Battle of Alalia
Encyclopedia
The naval Battle of Alalia took place between 540 BC and 535 BC off the coast of Corsica
between Greek
s and the allied Etruscan
s and Carthaginian
s. The Punic-Etruscan fleet of 120 ships was defeated by a Greek force of Phocean ships while emigrating in Western Mediterannean and the nearby colony of Alalia (now Aléria
) Etruscans.
The Phoenicia
ns had planted trading posts in Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and Iberia during 1100-900 BC while creating their trading monopoly. They had a relatively free hand during that period as other civilizations were suffering from a "Dark Age" during that period. The Etruscans emerged as a local power during 800 - 700 BC, spreading their trade to Corsica, Sardinia and Iberia and creating a powerful navy to guard their interests. The Phoenicians and Etruscans became trading partners and rivals, exchanging goods and opportunistic raids with each other. The situation changed with the arrival of the Greeks in Western Mediterranean in 750 BC.
in Italy by 750 BC and Naxos
in Sicily by 735 BC. Within the next 100 years, several Greek cities had planted colonies along the coast of southern Italy and most of Sicily, creating a position to control trade routes around these areas and dominating the Strait of Messina
. Etruscans clashed with the Greeks, but were unable to stop the process. Although the colonization process was not done according to any master plan, with several Greek cities acting simultaneously, it probably seemed to the Phoenicians and Etruscans that a flood of Greeks were drowning the Tyrrhenian seacoast.
The Greek colonized zone encompassing Sicily and Southern Italy came to be known as Magna Graecia
. The Greeks living in this area behaved pretty much like the mainland Greeks, expanding their political and commercial domain at the expense of their neighbors while keeping the Ionian/Dorian feud alive. The colonization offered greater opportunities for increased trade, piracy and other conflicts among the Etruscans, Phoenicians and Greeks competing for control of seaborne trade of the area.
, Panormus and Solus in Sicily and the Elymians had teamed up to defeat the Greeks of Selinus and Rhodes near Lilybaeum in 580 BC, the first such recorded incident in Sicily. These cities remained independent until becoming part of the Carthaginian hegemony after 540 BC.
(Modern Turkey) had founded the colony of Massalia
around 600 BC, which the Carthaginians had tried and failed to prevent. Massalia became a thriving trading center and a major rival of Carthage for the Spanish markets and the tin trade through Gaul
. The Phocaeans also planted a colony in Alalia in Corsica around 562 BC. When the city of Phocaea itself fell to Cyrus the Great
of Persia in 546 BC, most Phocaeans moved to Alalia, partly because they were on good terms with the Greek colonies along the Strait of Messina and had even been granted toll free passage. They also founded Elea
in southern Italy (Magna Grecia) in 540 BC.
The Phoecaeans had managed to establish their base at a time when Carthage was engaged in defending Punic colonies in Sicily (Greeks had started to encroach on Punic cities in 580 BC) and conquering territory in Sardinia, Tyre was facing Persian domination and the Etruscans were engaged in expansion across Italy, starting with the formation of the Etruscan League. The Greeks started to prey on Carthaginian and Etruscan trade from Corsica, which continued unchecked for 5 years. However, fearing that the Greeks would threaten their colonies in North Italy and Sardinia next, the Etruscans and Carthaginians joined forces to oppose the Greeks around 540 BC. It is not known if the Carthaginians had allied with the Etruscan League or with individual Etruscan cities.
(ships with 48 oars and 2 rudders for steering) , not the trireme
that would become famous at the Battle of Salamis
, and the allied fleet was twice as large, also made of Pentekonters, not the Bireme
normally used by the Phoenicians. Details of the battle are sketchy, but it is known that the Greeks had driven the allied fleet off, but had lost almost two-thirds of their own fleet in doing so: a Cadmean victory
, according to Herodotus
. The rams of the surviving ships had been severely damaged. Realizing that they could not withstand another attack, the Greeks evacuated Corsica, and initially sought refuge in Rhegion in Italy. Carthaginian and Etruscan battle losses are not known. A legend describes how Greek prisoners were stoned to death at Caere
by the Etruscans, while the Carthaginians sold their prisoners into slavery. This battle is also known as "The Battle of Sardinia Sea".
to Greek shipping and thus containing the Greek expansion in Spain by 480 BC. Attempts by Etruscans to conquer Greek areas in Southern Italy would be opposed by the Greek city of Cumae
. They would defeat an Etruscan invasion in 524 BC. Carthage would defeat the attempt of Spartan prince Dorieus to colonize North Africa (c513 BC) and Western Sicily c510 BC. While Carthage was busy in Sardinia after 509 BC dealing with a native uprising, the Greek city of Syracuse
under Gelon, allied with the Greek city of Agrigentum under Theron to jointly challenge the Carthaginians in Sicily. This set the stage for the Sicilian Wars
(480 - 307 BC) between Carthage and the Greeks.
