page_title: History of Carthage
section_title: Second Sicilian War (410–404 BC)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Carthage / Sicilian Wars / Second Sicilian War (410–404 BC)
caption_attribution_description: Zeugitana, Carthage. Circa 310-290 BC. EL Stater (17mm, 7.41 g, 12h). Wreathed head of Tanit left Horse standing right on double ground line; pellet to right. Jenkins &amp; Lewis group V; MAA 12; SNG Copenhagen -. VF, scuff around 7 o’clock on reverse.
context_page_description: The city of Carthage was founded in the 9th century BC on the coast of Northwest Africa, in what is now Tunisia, as one of a number of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean created to facilitate trade from the city of Tyre on the coast of what is now Lebanon. The name of both the city and the wider republic that grew out of it, Carthage developed into a significant trading empire throughout the Mediterranean. The date from which Carthage can be counted as an independent power cannot exactly be determined, and probably nothing distinguished Carthage from the other Phoenician colonies in Northwest Africa and the Mediterranean during 800–700 BC. By the end of the 7th century BC, Carthage was becoming one of the leading commercial centres of the West Mediterranean region. After a long conflict with the emerging Roman Republic, known as the Punic Wars, Rome finally destroyed Carthage in 146 BC. A Roman Carthage was established on the ruins of the first. Roman Carthage was eventually destroyed—its walls torn down, its water supply cut off, and its harbours made unusable—following its conquest by Arab invaders at the close of the 7th century.
context_section_description: "King" Hannibal Mago (son of Gisco and grandson of Hamilcar, who had died at Himera in 480 BC), led a small force to Sicily to aid Segesta, and defeated the army of Selinus in 410 BC. Hannibal Mago invaded Sicily with a larger force in 409 BC, landed at Motya and stormed Selinus (modern Selinunte); which fell before Syracuse could intervene effectively. Hannibal then attacked and destroyed Himera despite Syracusan intervention. Approximately 3,000 Greek prisoners were executed by Hannibal after the battle to avenge the death of Hamilcar at Himera, and the city was utterly destroyed. The Carthaginians did not attack Syracuse or Akragas, but departed for Africa with the spoils of war, and a three-year lull fell in Sicily.
caption: A c. 300 BC Carthaginian shekel bearing the wreathed head of Tanit and a standing horse.
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