Battle of Selinus

Battle of Selinus
Part of The Sicilian Wars

Punic campaign against Selinus 409 BC. Political boundaries and path of troop movement are inexact because of lack of primary source data. Source map created by Marco Prins-Jona Lendering
Date409 BC
Location
Result Carthaginian Victory
Territorial
changes
Dorian Greek city Selinus destroyed
Belligerents
Syracuse
Selinus
Carthage
Commanders and leaders
Unknown Hannibal Mago
Strength
25,000 men 40,000 men
Casualties and losses
16,000 killed
6,000 captured
Unknown

The Battle of Selinus, which took place early in 409 BC, is the opening battle of the so-called Second Sicilian War. The ten-day-long siege and battle was fought in Sicily between the Carthaginian forces under Hannibal Mago (a king of Carthage of the Magonid family, not the famous Hannibal of the Barcid family) and the Dorian Greeks of Selinus. The city of Selinus had defeated the Elymian city of Segesta in 415, an event that led to the Athenian invasion of Sicily in 415 and ended in the defeat of Athenian forces in 413. When Selinus again worsted Segesta in 411, Carthage, responding to the appeal of Segesta, had besieged and sacked Selinus after the Carthaginian offer of negotiations had been refused by the Greeks. This was the first step towards Hannibal's campaign to avenge the Carthaginian defeat at the first battle of Himera in 480. The city of Selinus was later rebuilt, but never regained her former status.