HIMERA, an ancient city on the north coast of Sicily, on a hill above the west bank of the Himeras Septentrionalis, south of the present railway station of Buonforello 6 m. east of Termini Imerese. It was founded in 648 B.c. by Chalcidian inhabitants of Zancle and Syracusan exiles. Early in the 5th century the tyrant Terillus, son-in-law of Anaxilas of Rhegium and Zancle, appealed to the Carthaginians, who came to his assistance, but were utterly defeated by Gelon of Syracuse in 48o B.C., on the same day, it is said, as the battle of Salamis. Thrasydaeus, son of Theron of Agrigentum, seems to have ruled the city oppressively, but an appeal made to Hieron of Syracuse, Gelon's brother, was betrayed by him to Theron ; the latter massacred all his enemies and in the following year resettled the town. In 408 Hannibal, after captur ing Selinus, destroyed Himera, founding a new town close to the hot springs (Thermae Himeraeae), 8 m. to the west, which, how ever, soon became a Greek city. The only relic of the ancient town now visible above ground is a small portion (four columns, lower diameter 7 ft.) of a Doric temple, the date of which (whether before or after 48o B.e.) is uncertain.