In the fifth century BC, the Greek city of Himera in Sicily was attacked twice by Carthaginians – the first time the Greeks won, the second time Himera fell. Now isotopic analyzes of the remains of some soldiers who died at the time reveal that Himera owed his first victory largely to foreign mercenaries who supported the Greek troops – a fact that has been suppressed by historians.
The 648 BC The city-state of Himera, founded in BC, was located on the north coast of Sicily and thus in a particularly strategic location. Because important sea trade routes ran directly off the coast and many overland trade routes also started from Himera. Partly because of this, there was strong competition between the city-states of Sicily, especially since some cities belonged to the Greek confederation, while others belonged to the Phoenician Carthaginians.
Battle for Himera
In the fifth century BC These conflicts culminated in two great battles for Himera between the Greeks and the Carthaginians. During the first battle for the city in 480 BC. The Greeks managed to repel the attack. The Greek historians Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus report that this was due to the help of Greek allies from other city-states in Sicily. While the “barbaric Carthaginians” in the eyes of the Greeks availed themselves of the help of paid mercenaries, this is explicitly not mentioned for the Greek. At the second battle in 409 BC According to historical reports, Himera was largely on his own and lost the battle – Himera fell to the Carthaginians.
Katherine Reinberger of the University of Georgia and her colleagues have now investigated whether this account of the ancient historians is correct and who actually fought against the Carthaginians in the two battles of Himera. Her suspicion: Herodotus and Diodorus may have embellished their reports in order to bring the Greek ideals to the fore. As Reinberger explains, the soldiers recruited from the Greek city-states, the so-called hoplites, were the epitome of the ancient ideal of honor, bourgeoisie and democracy. In contrast, the hiring of barbaric mercenaries was not considered to be very glorious. It could therefore be that Herodotus and his contemporaries deliberately concealed the fact that mercenaries were also used on the Greek side at that time.
Mercenaries on the Greek side too
For their study, Reinberger and her team examined the remains of 62 soldiers who fought on the Greek side in the battles for Himera and who were buried in several mass graves. 51 of these dead were in the first battle of 480 BC. Fallen eleven in the second. The researchers analyzed the proportions of different strontium and oxygen isotopes in the teeth and bones of the fallen soldiers. Because these isotopes are ingested with food and water during one’s lifetime and accumulate in the body, they provide clues as to where these people come from.
The evaluations revealed that Herodotus did not write the whole truth, at least with regard to the first battle. It is true that the citizens of Himera actually had outside help at the time. But contrary to what he said, the supposed allies did not come from neighboring Greek city-states in Sicily. “Most of the individuals in the mass graves of the battle of 480 BC. Chr. Are not of local origin ”, report Reinberger and her colleagues. “The isotope data suggests that many of these soldiers did not come from Sicily but from elsewhere in the Mediterranean. They were probably mercenaries who were recruited to reinforce the Greek army. ”According to the isotope values, they could have been mercenaries from Asia Minor or even from Catalonia.
Finished reports
According to the scientists, their results underscore the importance of verifying historical records against archaeological finds. Because the descriptions of the ancient historians are often colored by contemporary views and prejudices – as is the case with Herodotus and Diodorus. “The ethnocentric reports of the ancient authors deliberately play down the true, heterogeneous composition of the Greek colonies and armies,” explain Reinberger and her team. Because contrary to the portrayals of heroic, purely Greek alliances and their battles, it was quite common among the Greek city-states to hire foreign, “barbaric” mercenaries.
In the second battle for Himera, however, the descriptions of the Greek historians and the results of the isotope analyzes coincide: “Most of the individuals in the mass graves of 409 BC. BC show local isotope values, which confirms the historical reports that Himera was defended almost exclusively by local soldiers in this battle, ”writes the research team. The lack of mercenaries could therefore have been partly responsible for the fall of the city of Himera.
Source: PLOS; Technical article: PLoS ONE, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0248803