Carthage 7

It was interesting to me that Italy was called Graecia Magna at this time, so it seems that a lot of future Romans considered themselves Greek. Anyway, seventy years after the disastrous defeat on Sicily, the grandson of the leader of that terrible campaign (his name was Hannibal) returned to interfere in Sicilian affairs, sacking a city that was threatening one of theirs. This set off a horrendous retaliation by Syracuse, in which one of the oldest and most important Punic cities in Sicily was utterly destroyed and never rebuilt, despite its great location. Hannibal tried to take revenge and died because of the plague during a siege. A lot of the Punic cities then became military outposts, and there were battles for many years on Sicily without either side gaining decisive advantage. Eventually the western part of Sicily was more or less acknowledged as Punic territory, but the toll was immense and the wars and brought many mercenaries to the island, which caused a lot of trouble.

Then suddenly Alexander the Great appeared on the scene and conquered all the way to Pakistan in just 12 years. He razed the mother city of Tyre, including the great temple of Melquart, and all Tyrians were either killed or made slaves. Reports made his next target the city of Carthage, but fortunately for the Carthaginians, he died before embarking on his next campaign.

I was struck by how frequently the author seemed to criticize the Syracusans and emphasize their brutality, and yet downplay that of the Carthaginians. The author often reiterates that the sources for these events are Greeks or Sicilians who bore a grudge or at least prejudice against the Carthaginians, but I wonder if the author isn't pushing back against that bias a little too strongly.