The siege of Akragas took place in 406 BCE in Sicily; the Carthaginian enterprise ultimately lasted a total of eight months.

During the siege, Hannibal and a large number of Carthaginian soldiers perished from the plague, and the survivors were in dire straits after the Greeks managed to cut their supply lines.

Carthage had stayed away from Sicilian affairs for almost seventy years following the defeat at Himera in 480 BCE;[2] during the intervening time Greek culture had started to penetrate the Elymian, Sikanian and Sicel cities in Sicily.

This appeal came at a time when the mainland Greek cities were locked in the Peloponnesian War, and Syracuse, an ally of Sparta, was not focused on Sicily.

Carthage raised an army and fleet for the expedition in 410 BCE and dispatched the force to Sicily after diplomatic efforts for a compromise between Selinus and Segesta had failed.

He hired 2,000 mercenaries (1,000 of them former citizens of Himera) and five ships and then set up a base in the ruins of Selinus, building a wall for security around the acropolis.

His force ultimately swelled to 6,000 men, (many former citizens of Selinus had joined him) and Hermocrates started to raid Punic territories at his discretion.

Hermocrates then collected the bones of the Greek dead left unburied at Himera and sent them over to Syracuse for burial, an act that further enhanced his reputation among the Greeks (and brought about the downfall of Diocles, the Syracusan leader defeated at Himera and who had actually left the bones unburied) but did not end his exile from Syracuse.

Syracuse appealed to the cities of Magna Graecia and even Sparta for help, while a general named Daphnaeus was elected to lead the Syracusan war effort.

Akragas hired the Spartan general Dexippus with a band of 1,500 hoplites and some Campanian mercenaries (previously serving under Hannibal Mago at Himera) to augment their force of 10,000 troops.

The Carthaginian Senate had offered the command of the coming expedition to Hannibal Mago (the “Greek Hater”), who at first refused the position pleading advanced age.

[7] Aside from Carthaginian citizens, troops were levied from Africa, Spain, and Italy, so an army of 120,000 men (probably exaggerated; around 60,000 is closer to the truth[8]) and a fleet of 120 triremes and 1,000 transports were made ready by the Spring of 406 BCE.

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, but 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,[14] were present as well.

Large Sicilian cities like Syracuse and Akragas field up to 10,000 – 20,000 citizens,[15] augmented by mercenaries or freed slaves whenever needed.

The citizens of Akragas, not wanting to face the Carthaginians by themselves or contribute to their spoils, had gathered the harvest and the entire population (some 200,000 people)[16] within the city as part of their preparations.

His first duty was to restore the morale of his soldiers, which he did by sacrificing a child to the god the Greeks associated with Cronos and some animals to the sea by drowning them, after putting a stop to the tomb-destroying activities.

Then he continued building siege ramps using the materials already collected and also dammed the Hypsas River,[21] (the course of which made it act as a moat for Akragas), for gaining better access to the city.

As the fleeing Carthaginians retreated past Akragas, the city dwellers clamored to be led out to attack the enemy, which their generals (including the Spartan Dexippus), refused to do, fearing a repeat of the Himera debacle of 409 BCE.

The Greeks instead harassed the Carthaginians throughout the summer with light troops and cavalry, cutting off their supply lines and continuously skirmishing.

The Carthaginians soon faced food shortages, and the mercenaries began to grow restless as starvation set in in the Punic camp.

[25] The capture of the convoy caused rumors of impending food shortage at Akragas, where the population may not have planted any crops because of the ongoing conflict.

The city of Akragas, destroyed in 405 BCE, would again be populated by Greeks, although it would not reach the level of wealth and power it had previously enjoyed.