 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2023) |
| Sicilian Wars | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Symbolic portrait of Greek-Carthaginian interaction in Sicily: to the left the Greek Gorgon and to the right the Phoenician-Punic "grinning" mask. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Carthage | Greek city-states of Sicily, led by Syracuse | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Hamilcar Mago † Hannibal Mago † Himilco Mago II |
Gelo Dionysius I Timoleon Agathocles of Syracuse | ||||||||
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.
Carthage's economic success and its dependence on seaborne trade led to the creation of a powerful navy to discourage both pirates and rival nations. They had inherited their naval strength and experience from their forebears, the Phoenicians, but had increased it because, unlike the Phoenicians, the Punics did not want to rely on a foreign nation's aid. This, coupled with its success and growing hegemony, brought Carthage into increasing conflict with the Greeks, the other major power contending for control of the central Mediterranean.
The Greeks, like the Phoenicians, were expert sailors who had established thriving colonies throughout the Mediterranean. These two rivals fought their wars on the island of Sicily, which lay close to Carthage. From their earliest days, both the Greeks and Phoenicians had been attracted to the large island, establishing a large number of colonies and trading posts along its coasts. Small battles had been fought between these settlements for centuries.
No Carthaginian records of the war exist today because when the city was destroyed in 146 BC by the Romans, the books from Carthage's library were distributed among the nearby African tribes. None remain on the topic of Carthaginian history. As a result, most of what we know about the Sicilian Wars comes from Greek historians.