bgr_568539 - SICILY - SYRACUSE Litra

SICILY - SYRACUSE

(274-216 BC)

Hiero II, king of Syracuse (274-216 avant J.-C.)

Around 270 BC, Hiero had married Philistis, a descendant of Dionysius (405-367 AC.), Tyrant of Syracuse. Hiero claimed to have ancestor Gelo himself (485-478 AC.), Founder of the Syracusan power. Officer of the army of Pyrrhus, king after he replaced his departure in 274 BC, and during his long reign, tried to maintain a difficult balance between the Romans and the Carthaginians. After the end of the first Punic War in 241 BC, Sicily became a Roman and Syracuse days were numbered.