HIMERA

ancient city on the northern Himeras (modern Grande) River, on the northern coast of Sicily. It was founded in about 649 BC by Syracusan exiles and Chalcidian inhabitants of Zancle (Messana). Early in the 5th century the tyrant Terillus, who had been driven out of Himera by Theron of Acragas, encouraged an unsuccessful Carthaginian invasion of Sicily, which ended in the death of Hamilcar at the Battle of Himera in 480 BC. Four years later, the citizens of Himera appealed to Hieron of Syracuse for aid against the oppressive rule of Theron's son, Thrasydaeus, but this only led to the citizens' massacre by Theron and a resettlement of the town with Dorians. Himera was finally destroyed in 409 by Hamilcar's grandson Hannibal. The only relic of the ancient town visible above ground is a Doric temple, probably erected in commemoration of the victory of 480 BC; many of its lion-head spouts are exhibited in the Palermo Museum.