Agathocles, (born 361 bc, Thermae Himeraeae, Sicily—died 289), tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily, from 317 to c. 304 and self-styled king of Sicily after c. 304. A champion of Hellenism, he waged war unsuccessfully against Carthage.
Agathocles moved from his native town to Syracuse about 343 and served with distinction in the army. Twice banished for attempting to overthrow the oligarchical party, he returned in 317 with an army, banished or murdered about 10,000 citizens (including the oligarchs), and set himself up as tyrant.
Agathocles then embarked on a long series of wars. His first campaigns (316–c. 313), against the other Sicilian Greeks, brought a number of cities, including Messana, under his control. Carthage, however, fearing for its own possessions in Sicily, sent a large force to the island. Thus the struggle that had gone on between the Sicilian Greeks and Carthage intermittently since the 6th century was renewed. In 311 Agathocles, defeated and besieged in Syracuse, saved himself by breaking through the blockade and attacking his enemy’s homelands in Africa with considerable success until his defeat in 307. The peace he concluded in 306 was not unfavourable, for it restricted Carthaginian power in Sicily to the area west of the Halycus (Platani) River. Agathocles continued to strengthen his rule over the Greek cities of Sicily. By c. 304 he felt secure enough to assume the title king of Sicily, and he extended his influence into southern Italy and the Adriatic.
Agathocles’ reign as king was peaceful, allowing him to enrich Syracuse with many public buildings. Dissension among his family about the succession, however, caused him in his will to restore liberty to the Syracusans, and his death was followed by a recrudescence of Carthaginian power in Sicily.