The Battle of Motya was a battle fought between the Greek city-state of Syracuse and the North African mercantile empire of Carthage near the Carthaginian colony of Motya (Marsala) in western Sicily in 394 BC during the Sicilian Wars. A Syracusan army commanded by Hipparinus besieged the city of Motya, only for his army to be driven off by the better-equipped Carthaginian garrison. While the Syracusans suffered heavy losses, they withdrew in good order and avoided a rout, and the Carthaginian army also suffered considerable losses; their commander Merbal was killed while pursuing the retreating Syracusans, and the Syracusans were able to return in force a year later and capture Motya after a second assault.
Background[]
Following the Syracusan conquest of the Hellenized Sicel city-state of Agyrion in 396 BC, Syracuse came to dominate the eastern half of the island. The Syracusan tyrant Dionysius was eager to unify Sicily under Syracusan rule, having been able to form an alliance with Acragas to hold off the powerful Carthaginians in western Sicily until Syracuse could marshal its strength and prepare for a campaign in the east. After the Acragantines recaptured Entella in 395 BC, Dionysius decided to send his trusted general Hipparinus with a 2,160-strong army to march on the Carthaginian stronghold of Motya (Marsala) from Kephaloidion (Cefalu) and drive the Carthaginians out of Sicily. Hipparinus' large army arrived at Motya in the fall of 394 BC, and, confident in his numerical superiority, Hipparinus decided to besiege the city after observing that its garrison numbered just 1,600 troops. The Carthaginian ruler Himilco commanded a fleet off the coast of Sicily, but he decided to sail north to threaten the Acragantine port of Panormus (Palermo) rather than come to Motya's aid. Refusing to be starved into surrender while vainly awaiting reinforcements, the Carthaginian garrison commander Merbal decided on a sortie out of Motya to defeat the Syracusans and lift the siege.
Battle[]
Carthaginian swordsmen charging into battle.
The Syracusan army deployed in typical formation, with its Greek slingers forming the front line, and its hoplites (both professional hoplites and unarmored light and militia hopltes) formed the second tier; Hipparinus and his cavalry bodyguards hovered behind the Syracusan army, ready to provide cavalry support wherever needed. The Carthaginian army included both Carthaginian hoplites and peltasts, and, when the two armies came within firing range of each other, the Carthaginian peltasts - who were equipped with shields - began to hurl their javelins at the Syracusan slingers. The unprotected Syracusan slingers were riddled with javelins as they slung rocks at well-armored and well-protected Carthaginians, and many Syracusan slingers chose to flee rather than be massacred.
The Syracusan attack at Motya.
Hoping to turn the tide, Hipparinus ordered his hoplites to attack the Carthaginian hoplites across the battlefield, and the Greeks pushed back the Carthaginian peltasts and charged into battle with their Carthaginian counterparts. In the ensuing melee, the professionally-trained Carthaginian hoplites proved to be a formidable foe, even resisting encirclements and flank attacks by the Greeks. The unarmored Greek light hoplites and militia hoplites faltered in the face of stiff Carthaginian resistance and began to retreat after suffering heavy losses, and Hipparinus frantically charged several Carthaginian spear formations from behind with the goal of routing them in flank attacks. The Carthaginians continued to hold firm, even as Merbal's body of Carthaginian hoplites was surrounded and attacked by hundreds more Greek hoplites and Hipparinus' cavalry. Across the battlefield, the Carthaginians began to rout the Syracusan hoplites, so Hipparinus sensed that misfortune was in the air and ordered a general withdrawal.
The Greeks' fighting retreat from Motya.
The Syracusan army withdrew in good order. To the south, a phalanx of Syracusan hoplites and a body of Syracusan slingers launched a fighting retreat as a body of Carthaginian hoplites gave chase. The rest of the Carthaginian army pursued the bulk of the Syracusan army which was retreating to the north, enabling the fighting Greek units in the south to hold off the Carthaginian phalanx until it decided to join the pursuit of the other retreating Greeks to the north. Merbal led his own body of hoplites to pursue the Greek units in the north, where his hoplites had held their ground since the first Syracusan attack. The Greek hoplites there put up their own fighting retreat, and they surprised the Carthaginian army by killing Merbal and the rest of his unit. The Syracusan army was thus able to retreat with 1,108 losses on the field (and another 108 captured), while the Carthaginians lost 894 dead.
Aftermath[]
Hipparinus and the remnants of his army withdrew to Motya's outskirts, where they were soon joined by an allied army from Acragas. When it became clear that the Acragantine army only intended to raid the surrounding countryside, Hipparinus recruited mercenaries to bolster his army's numbers, replacing losses which the Motya garrison could not replenish on their side. The following year, the Syracusans took Motya by storm, driving the Carthaginians from Sicily.
Gallery[]
