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Φοινίκων: Poenorum (cf. iv. 197), i. e. the men of Carthage or of the Phoenician colonies in Sicily, now under her leadership. Segesta, a city of the Elymi, is as usual ready to help fellow barbarians against the intruding Hellenes (Thuc. vi. 2; Freeman, S. i. 200 f.).


Μινώην. Tradition alleged that this town at the mouth of the Halycus had been founded by the Cretans, when Minos came to Sicily (cf. vii. 170 n.). The name Minoa, however, might well have been given it later by the Cretan colonists of Gela, or by the Megarians of Selinus (Thuc. vi. 4), Minos and Minoa being closely connected with Megara (Thuc. iii. 51). The name Makara (Heracl. Pont. F. H. G. ii. 220) may point to an early Phoenician settlement under the protection of Melkart (ch. 43 n.), the Tyrian Heracles. This conjecture would be confirmed if the inscription, Ras Melkart, on a series of Sicilian coins struck under Carthaginian rule (circ. 409-241 B. C.) could be referred to Heraclea Minoa, but Holm (S. iii. 674), now followed by Head (H. N. p. 136), interprets it of Cephaloedium, since Ras = κεφαλή = headland. The name Heraclea might be a translation of Makara, or it may have been given to the city by the Spartan colonists, to signify that here was the promised land of the oracle (ch. 43). This and similar details (ch. 47; vi. 17 n.; vii. 153, &c.) seem to indicate that H. collected materials in Sicily.

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  • Commentary references from this page (3):
    • Thucydides, Histories, 3.51
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.2
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.4
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