Listed 7 sub titles with search on: Biographies for destination: "SIKELIA Ancient Hellenic lands ITALY".
Syrian slave, leader of a revolt on Sicily in 135-132 BCE.
In the mid-third century, the Romans conquered Sicily,
and it became a province, ruled by a praetor (governor). Rich Romans owned large
country estates on the island, which was rich in corn, and the countryside was
crowded by slaves. Sometimes they were prisoners of war, sometimes bought on the
slave markets of the eastern Mediterranean (Rhodos
and Delos). Often, these
slaves belonged to the same ethnic group: e.g., Celtiberians, Syrians, or Thracians.
Their living conditions were not altogether bad, but the fact that
they were mixed with people who spoke the same language made it easy for gossip
to spread. If something went wrong, every slave knew; when an insurrection was
organized, it was easy to inform the people - and the Roman government could be
surprised.
This is exactly what happened in 136 or 135 BCE. A slave from Syria
named Eunus, together with 400 other runaways, occupied Henna
in central Sicily. Our information on this revolt has the shape of a Russian doll.
Except for the World history by Diodorus of Sicily,
the most important source is the Epitome written by a Roman author named Publius
Annius Florus in the early second century CE. This text, which can be found here,
is an excerpt from the History of Rome since its foundation by the great historian
Titus Livy (59 BCE - 17 CE), who in turn used earlier historians to describe the
story of Eunus. We do not know which ones, but Polybius of Megalopolis,
a contemporary of Eunus, certainly was among them.
After Eunus' initial success, he was able to gather a larger following,
especially since he could claim close ties to the mother goddess Atargatis, a
divinity that was popular among the Syrians. She was considered to be the same
as the Greek goddess Demeter, who had a famous shrine at Henna. According to Florus
Eunus, counterfeiting an inspired frenzy and waving his disheveled hair in
honor of the Syrian goddess, incited the slaves to arms and liberty on the pretense
of a command from the gods. In order to prove that he was acting under divine
inspiration, he secreted in his mouth a nut which he had filled with sulfur and
fire, and, by breathing gently, sent forth a flame as he spoke. This miracle first
of all collected 2,000 men from those whom he encountered.
The revolt spread across the island and after the praetor of Sicily
had been defeated, the number of rebellious slaves increased to perhaps 20,000.
The army of Eunus and another slave leader, Cleon, captured Agrigentum
in the south and Tauromenium
and Catana in the east. Slave
revolts are also known from the Italian mainland (Minturnae and Sinuessa) and
even Attica in Greece.
There was no coordination between these insurrections, but it seems that Eunus
was a source of inspiration to the other slaves in the Roman world. He was recognized
as king of Sicily and started to call himself Antiochus, a common king name in
Seleucid Syria. Archaeologists
have found a small bronze coin, minted at Henna and mentioning king Antiochus.
The revolt could last a very long time, because the Roman government
was occupied with another important war, against the Celtiberians in Spain. This
so-called Numantine war lasted ten years (143-133) and proved to be very difficult.
Twice, the Romans were severely defeated. In 134, however, they sent their best
general, consul Scipio Aemilianus, who restored order and laid siege to the Celtiberian
capital Numantia. After a siege of nine months, the town was captured. Now, Rome
could deal with Eunus.
However, consul Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi had already marched to
Sicily and had started to
blockade Henna. There is
archaeological evidence for his attack, because sling-bullets with the legend
"Piso" have been discovered. It was a difficult siege, because Henna lies on a
very high mountain. (Centuries later, the Saracens needed 31 years to reduce the
stronghold, and the Normans needed a quarter of a century to take the same town.)
It is not surprising, therefore, that Piso could not finish the war. Besides,
at Rome, there were great political tensions, related to the reform bills of the
tribune Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus.
Next year, 132, the war was continued by consul Publius Rutilius,
with an army that had been increased with troops from Spain. This brought the
war almost to an end and the situation on the island was normalized. Therefore,
it was the praetor who was responsible for the ultimate defeat of the slaves,
as Florus says.
