Eunus had been employed by his master when still a slave as an entertainer at symposia, where he would put on a sleight-of-hand magic show that included breathing fire.

During the performance he kept up a patter—thought humorous by his listeners—saying that Sicilian society would experience a role-reversal, in which his aristocratic audience would be killed or enslaved and he would become king.

To those who gave him tips he promised that they would be spared once he came into his kingdom.

During the revolt he does spare the lives of at least some of those individuals.

One of the prophetic predictions of Eunus had been that the rebel slaves would successfully capture Enna, situated in the center of Sicily.

Eunus participates in the storming of the fortress-like city (Diodorus Siculus provides a description of him standing in the front ranks of the assault, blowing fire from his mouth).

Upon the capture of Enna, Eunus is crowned king.

He subsequently takes the name Antiochus, a name used by the Seleucids who rule Syria, and calls his followers, who number around seventy thousand, his Syrians.