According to Herodotus, it was only after the battle that Phocaeans moved to Italy where they founded Elea
.
Some authors consider that the Greek defeat and consequent lack of Greek traders in the Gibraltar Strait led to the collapse of the Tartessian civilization in Southern Spain, while the Punic presence remained undisturbed.
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
between Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
s and the allied Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
s and Carthaginian
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
s. The Punic-Etruscan fleet of 120 ships was defeated by a Greek force of Phocean ships while emigrating in Western Mediterannean and the nearby colony of Alalia (now Aléria
Aléria
Aléria is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica...
) Etruscans.
Background
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
ns had planted trading posts in Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and Iberia during 1100-900 BC while creating their trading monopoly. They had a relatively free hand during that period as other civilizations were suffering from a "Dark Age" during that period. The Etruscans emerged as a local power during 800 - 700 BC, spreading their trade to Corsica, Sardinia and Iberia and creating a powerful navy to guard their interests. The Phoenicians and Etruscans became trading partners and rivals, exchanging goods and opportunistic raids with each other. The situation changed with the arrival of the Greeks in Western Mediterranean in 750 BC.
Greater Greece outside Greece
The Greek colonization started with the planting of CumaeCumae
Cumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy , and the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl...
in Italy by 750 BC and Naxos
Naxos (Sicily)
Naxos or Naxus , was an ancient city of Sicily, on the east coast of the island between Catana and Messana...
in Sicily by 735 BC. Within the next 100 years, several Greek cities had planted colonies along the coast of southern Italy and most of Sicily, creating a position to control trade routes around these areas and dominating the Strait of Messina
Strait of Messina
The Strait of Messina is the narrow passage between the eastern tip of Sicily and the southern tip of Calabria in the south of Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Ionian Sea, within the central Mediterranean...
. Etruscans clashed with the Greeks, but were unable to stop the process. Although the colonization process was not done according to any master plan, with several Greek cities acting simultaneously, it probably seemed to the Phoenicians and Etruscans that a flood of Greeks were drowning the Tyrrhenian seacoast.
The Greek colonized zone encompassing Sicily and Southern Italy came to be known as Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia
Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...
. The Greeks living in this area behaved pretty much like the mainland Greeks, expanding their political and commercial domain at the expense of their neighbors while keeping the Ionian/Dorian feud alive. The colonization offered greater opportunities for increased trade, piracy and other conflicts among the Etruscans, Phoenicians and Greeks competing for control of seaborne trade of the area.
Carthaginian Hegemony
Carthage created her hegemony in part to resist Greek encroachments in the Phoenician sphere of influence. Phoenicians initially (750 -650 BC) did not resist the Greeks, but after the Greeks had reached Iberia sometime after 638 BC, Carthage emerged as the leader of the Phoenician resistance. During the 6th century BC, mostly under the leadership of the Magonid dynasty, Carthage established an empire which would commercially dominate the Western Mediterranean. The Phoenician cities of MotyaMotya
Motya , was an ancient and powerful city on an island off the west coast of Sicily, between Drepanum and Lilybaeum...
, Panormus and Solus in Sicily and the Elymians had teamed up to defeat the Greeks of Selinus and Rhodes near Lilybaeum in 580 BC, the first such recorded incident in Sicily. These cities remained independent until becoming part of the Carthaginian hegemony after 540 BC.
Prelude: Phocaean Pirates
The Phocaean Greeks from Asia MinorAnatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
(Modern Turkey) had founded the colony of Massalia
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
around 600 BC, which the Carthaginians had tried and failed to prevent. Massalia became a thriving trading center and a major rival of Carthage for the Spanish markets and the tin trade through Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. The Phocaeans also planted a colony in Alalia in Corsica around 562 BC. When the city of Phocaea itself fell to Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
of Persia in 546 BC, most Phocaeans moved to Alalia, partly because they were on good terms with the Greek colonies along the Strait of Messina and had even been granted toll free passage. They also founded Elea
Velia
Velia is the Italian name of the ancient town of Elea located on the territory of the comune of Ascea, Salerno, Campania, Italy in a geographical sub-area named Cilento...
in southern Italy (Magna Grecia) in 540 BC.
