[2] After the sack of Motya, Dionysius retired to Syracuse, while Himilco of Carthage arrived in Sicily with 50,000 men along with 400 triremes and 600 transports to continue the war.
Himilco first stormed Motya, where the mostly Sicel garrison under Biton was easily overcome,[4] then lifted the siege of Segesta, and Dionysius retired to Syracuse instead of offering battle in Western Sicily against a superior army.
After the Carthaginian forces were devastated by a plague, Dionysius managed to decimate the Punic fleet and shut up the army survivors in their camp.
The Sicilian Greek cities which had become tributary to Carthage after 405 had all revolted in 398, and along with the Sicels and the Sikans had joined Dionysius in his attack against Motya.
After the defeat at Catana the Sicilian Greek soldiers had returned to their respective homes when Dionysius decided to withstand a siege in Syracuse against their wishes.
Himilco publicly took full responsibility for the debacle, dressed in rags visited all the temples of the city pleading for deliverance and finally committed suicide.
[10] The Carthaginians caught a break when Dionysius chose not to invade the Punic territories in Western Sicily immediately lifting the siege of Syracuse.
The Elymians had stayed loyal to Carthage since the start of the war, while the Sicilian Greeks and Sikans were not threatening and most of the Sicels were not hostile when Mago arrived in Sicily.
[13] The Greeks cities, free of Carthaginian overlordship since 398, now moved from a pro-Syracuse position to a neutral one, either feeling threatened by Dionysius or because of the activities of Mago.
Dionysius did not immediately attack Punic Sicily after lifting the siege of Syracuse in 396, although no formal treaty had been made ending the war with Carthage.
Dionysius first rebuilt and repopulated Messina with colonists from Locri and Medma from Italy and some from Messene, who were later relocated to Tyndaris when Sparta objected to settling the Messenians in Messana.
The majority of this army had been destroyed at Syracuse, and the size of the force Mago commanded at Abacaenum is not known except that it had shrunk by a further 8,000 men after the battle.
Dionysius had mustered an army of 40,000 foot and 3,000 horsemen,[23] from both citizens and mercenaries (at least 10,000, if not more)[24] for attacking Motya in 398, perhaps along with 40,000 Greek, Sicel and Sikan volunteers.
[25] At Catana in 397 Dionysius commanded 30,000 foot and 3,000 horse, perhaps he was short of cash to hire mercenaries and part of his forces were manning Syracuse.
In 392 Dionysius organized an army of 20,000 men, perhaps garrison duty and cash shortage prevented assembling of a larger contingent.
The heavy infantry fought in close formation, armed with long spears and round shields, wearing helmets and linen cuirasses.
The Libyans, Carthaginian citizens, and the Libyo-Phoenicians provided disciplined, well-trained cavalry equipped with thrusting spears and round shields.
The mainstay of the Greek army was the hoplite, drawn mainly from the citizens by Dionysius had a large number of mercenaries from Italy and Greece as well.
Sicels and other native Sicilians also served in the army as hoplites and also supplied peltasts, and a number of Campanians, probably equipped like Samnite or Etruscan warriors,[29] were present as well.
There is no mention of Carthage mobilizing a naval contingent to serve in Sicily in 392, so Mago probably chose an inland route to take on Syracuse.
Hamilcar Barca during the first Punic war and Quintus Fabius Maximus during the second had adopted a strategy on encamping near their enemy and constantly skirmishing without engaging in pitched battle.
Constant ambushes and skirmishing followed, and the Sicels, operating in their home ground, got the better of things and soon the Carthaginians faced a supply shortage.
[32] When Dionysius refused to heed their call for battle and decided to persist with the guerrilla tactics, the Syracusans simply left his camp and went home.
Himilco and Dionysius had concluded a peace treaty in 405 after the Carthaginians had sacked Akragas, Gela and Camarina, with only the plague stopping them from attacking Syracuse.
However, the following factors may have influenced their agreeing to the peace pact: Mago sailed back to Carthage after the treaty and the Carthaginian army was disbanded.