Antander
Antander ({{langx|el|Ἄντανδρος}} - or Andro as he is called by the historian Orosius){{cite book | last =Orosius | authorlink =Orosius | editor-last=Fear | editor-first=A.T. | translator-last=Fear | translator-first=A.T. | title =Orosius: Seven Books of History Against the Pagans | publisher =Liverpool University Press | series =Liverpool University Press - Translated Texts for Historians Series | volume =54 | date =2010 | location =Liverpool | pages =167 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=s49zf3smkwwC | issn=0963-6234 | isbn = 9781846312397}} was a man of Syracuse, Magna Graecia, of the 3rd and 4th centuries BCE. He was the older brother of Agathocles, king of Syracuse,{{cite book | last =Tillyard | first =Henry Julius Wetenhall | authorlink =Henry Julius Wetenhall Tillyard | title =Agathocles | publisher =Cambridge University Press | date =1908 | pages =8–9 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=7tE8AAAAIAAJ}} and was a commander -- or strategos -- of the troops sent by the Syracusans to the relief of Crotona when it was besieged by the Bruttii tribe in 317.{{cite book | last =Westlake | first =Henry Dickinson | title =Essays on the Greek Historians and Greek History | chapter =Timoleon and the Reconstruction of Syracuse | publisher =Manchester University Press | date =1969 | pages =300 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=qN1RAQAAIAAJ | isbn = 9780719003660 }}
Siege of Syracuse
{{main|Siege of Syracuse (311–309 BC)}}
In the late 4th century, Sicily was invaded by Carthage and Syracuse itself was besieged by the Carthaginians. In 310, Agathocles hatched a daring plan to sneak out of Sicily with a sizable force to invade Libya, to draw the Carthaginians out of Sicily, leaving Antander together with Erymnon in command of Syracuse.{{cite book | last =Tritle | first =Lawrence A. | title = The Greek World in the Fourth Century: From the Fall of the Athenian Empire to the Successors of Alexander | publisher =Routledge | date =2013 | pages =157 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=KX5TAQAAQBAJ | isbn = 9781134524679}}{{cite book | last =Ray, Jr. | first =Fred Eugene | title =Greek and Macedonian Land Battles of the 4th Century B.C. | publisher =McFarland | date = 2012 | pages =197 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=zKm93noeCycC | isbn = 9780786469734}} During the absence of Agathocles in Africa, the Carthaginians under Hamilcar pressed their siege.{{cite book | last =Meister | first =K. | editor-last=Walbank | editor-first=F.W. | editor-link=F. W. Walbank | editor2-last=Astin | editor2-first=A.E. | title =The Cambridge Ancient History | chapter=Agathocles | publisher =Cambridge University Press | date =1984 | pages =400 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=lnIpo8KBbP4C | isbn = 9780521850735}}
Some ancient sources report that Antander wished to surrender to Hamilcar after receiving news that Agathocles's fleet had been burned and that Erymnon persuaded him not to. More recent scholarship indicates that Hamilcar tried a ruse to convince Antander his brother's army had been destroyed by showing Antander the charred remains of his brother's boats, while in reality, Agathocles had burned his own ships as a tactic to move to a land assault. A debate erupted in the Syracusan assembly in which a man named Diognetus (or Phalaeneus), proposed surrendering to the Carthaginians, and Antander had the man arrested to prevent the spread of the idea to the besieged Syracusans. In any case, Syracuse survived the siege.
Executions
Antander is mentioned afterwards as the instrument of his brother's cruelty: in 307, Agathocles commanded Antander to execute the families of all the rebellious Syracusan soldiers who remained in Africa (whom Agathocles blamed for the death of his sons), and Antander is said to have ruthlessly carried out this order, slaughtering men, women, children, and the elderly.Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica xix. 3, xx. 16, 72. Even more horrifying to the ancient mind, Antander's forces piled these bodies on the beach for the waves to take, denying them burial rites.{{cite book | last =Gilles | first =John | authorlink =John Gilles | title =The history of ancient Greece, its colonies and conquests | publisher =T. Cadell and W. Davies | volume =2 | edition=6 | date =1820 | pages =221 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Y1dkAAAAMAAJ }}
During Agathocles's absence from Syracuse, silver tetradrachms (previously issued under Agathocles's name only) were issued with Antander's monogram.{{cite book | last =Lewis | first =Sian | authorlink =Sian Lewis | title =Ancient Tyranny | publisher =Edinburgh University Press | date =2006 | location =Edinburg | pages =81 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=z8yqBgAAQBAJ | isbn = 9780748626434 }} Antander was also the author of a historical work - an apologetic biography of his brother Agathocles - which is quoted by the ancient historian Diodorus Siculus.Diodorus Siculus, Exc. xxi. 12, p. 492, ed. Wess.
It is not known how long Antander lived, only that he outlived his brother Agathocles, who died in 289.
Notes
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Attribution
{{DGRBM|author=WS|title=Antander|volume=1|page=183|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0001.001/198}}
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Category:Ancient Greek generals