Siege of Syracuse
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- Date:
- 214 BCE - 212
- Participants:
- Carthage
- ancient Rome
- Context:
- Second Punic War
- Punic Wars
- Key People:
- Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Siege of Syracuse, (214–212 bce). Fought as part of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, the capture of Syracuse by Rome marked the end of the independence of the Greek cities in southern Italy and Sicily. It also led to the death of the noted mathematician and inventor Archimedes, who took part in the city’s defense.
In 214 bce the pro-Roman king, Hiero II of Syracuse, died and a republic was founded. The new government rebuffed Rome, allied itself to Carthage, and declared war. A Roman army and fleet, led by Marcus Claudius Marcellus, arrived to lay siege. Syracuse was a strongly defended city with a large harbor, and Marcellus brought in ships equipped with siege towers and scaling ladders to assault the city from the port.
Inside Syracuse, Archimedes devised a number of counter measures. One was a powerful hook mounted on a rotating crane that could lift Roman ships out of the water and capsize them. He is said to have also developed a curved mirror that could focus the rays of the sun onto Roman ships and set them on fire. Soon Roman crews refused to approach the walls, and the siege settled down into a blockade. A Carthaginian army attempted to relieve Syracuse but was decimated by disease, while the Romans drove off a Carthaginian fleet.
In 212 bce Marcellus took advantage of a festival to the goddess Artemis to send an elite squad of soldiers under cover of night to scale the walls and open the gates. In the sack that followed, a Roman soldier found Archimedes in his study working on a mathematical problem. Archimedes told the soldier to leave him alone, and was later killed. The central fortress of Syracuse held out for a few weeks, but eventually fell.
Losses: Roman, unknown; Syracusan, 5,000 (the entire garrison) plus a large proportion of the civilian population.