Melheim et al./Comparative Perspectives, 2. The Sicilian World after the Punic Wars

The Classical world has been an El Dorado for students of colonisation, with its rich written record on the establishment of Greek and Roman colonies. Roksana Chowaniec describes the Greek colonisation of Sicily as far more complicated and multifarious than is often acknowledged. The Greeks arrived in Sicily in 734 BC, shortly after the Phoenicians, but they occupied only the central and eastern parts of the island, leaving the western part to the Phoenicians. While the foundation of a Greek colony was usually a planned act, with an elected leader spearheading the actions of every group, in the case of Sicily different factors were at play, and no single model can be put forward as a full explanation. The long period of conquest and colonisation ended with Syracuse becoming one of the most developed and populous towns of antiquity, dominating a large part of Sicily politically, economically and militarily. This began a process of significant changes on the island, to be continued by the Romans.