Hippocrates and Epicydes

Sicily was predominantly anti Roman and pro Carthaginian but they mainly wanted to be an independent state, similar to when King Hiero ruled, but now things had changed and they were tired of the Romans. The Roman assault of the harbour walls of Syracuse under Marcellus had been thwarted by the ingenuity of Archimedes. He invented many devices along the walls that helped repel the Roman attack, including grappling chains that lifted triremes and quinqueremes out of the water and dropped them upright, smashing the ships and crew against the rocks. Arrows and catapults were fired through small slots in the wall. The Romans too, had their ingenious weapon designs, which incuded a type of javelin that couldn't be thrown back by the enemy. The wall of Syracuse extended around the city to the plain where Roman foot soldiers tried an assault from another angle. Hippocrates and Epicydes had been instrumental in regaining Syracuse. The people of the city certainly supported them. The boy king Hieronymous had been murdered at Leontini and subsequently other members of the royal family were tracked down and killed. Adranodorus and his colleague was killed in Syracuse. Adranodorus was a Roman married to a daughter of Hiero called Damarata. Another princess was tracked down in Egypt, living in the court of King Ptolemy and married to a bloke in Alexandria called Zoippus. She asked to be relocated to Alexandria, as she felt herself to be a neutral party, concerning the war. Nevertheless she was killed by Carthaginian perpetrators. Her two daughters tried to flee the house, but they eventually died of multiple stab wounds. A nasty situation happened at Henna. A Roman commander Panilius surrounded the rebellious citizens of the town who were vehemently pro-Hannibal. They wanted the Romans out of Henna. Panilius waited for the right moment when the unarmed mob began to resort to violence during a speech. Panilius gave a sign ( pulling on his toga ) and soldiers armed with swords, rushed from the rear of the forum and slaughtered the rebels. Roman soldiers hunted the streets and killed people indiscriminately. It was a terrible massacre, enough to put a lump in anyone's throat, but Marcellus didn't complain when he heard about it. Megara was involved; another Greek colony. Himilco came across with reinforcements and more elephants from Africa. Sicily was a vital grain station for both camps. Achradina was a part of Syracuse.