At last punishment was inflicted upon them under the leadership of Perperna,
who, after defeating them and finally besieging them at Henna reduced them by
famine as effectually as by a plague and requited the surviving marauders with
fetters, chains and the cross.
Under normal circumstances, a successful general would be rewarded
with a triumphal entry into the city. However, Perperna had defeated mere slaves,
and therefore, he had to be content with a minor procession (ovatio). His real
reward came in 130, when he was the first of his family to be elected consul.
Eunus had been taken captive and was brought to Rome,
where he died of being eaten by worms. It was not exactly the type of death fitting
for a king, but Eunus left a legacy: during the next two or three generations,
Sicily and Italy were to
see more slave revolts. In 104-101, Salvius Trypho and Athenio revolted on Sicily,
and in 73-71, Italy was in great turmoil because of the insurrection led by the
famous slave leader Spartacus.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Aristoteles, of Sicily, a rhetorician who wrote against the Panegyricus of Isocrates. (Diog. Laert. v. 35.) Some modern critics attribute to him, on very insufficient grounds, the technon sunagoge, which is printed among the works of Aristotle.
Licymnius. Of Sicily, a rhetorician, the pupil of Gorgias, and the teacher of Polus, and the authority of a work on rhetoric, entitled techne. He is mentioned by Plato (Phaedr. p. 267; comp. the scholia and Heindorf's note), and is quoted by Aristotle (Rhet. iii. 2, 13) and by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Lys. p. 82, 36; De Thuc. Idiom. p. 133, 31, 148,. 1; Dem. 179, 31, ed. Sylburg. et alib.). Dionysius frequently mentions the characteristics of his style, which was smooth and elegant, but somewhat affected, abounding in exactly balanced antitheses. In grammar he gave much attention to the classification of nouns.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Constantinus Siculus (Konstantinos ho Sikelos), is the author of an epigram in the Greek Anthology on the chair (Thronos) from which he taught, which is followed in the Vatican MS. by the reply of Theophanes. Since each poet's name has the title makarion added to it, it would appear that they were both dead before the time when the Palatine Anthology was compiled, that is, the beginninig of the tenth century. From the subject of the above-mentioned epigram it is inferred, that Constantine was a rhetorician or philosopher. There is extant in MS. an anacreontic poemi by Constantine, a philosopher of Sicily.
Diomus (Diomos), a Sicilian shepherd, who is said to have invented bucolic poetry, and was mentioned as such in two poems of Epicharmus. (Athen. xiv.)
Ducetius, (Douketios), a chief of the Sicelians, or Sicels, the native tribes in the interior of Sicily. He is styled king of the Sicelians by Diodorus (xi. 78), and is said to have been of illustrious descent. After the expulsion of the family of Gelon from Syracuse (B. C. 466), Ducetius succeeded in uniting all the Sicelians of the interior into one nation, and in order to give them a common centre founded the city of Palice in the plain below Menaenum. (Diod. xi. 88.) He had previously made war on the Catanaeans, and expelled from that city the new colonists who had been sent there by Hiero, who thereupon took possession of Inessa, the name of which they changed to Aetna; but Ducetius subsequently reduced this city also. (Diod. xi. 76, 91.) An attack upon a small place in the territory of Agrigentum involved him in hostilities not only with the Agrigentines, but the Syracusans also, who defeated him in a great battle. The consequence of this was that he was deserted by all his followers, and fearing to be betrayed into the hands of the enemy, he took the daring resolution of repairing at once to Syracuse as a suppliant, and placing himself at their mercy. The Syracusans spared his life, but sent him into an honourable exile at Corinth. (Diod. xi. 91, 92.) Here however he did not remain long, but having assembled a considerable band of colonists, returned to Sicily, and founded the city of Calacte on the north coast of the island. He was designing again to assert his supremacy over all the Sicelian tribes when his projects were interrupted by his death, about 440, B. C. (Diod. xii. 8, 29; Wesseling, ad loc.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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