Phintias Of Agrigentum

Place: Acragas

Biography:

Phintias was an ancient Greek tyrant of the Sicilian town of Acragas in Magna Graecia. He established his power over Acragas during the period of confusion following the death of Agathocles (289 BC). War soon broke out between Phintias and Hicetas, the chief commander at Syracuse, in which Phintias was defeated near Hybla. However, after Hicetas was defeated by the Carthaginians, Phintias was able to extend his authority over a considerable part of Sicily. Among the cities subject to his rule were Agyrium and Gela, the latter of which he razed to the ground and from which he removed all the inhabitants to a new city he founded and named Phintias. He adopted a milder rule after his oppressive and tyrannical government alienated the minds of his subjects, and retained possession of the sovereignty until his death. Phintias assumed the title of king in imitation of Agathocles, and coins of his reign show the figure of a boar running on the reverse and a head of Apollo or Diana on the obverse. Those which show the head of Phintias himself are probably spurious.