Gela. Historical information

Gela was a Greek colony on the southern coast of Sicily; it was established about 690 jointly by colonists from Rhodes under Antiphemus and Crete under Entimus, with the blessing of the Delphic oracle. Gela was the earliest colony on these shores and lay just west of the River Gelas, which was sacred in antiquity. Although the site did not have a harbor, just a beaching station, it did lie upon a long, steep hill, which provided it with good protection and access to a fertile plain.

Gela was originally established by the Sicans during the Bronze Age. The colonists fought them in a long war before finally pushing them off the inland plain.

The Geloans then used the inland plain to breed horses for their cavalry and provide agricultural produce to feed its growing population. Gela continued its inward expansion against the local Sicans by gaining control over several native villages. In addition, it expanded westward by establishing a colony, perhaps with some other Rhodians, at Akragas or Agrigento in 580. Gela became known for its temple to Athena, decorated with polychrome terra-cotta statues. The city prospered during this early period, developing a rich trade network and becoming a crucial trading center on the island.

In its early history, the city followed its mother city, Rhodes, in its social and political development. It was an oligarchy, where power rested in the hands of a few important families or clans that controlled the political, religious, and judicial systems. This resulted in a civil war in 600, supposedly the first in the West, when poor residents without political rights rebelled. The poor abandoned their city and moved to nearby Maktorion for refuge. Teline, the ancestor of the commander Gelon, convinced the poor to return to the city, and he was rewarded with the priesthood of Demeter, whose cult spread across the island.

Like other Greek cities on Sicily, Gela underwent a period during which tyrants controlled the city and attempted to expand their dominions. The aristocratic government, common with the established Dorian colonies, promoted its horse-racing endeavors so that Pantares, one of Gela’s leading citizens, not only owned but drove a four-horse chariot to victory at the Olympic Games in either 512 or 508. The city, which had already achieved a strong reputation for its cavalry army, now won a religious and athletic victory at the Olympic Games, increasing its prestige. This victory opened the door for other Sicilian nobles and rulers to race their horses in the Panhellenic Festivals.

The sons of Pantares, first Cleander and then Hippocrates, used their father’s prestige to seize control of Gela and drive out the aristocratic government. Cleander abolished the oligarchic constitution in 505 and drove out many of the aristocrats; there had previously been some civil strife in Gela, resulting in some of the defeated citizens fleeing inland to Mactorium, one of the Sican villages conquered earlier. Cleander now established himself as tyrant until he was murdered seven years later and his brother, Hippocrates, took over.

Hippocrates, known for his ruthlessness, ruled Gela for another seven years and made the city the most important and powerful force on the island. Both brothers set about increasing the defensive nature of the city by establishing on the northern rim of the hills above it new and stronger fortifications for further protection. Hippocrates increased the size and importance of the cavalry, making it an integral part of his army. He expanded east by plundering the cities of Naxos, Zancle, and Leontini and setting up tyrants there who would be favorable to him and to Gela. It appears that he planned to use these allies in his greatest feat—an attack on Syracuse.

Since Gela had no harbor, it lacked the associated industries needed to build and outfit a fleet. Without a fleet, it could not expand beyond its local region, and this may have been one reason for Hippocrates’s attack on Syracuse—to gain its fleet, harbor, and installations. Without a fleet, Hippocrates would have to go over land to attack Syracuse. At the River Helorus, Hippocrates defeated the Syracuse army and marched toward the city. A peace treaty brokered by the Corinthians and Corcyraeans gave Hippocrates control over the city’s interior region with native Sicels.

Hippocrates tried to make these natives Greek, and in the ensuing war, he was killed at the Battle of Hybla (491). His cavalry commander, Gelon, took over and established a new dynasty, the Deinomenid. Gelon in 484 conquered Syracuse and moved his government there, and his brother, Hiero, was given control of Gela. When the Carthaginians landed in 482, Hiero and his brother joined forces and defeated them. After his brother died in 478, Hiero moved to Syracuse and took over, while leaving Gela to his brother Polyzelos. It is probable that after this, the city underwent a revolution, ousting the tyrants and establishing a more democratic system.

Gela could not counter the power of Syracuse. During the Peloponnesian War, a conference held at Gela in 424 led to a weak Pan-Sicilian alliance to prevent the island’s domination by Athens. One of the results of the conference was a united force that defeated the Athenians in their First Sicilian Expedition of 423. In 406, after the Carthaginians had landed and destroyed Agrigento, they marched on its mother city, Gela, and attacked it. Help from Syracuse did not arrive after being requested, and Gela was destroyed, with most of its population fleeing to Syracuse. Although its inhabitants returned in 397, it was only fortified in 337 during the time of Timoleon, who controlled Syracuse. The city lasted until 282 when Phintias, the tyrant of Akragas, destroyed it.