Antander ( gr, Ἄντανδρος - or Andro as he is called by the historian

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Western Roman Empire, Roman priest, historian and theology, theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in ''Bracara Au ...

) was a man of

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States * Syracuse, New York ** East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

of the 3rd and 4th centuries BCE. He was the older brother of

Agathocles Agathocles (Greek: ) is a Greek name, the most famous of which is Agathocles of Syracuse, the tyrant of Syracuse. The name is derived from , ''agathos'', i.e. "good" and , ''kleos'', i.e. "glory". Other personalities named Agathocles: *Agathocles, ...

, king of Syracuse, and was a commander -- or ''

strategos ''Strategos'', plural ''strategoi'', Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Hellenisti ...

'' -- of the troops sent by the Syracusans to the relief of

Crotona Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages unti ...

when it was besieged by the

Bruttii The Bruttians (alternative spelling, Brettii) ( la, Bruttii) were an ancient Italic people. They inhabited the southern extremity of Italy, from the frontiers of Lucania to the Sicilian Straits and the promontory of Leucopetra. This roughly corr ...

tribe in 317.

Siege of Syracuse

In the late 4th century,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

was invaded by

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the clas ...

and Syracuse itself was besieged by the Carthaginians. In 310, Agathocles hatched a daring plan to sneak out of Sicily with a sizable force to invade

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

, to draw the Carthaginians out of Sicily, leaving Antander together with Erymnon in command of Syracuse. During the absence of Agathocles in Africa, the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

under

Hamilcar __NOTOC__ Hamilcar ( xpu, 𐤇𐤌𐤋𐤊 , ,. or , , "Melqart is Gracious"; grc-gre, Ἁμίλκας, ''Hamílkas'';) was a common Carthaginian masculine given name. The name was particularly common among the ruling families of ancient Carthag ...

pressed their siege. Some ancient sources report that Antander wished to surrender to

after receiving news that Agathocles's fleet had been burned and that Erymnon persuaded him not to. More recent scholarship indicates that Hamilcar tried a ruse to convince Antander his brother's army had been destroyed by showing Antander the charred remains of his brother's boats, while in reality, Agathocles had burned his own ships as a tactic to move to a land assault. A debate erupted in the Syracusan assembly in which a man named Diognetus (or Phalaeneus), proposed surrendering to the Carthaginians, and Antander had the man arrested to prevent the spread of the idea to the besieged Syracusans. In any case, Syracuse survived the siege.

Executions

Antander is mentioned afterwards as the instrument of his brother's cruelty: in 307, Agathocles commanded Antander to execute the families of all the rebellious Syracusan soldiers who remained in Africa (whom Agathocles blamed for the death of his sons), and Antander is said to have ruthlessly carried out this order, slaughtering men, women, children, and the elderly. Even more horrifying to the ancient mind, Antander's forces piled these bodies on the beach for the waves to take, denying them burial rites. During Agathocles's absence from Syracuse, silver

tetradrachm The tetradrachm ( grc-gre, τετράδραχμον, tetrádrachmon) was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the Ant ...

s (previously issued under Agathocles's name only) were issued with Antander's monogram. Antander was also the author of a historical work - an

apologetic Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...

biography of his brother Agathocles - which is quoted by the ancient historian

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

, ''Exc.'' xxi. 12, p. 492, ed. Wess. It is not known how long Antander lived, only that he outlived his brother Agathocles, who died in 289.

Notes

Attribution

{{authority control Ancient Greek generals Ancient Himeraeans 4th-century BC Syracusans 3rd-century BC Syracusans