Agathokles’ Life and Times
This chapter provides a narrative overview of Agathokles’ life and career as a foundation for the analytical chapters which follow. The collapse and revival of Syracusan hegemony in Sicily and the rise of Macedon in mainland Greece were the central features of Agathokles’ youth. His rise to dominance in Syracuse in the years preceding 317 BC highlight the difficulties inherent in our source material for his career. This seizure of power resulted in three interlinked wars: against his exiled Syracusan opponents, against the other poleis of eastern Sicily, and eventually against the Carthaginians. Agathokles invaded Africa in 310. Unable to decisively defeat the Carthaginians, he made peace with them in 306, but destroyed his opponents in Sicily. Around 304 BC he assumed the title of king. Subsequently he engaged in campaigns in southern Italy and the Adriatic. An ill-managed succession resulted in the dissolution of his kingdom at his death in 289.