Hicetas (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: or ) was tyrant 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, Miss ...

, during the interval between the reign 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 ...

and that of Pyrrhus. After the death of Agathocles (289 BCE), his supposed assassin, Maenon, put to death Archagathus, the grandson of Agathocles; and assuming the command of the army with which the latter was besieging

Aetna Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...

, directed his arms against Syracuse. Hereupon Hicetas was sent against him by the Syracusans, with a considerable army: but after the war had continued for some time, without any decisive result, Maenon, by calling in the aid of 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 ...

, obtained the superiority, and the Syracusans were compelled to conclude an ignominious peace. Soon after ensued the revolution which led to the expulsion of the

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

n mercenaries, afterwards known as the

Mamertines The Mamertines ( la, Mamertini, "sons of Mars", el, Μαμερτῖνοι) were mercenaries of Italian origin who had been hired from their home in Campania by Agathocles (361–289 BC), Tyrant of Syracuse and self-proclaimed King of Sicily. ...

: and it must have been shortly after this that Hicetas established himself in the supreme power, as we are told by

Diodorus 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 su ...

that he ruled nine years. The only events of his government that are recorded are a war with Phintias, tyrant of Agrigentum (modern

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

), in which he obtained a considerable victory, and one with the Carthaginians, by whom he was defeated at the river

Terias ''Eurema'' is a widespread genus of grass yellow butterflies in the family Pieridae. Species range from Asia, Africa, Australia, and Oceania, to the New World. The type species is the North American barred yellow (''Eurema daira''). There ...

. He was at length expelled from Syracuse by Thynion, an event which took place not long before the arrival of Pyrrhus in

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

, and must therefore be referred either to 279 BCE or 278 BCE, either of which dates is consistent enough with the period of nine years allotted to his reign by Diodorus. (Diod. ''Exc. Hoesch.'' xxi. 12, 13, xxii. 2, 6) There are extant gold coins struck at Syracuse bearing the name of Hicetas: from the inscription on these , it is clear that he never assumed the title of "king", like his contemporary Phintias, at Agrigentum.

References

* {{Authority control 3rd-century BC Syracusans Ancient Greek rulers Sicilian tyrants