The Prompt
danteheadman
Banned
OTL:
We know that Carthage probably could have beaten them at Himera, as Carthage did so in the Second Sicilian War about seventy years later (before Hannibal Mago's army was struck down by plague, forcing another peace). And because Sicily remained divided between Carthaginian and Greek colonies, there were a total of Seven Sicilian Wars for control over the entire island, which bled into the Pyrrhic War, Roman involvement in Sicily, and the Punic Wars.
What if there had been no storm that day? What if Hamilcar brought his entire military to Sicily in 480 BCE and soundly defeated the Doric Greeks the first time, conquering all of Sicily for Carthage?
- 500-480s BCE, Doric Greek "tyrants" became the dominant powers in Sicily, most especially the city of Gela.
- Gela, led by Gelon, takes Syracuse and makes it his capital. Gelon undertakes an ethnic cleansing of Ionian Greeks and Sicels.
- Ionian Greeks requested aid and support from Carthage.
- Hamilcar of Carthage sails with his army to Panormus / Palermo, and is beset by storms. The ships carrying chariots and horses sink. Hamilcar takes three days upon landing to reorganize his forces.
- Hamilcar defeats a smaller force of Doric Greeks led by Theron, another tyrant allied to Gelon and Syracuse. Theron calls for aid from Syracuse and Gelon brings his forces.
- Hamilcar decisively loses the battle of Himera against Gelon. Carthage retreats. A peace is signed with Gelon where Carthage paid 2,000 talents of silver, loses no Sicilian territory, and immediately undergoes a domestic political crisis.
- The Carthaginian monarchy is politically constrained and ultimately disposed of by the aristocratic-trader merchant class, transforming Carthage into the merchantile state that we know and love.
We know that Carthage probably could have beaten them at Himera, as Carthage did so in the Second Sicilian War about seventy years later (before Hannibal Mago's army was struck down by plague, forcing another peace). And because Sicily remained divided between Carthaginian and Greek colonies, there were a total of Seven Sicilian Wars for control over the entire island, which bled into the Pyrrhic War, Roman involvement in Sicily, and the Punic Wars.
What if there had been no storm that day? What if Hamilcar brought his entire military to Sicily in 480 BCE and soundly defeated the Doric Greeks the first time, conquering all of Sicily for Carthage?
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