2 "Carthage, from roman-empire.net". Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  6. 1 2 Lewis, D. M. and Boardman, John (1994). The Cambridge ancient history: The fourth century B.C. Cambridge University Press, p. 365. ISBN   0-521-23348-8
  7. ↑ Herodotus, VII, 165
  8. ↑ Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 2, page 342 (1880) [ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ The Cambridge ancient history, Vol 6, p128
  10. ↑ Carthage, a history, Serge Lancel, p276
  11. ↑ Herodotus, Histories, 7.166
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