Questions about War Elephants and the Sicilian Wars

1. Got a few questions about the history of War Elephants and their usage on the battlefields of antiquity.
First of all, which ancient Indian (this mounted army type was invented in India-right?) empire was first to use war elephants in significant numbers in a battle? Mauryan Empire?
Were there any differences between the battle fighting techniques of Indian, Siamese and Carthaginian war elephants and their riders?
Which Elephants did the Greek King Pyrrhus use in the battle of Heraclea? (Syrian ones?) Did the Greeks/Macedonians start using war elephants before the Carthaginians?

2. Why was Sicily so fiercely fought for by the Greeks and Carthaginians? Natural resources? wheat?
Were the Phoenicians the first founders of cities on the island?
Which Greek city states established their colonies on the island? Was Syracuse the grandest colony of them all?
Which side was more successful, the Carthaginians? or was it a stalemate?
Did the Romans ally themselves with Carthage first (against the Greek cities) and turned against Carthage after the Greeks were defeated?
When did the Romans gain full control of the island? before or after the capture of Carthage? Were there any Greek city states left on the island at the time?

For 2, agriculture was the main draw of Sicily. It was the bread basket for Rome before North Africa and I suspect (although I can't confirm) that this was the motivation for others. The Phoenicians were not the first founders of cities. The Sicles predate both the Greeks and the Phoenicians.

I'd say Syracuse was the most significant Greek colony on Sicily. Of course, they were all fiercely independent and hated each other, but it was one of the most important Greek Poleis period, so I'd say yes.

I'd say on average the Greeks had more success, but they were never decisive. In that sense, it was a stalemate. By the time Rome became involved in the island, though, the local Phoenician population in the western part of the island had become seriously depleted and the cities there were more or less military posts to control the naval trade. The Greek presence (which was over a larger portion of the island anyway) seemed more settled. But it was by no means over. I recall two or three major Carthaginian defeats, while I only remember maybe one occasion that Carthage almost conquered Syracuse.

The history of the first Punic War is quite complex. Essentially, the people (or some people) of Messina called for Carthaginian help against Syracuse. Then, for some reason, they decided they didn't trust Carthage and asked for Rome's help against Syracuse instead. Rome intervened. Carthage, rather than backing down, allied with Syracuse against Rome. Rome then forced Syracuse to submit. Carthage and Rome then fought 30 bloody, inconclusive years. In the end, Carthage agreed to withdraw from Sicily in exchange for peace. So I hope that answers both the alliance question and the when Rome gained control question.

Rome administered Sicily since then, but the Greek cities still existed. In the Second Punic War, Syracuse rebelled against Rome to help Carthage, for example. I'd be curious to know how much of the population spoke Greek vs. Latin as time went on. Eventually, it was controlled by the Byzantines, so I'm not sure if there was a shift back towards Greek then. Obviously, there were Arabic and Norman conquests that followed.

Syracuse only joined Carthage in the second Punic War when idiots took power. In fact, Rome was bailed out after Cannae by Hiero's timely supplies, provided after Rome begged for them.

Where did Pyrrhus take his War Elephants from? (the ones he used in the battles against Rome)
Thank you Louis, great soil for agriculture, that must have been it.
Which Greek mainland city state was Syracuse founded by?

For the last question: Corinth

I'm not ignoring your Elephant questions, I simply don't know enough. They weren't African Elephants. My understanding is he got them from India, same as the Seleucids did. Indian Elephants were larger than the African Elephants that were known at the time.

I've heard it argued that Carthage started using Elephants because of Pyrrhus, but I have no source or other information to back that up.

AFAIK elephants used for war by Chartage were mostly north African elephants aka Atlas elephant, a subspecie of african elephant currently stinct, smaller than the bush african elephant we all know. There were also some asian elephants, not from the kind we can find in indian currently though but syrian elephants, a western subspecie of asian elephant, of bigger size, also stinct nowadays. According to wiki Hannibal's personal elephant was a particullarly huge syrian elephant.

It was only later when north african and syrians elephants became rare, that indian elephants were imported by the seleucids and such from india.

So dont know where Pyrrhus got his elephants from but it seems he received them from Egypt, so probably they were north african elephants?

The Seleucids going back to Seleucus I Nicator used Indian elephants for the most part. Seleucus' campaign against Chandragupta ended with Seleucus being given 500 Indian elephants. Those were the elephants he used at Ipsus.

Regarding the elephants:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_elephant

daft said:

Were there any differences between the battle fighting techniques of Indian, Siamese and Carthaginian war elephants and their riders?

Click to expand...

My understanding is that the North African elephants used by the Carthaginians were not mounted at all, but basically set loose by themselves to run at the enemy and cause chaos before the troops engaged.

My hometown, Megara, had also settled in Sicily !

This map explains which Greek city-states had colonies in Sicily

Plotinus said:

My understanding is that the North African elephants used by the Carthaginians were not mounted at all, but basically set loose by themselves to run at the enemy and cause chaos before the troops engaged.

Click to expand...

Livy certainly mentions elephant handlers, though I'm not sure if there's actually anything to show elephant riders. War elephants in other parts of the world were ridden, however.