Although far from mainland Greece, Sicily quickly became a vital part of the Ancient Greek world. Early Greek settlers established numerous colonies on the island, many of which grew into powerful cities. But what do we really know about how the Greeks first settled Sicily? When and why did this migration take place?
The first Greeks to settle on Sicily
What does Greek tradition tells us about the earliest Greek settlement on Sicily? One of the very earliest sources for this is Thucydides, the Greek historian of the fifth century BC, who recorded:
“Of the Hellenes, the first to arrive were Chalcidians from Euboea with Thucles, their founder. They founded Naxos and built the altar to Apollo Archegetes, which now stands outside the town…Thucles and the Chalcidians set out from Naxos in the fifth year after the foundation of Syracuse, and drove out the Sicels by arms and founded Leontini and afterwards Catana.”
According to this, a man named Thucles was the leader of the first Greeks to arrive in Sicily. He was from Euboea, an important island just off the coast of eastern Greece. The date that Thucydides ascribes to this event corresponds to about 734 BC.
Interestingly, this is supported by archaeological evidence, which places the foundation of Naxos at around 740-30 BC. (Not to be confused with the Greece’s island of Naxos).
Who was Thucles, the first Greek settler on Sicily?
Thucydides does not provide much information about Thucles, the leader of this first Greek settlement on Sicily. All he says is that he was the leader of Chalcidian Greeks from Euboea. However, we find a different tradition from Ephorus, a historian of the fourth century BC. Strabo referred to this tradition in the following passage:
“According to Ephorus…Theocles, the Athenian, borne out of his course by the winds to Sicily, clearly perceived both the weakness of the peoples and the excellence of the soil, yet, when he went back, he could not persuade the Athenians, and hence took as partners a considerable number of Euboean Chalcidians and some Ionians and also some Dorians (most of whom were Megarians) and made the voyage; so the Chalcidians founded Naxus.”
Like Thucydides, Ephorus implies that Naxos was the first Greek city on Sicily. However, he explicitly presents Thucles (or Theocles) as an Athenian. Nevertheless, this does not actually contradict what Thucydides wrote, for Ephorus does not pronounce Naxos an Athenian colony.
Rather, he specifically explains that the Athenians would not support Thucles’ endeavor, for which reason he turned to the Chalcidians of Euboea for assistance. Hence, Ephorus agrees that the Chalcidians were the first Greeks to colonize Sicily.
Why did the Greeks settle Sicily?
What motivated the Greeks to settle ancient Sicily anyway? Ephorus provides the reason in Strabo’s summary, quoted above. As we saw in that quotation, Thucles perceived “the weakness of the peoples and the excellence of the soil.”
In other words, Thucles saw that Sicily was quite a fertile land. Furthermore, he considered the native inhabitants of the island weak in comparison to his fellow Greeks. He was therefore convinced that they would be able to take over at least a reasonable portion of the island fairly easily.
Although this account was written several centuries after the events in question, it is a very plausible motivation. After all, Sicily is indeed extremely fertile, in large part due to its being a volcanic island. Therefore, it would make sense that the Greeks would have been drawn to it.
Other early settlements
The settlement of Naxos was supposedly the very first Greek colony on Sicily, as we have seen from Thucydides and Ephorus. In Strabo’s account, he refers to several other cities: Syracuse, Megara, Catana, Messene, and Tauromenium.
Strabo specifically says that Ephorus considered these cities, together with Naxos, as “the earliest Greek cities to be founded in Sicily.”
Although archaeology cannot necessarily confirm the total accuracy of Ephorus’ claim, it does provide overall support for this idea. Both Syracuse and Megara were founded in the eighth century BC according to archaeological findings. This matches up with the traditional foundation dates of these colonies.
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