The Phoecaeans had managed to establish their base at a time when Carthage was engaged in defending Punic colonies in Sicily (Greeks had started to encroach on Punic cities in 580 BC) and conquering territory in Sardinia, Tyre was facing Persian domination and the Etruscans were engaged in expansion across Italy, starting with the formation of the Etruscan League. The Greeks started to prey on Carthaginian and Etruscan trade from Corsica, which continued unchecked for 5 years. However, fearing that the Greeks would threaten their colonies in North Italy and Sardinia next, the Etruscans and Carthaginians joined forces to oppose the Greeks around 540 BC. It is not known if the Carthaginians had allied with the Etruscan League or with individual Etruscan cities.
The battle
It is assumed that the Phocaean Greeks had 60 pentekontersPenteconter (ship)
The penteconter, alt. spelling pentekonter, also transliterated as pentecontor or pentekontor was an ancient Greek galley in use since the archaic period....
(ships with 48 oars and 2 rudders for steering) , not the trireme
Trireme
A trireme was a type of galley, a Hellenistic-era warship that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar...
that would become famous at the Battle of Salamis
Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Salamis was fought between an Alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BCE, in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens...
, and the allied fleet was twice as large, also made of Pentekonters, not the Bireme
Bireme
A bireme is an ancient Hellenistic-era warship with two decks of oars, probably invented by the Phoenicians. It typically was about long with a maximum beam width of around . It was modified from the penteconter, a ship that had only one set of oars on each side, the bireme having two sets of oars...
normally used by the Phoenicians. Details of the battle are sketchy, but it is known that the Greeks had driven the allied fleet off, but had lost almost two-thirds of their own fleet in doing so: a Cadmean victory
Cadmean victory
A Cadmean victory is a reference to a victory involving one's own ruin, from Cadmus , the legendary founder of Thebes in Boeotia and the mythic bringer of the alphabet to Greece. On seeking to establish the city, Cadmus required water from a spring guarded by a monster snake. He sent his...
, according to Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
. The rams of the surviving ships had been severely damaged. Realizing that they could not withstand another attack, the Greeks evacuated Corsica, and initially sought refuge in Rhegion in Italy. Carthaginian and Etruscan battle losses are not known. A legend describes how Greek prisoners were stoned to death at Caere
Caere
Caere is the Latin name given by the Romans to one of the larger cities of Southern Etruria, the modern Cerveteri, approximately 50-60 kilometres north-northwest of Rome. To the Etruscans it was known as Cisra and to the Greeks as Agylla...
by the Etruscans, while the Carthaginians sold their prisoners into slavery. This battle is also known as "The Battle of Sardinia Sea".
Aftermath
Corsica passed into Etruscan hands, while Carthage retained Sardinia. Carthage would fight two more major naval battles with Massalia, losing both but still managing to close the Strait of GibraltarStrait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
to Greek shipping and thus containing the Greek expansion in Spain by 480 BC. Attempts by Etruscans to conquer Greek areas in Southern Italy would be opposed by the Greek city of Cumae
Cumae
Cumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy , and the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl...
. They would defeat an Etruscan invasion in 524 BC. Carthage would defeat the attempt of Spartan prince Dorieus to colonize North Africa (c513 BC) and Western Sicily c510 BC. While Carthage was busy in Sardinia after 509 BC dealing with a native uprising, the Greek city of Syracuse
Syracuse, Italy
Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in...
under Gelon, allied with the Greek city of Agrigentum under Theron to jointly challenge the Carthaginians in Sicily. This set the stage for the Sicilian Wars
Sicilian Wars
The Greek-Punic wars or, less properly, Sicilian Wars, were a series of conflicts fought between Carthaginians and the Greeks headed by Syracusans, over control of Sicily and western Mediterranean between the years 600 to 265 BC....
(480 - 307 BC) between Carthage and the Greeks.
According to Herodotus, it was only after the battle that Phocaeans moved to Italy where they founded Elea
Elea
Elea may refer to:* Elea, ancient name of an Italian Greek colony, now known as Velia**Eleatics, school of pre-Socratic philosophers at Elea* Elea, Kyrenia, a settlement of Cyprus in Kyrenia District...
.
Some authors consider that the Greek defeat and consequent lack of Greek traders in the Gibraltar Strait led to the collapse of the Tartessian civilization in Southern Spain, while the Punic presence remained undisturbed.