Agathocles of Syracuse and the birth of the Hellenistic Basileia in Greek Sicily

Abstract

This article provides a thorough analysis of the political conditions under-pinning the rise to monarchic power of Agathocles of Syracuse, from a Hellenistic view-point and through a constitutional irregularity of his compulsory rule over the island. For this purpose, we have discussed both the historical evidence supporting this transfor-mation during Agathocles’s African campaign (310-307 B.C.) and the general standpoint of modern historiography in that respect. We thus seek to contribute to the increasing Hellenistic debate on the nature of the political powers under the (direct or indirect) in-fluence of the Asian expedition of Alexander the Great.