Pharacidas ( grc, Φαρακίδας) was a

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

n admiral sent to the assistance of Dionysius I against 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 ...

, in the

Greek-Punic Wars The Sicilian Wars, or Greco-Punic Wars, were a series of conflicts fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse, Sicily over control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean between 580 and 265 BC. Carthage's econo ...

. Diodorus Siculus wrote that Polyxenus (Πολύξενος), the brother-in law of Dionysius, arrived from the Peloponnesus and Italy, bringing thirty warships from his allies, with Pharacidas as admiral.

Polyaenus Polyaenus or Polyenus ( ; see ae (æ) vs. e; grc-gre, Πoλύαινoς, Polyainos, "much-praised") was a 2nd-century CE Greek author, known best for his ''Stratagems in War'' ( grc-gre, Στρατηγήματα, Strategemata), which has been pr ...

in his Strategems wrote about an incident between Pharacidas and the Carthaginian fleet. According to Polyaenus, Pharacidas forces attacked some Carthaginian ships and captured nine of them. In order to pass the Carthaginian's main fleet which was much larger than his, he manned the captured ships with his own troops and sailors. The Carthaginians, seeing their own ships thought that they were friendly and allowed them to pass. That way Pharacidas ships manage to enter into the harbor of Syracuse unharmed.Polyaenus, Strategems, 2.11
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References

4th-century BC Spartans Ancient Greek admirals People of the Sicilian Wars {{AncientGreece-bio-stub