The Battle of Gela was a battle fought between a migratory Sikelian horde led by Basileus Amphiaraos and the Syracusan garrison of Gela, led by Doros. The battle saw a large native Sicilian army be destroyed in battle with a smaller Greek garrison due to the Greeks' superior tactics; the Sikelian horde melted away into the mountains after their defeat, in which their leader was killed.
Background[]
The Sicels, known to the Ancient Greeks as the Sikeloi, were an ancient Mediterranean people who, alongside the Sicani of central Sicily, were descended from Illyrian settlers who were forced out of central Italy by the Umbrians and Sabines and forced to resettle on the island of Sicily. The arrival of Greek colonists, including the friendly Chalcidians and the hostile Dorians, forced the Sicels to retreat into the hinterlands of Sicily. In 450 BC, the Hellenized Sicel leader Ducetius led a united Sikelian army against the Greek city-state of Syracuse, but he was slain at the Battle of Nomae and died ten years later. The Sicels rapidly fused into the culture of Magna Graecia over the next several decades, coming to the aid of Athens during its Sicilian Expedition in 415-413 BC.
During the 390s and 380s BC, the Sicels' chief rival, the Greek city-state of Syracuse, transformed itself into a Mediterranean empire by unifying Sicily under Syracusan control, establishing a foothold in North Africa, and conquering Calabria from rival Greek poleis (city-states). The island of Sicily was almost entirely Hellenized due to the construction of temples and the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius' patronage of the arts, but Dionysius overlooked the importance of keeping Sicily garrisoned during his wars with the Greeks and Carthage. Syracuse's best armies were deployed to Tunisia or Calabria, leaving the island open to conquest from enemies abroad or within.
During this time, the Sikelian Amphiaraos emerged as a leader of the Sicels who had retreated into the mountains, far from the influence of the coastal Greek colonies. He quietly assembled a large army of hoplites, hippeis (cavalrymen), hoppotoxotai (horse archers), Sicilian peltasts, and both Sicilian and ethnic Greek slingers; this army grew in strength to 2,200 men by 379 BC. That year, Dionysius received reports that a migrating tribe of Sikelians had invaded the region of Gela, with Amphiaraos leading his army out of the mountains and onto the plains. Anticipating Gela's fall, Dionysius ordered his brother Leptines to raise a new army at the city of Syracuse, after which Leptines would march west, gathering mercenaries along the way, and engage Amphiaraos in battle.
Battle[]
The Sikelians approaching Gela
However, Amphiaraos found that the garrison of Gela would prove trouble enough. The Greek garrison of Gela consisted of 1,660 troops, the core of which consisted of well-armored hoplites, assisted by toxotai (unarmored archers). While the Sikelian army was much larger and had a greater diversity of troops, Gela's coastal location would force the Sikelians to attack the town head-on, enabling the Syracusans to form walls of hoplites to repulse Sikelian attacks. Behind the shields of these hoplites would be the Syracusan toxotai, who could rain arrow fire on the barbarian attackers. When the Sikelians launched their assault, the majority of the Sikelian infantry attacked the Greek phalanxes, while a small force of Sikelian cavalry and infantry advanced up one of the town's coastal avenues. They were checked and held off by the Syracusan marines, who were sent ashore to buy the land garrison enough time to redeploy and face this threat to their flank. The Greek shield wall held out against the Sikelian onslaught, with the Sikelian cavalry being met with rows of spears, and the Sikelian infantry being unable to break through the Greek hoplites, whilst being showered with arrows and decimated. The Sikelians who made their way into the town through the coastal avenue broke through the small force of marines, but, by then, the Syracusans were able to redeploy some of their phalanxes from the town's entrance to the town's inner streets to prevent the Sikelians from making their way into the plaza. Syracusan archers engaged in hit-and-run attacks on Sikelian hoplites who attempted to navigate the town's warren of roads, weakening them enough for a hoplite counterattack to break them. Ultimately, the Sikelian army was demoralized by its heavy losses and was put to flight, and the Greeks, lacking cavalry, attempted to pursue on foot, spearing stragglers and shooting fleeing Sikelians in their backs with arrows. Around 800 Sikelian warriors were able to escape, but the death of their leader Amphiaraos and their heavy losses led to this small fraction of their original force dispersing into the countryside. The 271 captured Sikelians were sold into slavery, and peace was restored to Sicily.
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