The emergence of Carthage as an independent power and the subsequent creation of an empire based on the secure possession of the North African coast has resulted less from the weakening of Tyre, the chief city of Phoenicia, by the Medes and the Babylonians, than from growing pressure from the Greeks in the western Mediterranean.

As the Greek colonies in Sicily have increased in numbers and importance, the Phoenicians have gradually abandoned their settlements in the immediate neighborhood of the newcomers, and concentrated themselves in the three principal colonies of Solus, Panormus (modern Palermo), and Motya.

The last of these, from its proximity to Carthage and its opportune situation for communication with Africa, as well as the natural strength of its position, has become one of the chief strongholds of the Carthaginians, as well as one of the most important of their commercial cities in the island.

In both these respects, Motya appears to have held the same position which will be attained at a later period by Lilybaeum.

Carthage leads Phoenician settlements on Sicily in resisting Greek aggression and seeks to consolidate control of Sardinia.

The Carthaginians fear that if the Greeks win the whole of Sicily, they will move on to Sardinia and beyond, isolating the Phoenicians in North Africa.

In 580 BCE, some Greek cities in Sicily attempt to drive the Phoenicians from the west of the island.

The Phoenician cities of Motya,...

The Punic domain in Sicily contains the cities of Motya, ...

Greek cities under Carthaginian control rebel as Dionysius and his army march west along the southern coast of Sicily.

The Greeks kill Carthaginians living in their cities, loot their property, and send soldiers to join Dionysius.

Sicels, Sikans and the city of Messene also send contingents so that by the time Dionysius reaches Motya, his army has swelled to eighty thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry.

Dionysius sends his navy under his brother Leptines to blockade Motya, and himself moves with the army to Eryx, which surrenders to him.

Even the city of Threame declares for him, leaving only the cities of Panormus, Solus, Ancyrae, Segesta and Entella loyal to Carthage in Sicily.

Dionysius raids the surrounding areas near the first three, then places Segesta and Entella under siege.

After these cities had repulsed several assaults, Dionysius himself returns to Motya to oversee the progress of the siege, assuming that the cities would surrender once Motya was captured.

Little is known of the activities of Carthage during 405 -397 BCE except that a plague had swept through Africa, which had been carried by the returning army in 405 BCE, weakening Carthage.

Himilco is again given the task of responding to the threat.

While raising a mercenary army (Carthage does not maintain a standing army) Himilco sends ten triremes to raid Syracuse itself.

The raiders enter the Great Harbor of Syracuse and destroy all the ships they can find.

Himilco next mans one hundred triremes with picked crews and sails to Selinus, arriving at night.

From there, the Punic navy sails to Motya the following day and falls on the transports beached near Lilybaeum, destroying all that lay at anchor.

Then the Carthaginian fleet moves into the area between Motya and the peninsula to the west of the lagoon, trapping the beached Greek fleet on the northern shallows of the lagoon.

It is unknown why Himilco chose to go after the transports instead of attacking the beached Greek warships to the north of Motya.

The loss of the war fleet would have forced Dionysius to lift the siege, giving Himilco a chance to carry the war to Syracuse.

Dionysius in response launches his ships with a great number of archers and slingers and supports them with his land-based catapults.

The first nontorsion artillery (i.e., artillery using mechanical means to winch back, by means of a ratchet, a bow of unusual solidity but of a basically conventional conception) is attested from the Sicily of this period.

While these duel with the archers and slingers on board the Carthaginian triremes, taking a heavy toll and preventing Himilco from reaching the beached ships, Dionysius has his men construct a road of wooden planks on the northern isthmus, on which eighty triremes are then hauled to the open sea to the north of the isthmus.

Once properly manned, these ships sail south along the peninsula.

The Carthaginian fleet now facing encirclement, Himilco chooses not to fight a two-front battle against superior numbers, and sails away to Carthage, having accomplished little except making a sizable dent in Syracusan shipping.

Dionysius, once his engineers have completed the mole, brings forward his siege towers, which are taller than the walls of Motya and equal the height of the tallest buildings in the city.

A storm of arrows and missiles from archers and catapults clears the wall of defenders, then battering rams are employed against the gates.

The Phoenicians counter by putting men on ship masts, and protecting them with breastworks built on the walls.

These "Crows’ nests" are then put beyond the walls, and from these, flax, covered in burning pitch, is dropped on the siege engines, burning them.

However, the Greeks learn to douse the flames with fire fighting teams, and the engines finally reaches the walls despite Carthaginian efforts.

As the Greek troops advance, the Phoenicians launch a storm of arrows and stones from the rooftops and houses, thinning the ranks of on the attackers.

The Greeks push the siege towers next to the houses closest to the walls, and sends troops on the roofs using gangways, who force their way into the houses.

A fierce hand-to-hand struggle ensues, the desperate resistance of the Phoenicians (who expect no mercy from the Greeks) taking a heavy toll on the attackers.

After several days of dawn-to-dusk fighting, Dionysius sends a picked group of mercenaries under a Thruian named Archylus at night with ladders to secure vantage points.

The commandos manage to secure the positions before the Phoenicians discover their tactic, and the Greeks overcome all resistance.

Dionysius had intended to secure as many prisoners as possible for the slave market, but the Greeks vent their frustrations by indiscriminate killing of the population.

Dionysius can only save those who seek refuge in the temples.

In the aftermath of battle, he crucifies all the Greeks who had fought on the side of Carthage; it is not known if these were mercenaries employed by Carthage or citizens of Motya.

He sacks the city, divides the vast spoils among his troops, and garrisons the ruins with an army made mostly of Sicels under an officer named Biton, then marches off to continue the siege of Segesta and Entella.

It is not known what he did there, but the cities continued to resist.

The majority of the fleet sailed back to Syracuse.

...Modica.

...Modica, ...