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AGATHOCLES (361—289 B.C.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 370 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AGATHOCLES (361—289 B.C.) , See also:tyrant of See also:Syracuse, was See also:born at Thermae Himeraeae (mod. Termini Imerese) in See also:Sicily. The son of a See also:potter who had removed to Syracuse, he learned his See also:father's See also:trade, but afterwards entered the See also:army. In 333 he married the widow of his See also:patron Damas, a distinguished and wealthy See also:citizen. He was twice banished for attempting to overthrow the oligarchical party in Syracuse (q.v.) ; in 317 he returned with an army of mercenaries under a See also:solemn See also:oath to observe the democratic constitution which was then set up. Having banished or murdered some 1o,00o citizens, and thus made himself See also:master of Syracuse, he created a strong army and See also:fleet and subdued the greater See also:part of Sicily. See also:War with See also:Carthage followed. In 310 Agathocles, defeated and besieged in Syracuse, took the desperate resolve of breaking through the See also:blockade and attacking the enemy in See also:Africa. After several victories he was at last completely defeated (306) and fled secretly to Sicily. After concluding See also:peace with Carthage, Agathocles styled himself See also:king of Sicily, and established his See also:rule over the See also:Greek cities of the See also:island more firmly than ever. Even in his old See also:age he displayed the same restless See also:energy, and is said to have been meditating a fresh attack on Carthage at the See also:time of his See also:death. His last years were harassed by See also:ill-See also:health and the turbulence of his See also:grandson Archagathus, at whose instigation he is said to have been poisoned; according to others, he died a natural death.

He was a born See also:

leader of mercenaries, and, although he did not shrink from See also:cruelty to gain his ends, he afterwards showed himself a mild and popular "tyrant." See See also:Justin xxii., See also:xxiii.; Diodorus Siculus xix., xxi., xxii. (follows generally See also:Timaeus who had a See also:special grudge against Agathocles) ; See also:Polybius ix. 23; See also:Schubert, Geschichte See also:des Agathokles (1887); See also:Grote, See also:History of See also:Greece, ch. 97 ; also SICILY, History. modelled on that of See also:Thucydides. See H. Leopoldi, De Agatharchide Cnidio Dissertatio (1892) ; C. W. See also:Muller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, iii., and See also:Geography Graeci Minores, i.; E. H. See also:Bunbury, Hist. of See also:Ancient Geography, ii. (1879).

End of Article: AGATHOCLES (361—289 B.C.)

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