Syracuse

The principal Greek city of Sicily, founded as a Corinthian colony in 734 BCE and developed by the 5th and 4th centuries BCE into one of the greatest cities of the Mediterranean, large enough to defeat the Athenian expedition in 413 BCE, repeatedly to lead Greek Sicily against Carthaginian invasions, and under Agathocles in 310 BCE to carry the war to Africa itself. By the early third century BCE the city was ruled by Hiero II, whose long alignment with Rome through the First Punic War made Syracuse the linchpin of the Roman position in Sicily. The city's relationship with Rome turned hostile under Hiero's grandson Hieronymus during the Second Punic War, producing the famous Roman siege of 213–211 BCE under Marcellus and the death of Archimedes during its sack.