Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

VII.165: Th ey, however, who dwell in Sicily, say that

Gelo, though he knew that he must serve under the

Lacedaemonians, would nevertheless have come to

the aid of the Hellenes, had not it been for Terillos,

the son of Crinippos, king of Himera; who, driven

from his city by Th ero, the son of Ainesidemos, king

of Agrigentum, brought into Sicily at this very time an

army of three hundred thousand men—Phoenicians,

Libyans, Iberians, Ligurians, Helisykians, Sardinians,

and Corsicans, under the command of Hamilcar the

son of Hanno, king of the Carthaginians. Terillos

prevailed upon Hamilcar, partly as his sworn friend,

but more through the zealous aid of Anaxilaos the son

of Cretines, king of Rhegium; who, by giving his own

sons to Hamilcar as hostages, induced him to make the

expedition. Anaxilaos herein served his own father-

in-law; for he was married to a daughter of Terillos, by

name Kydippe. So, as Gelo could not give the Hellenes

any aid, he sent (they say) the sum of money to Delphi.

VII.166: Th ey say too, that the victory of Gelo and Th ero

in Sicily over Hamilcar the Carthaginian fell out upon

the very day that the Hellenes defeated the Persians at

Salamis. Hamilcar, who was a Carthaginian on his father’s

side only, but on his mother’s a Syracusan, and who had

been raised by his merit to the throne of Carthage, after

the battle and the defeat, as I am informed, disappeared

from sight: Gelo made the strictest search for him, but he

could not be found anywhere, either dead or alive.

VII.167: Th e Carthaginians, who take probability for

their guide, give the following account of this matter:

Hamilcar, they say, during all the time that the battle

raged between the Hellenes and the barbarians, which

was from early dawn till evening, remained in the

camp, sacrifi cing and seeking favorable omens, while he

burned on a huge pyre the entire bodies of the victims

which he off ered. Here, as he poured libations upon

the sacrifi ces, he saw the rout of his army; whereupon

he cast himself headlong into the fl ames, and so was

consumed and disappeared. But whether Hamilcar’s

disappearance happened, as the Phoenicians tell us, in

this way, or, as the Syracusans maintain, in some other,

certain it is that the Carthaginians off er him sacrifi ce,

and in all their colonies have monuments erected to his

honor, as well as one, which is the grandest of all, at

Carthage. Th us much concerning the aff airs of Sicily.

From: Herodotus, Th e History, George Rawlinson,

trans. (New York: Dutton and Co., 1862).

 Herodotus: “Th e Carthaginian Attack on Sicily,”

excerpt (Th e Histories, fi fth century b.c.e.) 

Africa

THEN the king of Khita-land,

With his warriors made a stand,

But he durst not risk his hand

In battle with our Pharaoh;

So his chariots drew away,

Unnumbered as the sand,

And they stood, three men of war

On each car;

And gathered all in force

Was the fl ower of his army,

for the fi ght in full array,

But advance, he did not dare,

Foot or horse.

So in ambush there they lay,

Northwest of Kadesh town;

And while these were in their lair,

Others went forth south of Kadesh,

on our midst, their charge was thrown

With such weight, our men went down,

For they took us unaware,

And the legion of Pra-Hormakhu gave way.

But at the western side

Of Arunatha’s tide,

Near the city’s northern wall,

our Pharaoh had his place.

And they came unto the king,

 Pen-ta-ur: “ Th e Victory of Ramses II over the Khita,”

inscription on the wall of fi ve temples, one at Karnak (ca. 1326 b.c.e.) 

Egypt

1156 war and conquest: primary source documents

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