TIMO'LEON (Lat., from Gk. nualtuv, Tinto icon) ( 337). A Greek general, and the liberator of Sicily from the dominion of the tyrant Dionysius the Younger. He was born at Corinth, perhaps about B.C. 394, and was a mem ber of one of the noblest and most illustrious of Corinthian families. On one occasion in battle he saved his brother Timophanes's life at the risk of his own, but, when Timophanes at tempted to overthrow the democratic form of government at Corinth and make himself sole tyrant, Timoleou brought about his brother's death and the reestablishment of the old constitu tion. Just after this event, and while the Co rinthians were still deliberating with regard to the act, in n.c. 344, an embassy arrived at Corinth from Syracuse in Sicily, a colony of Corinth. requesting the aid of the Corinthians in the civil dissensions which were taking place in the. island. A force was sent to assist the Syra cusans, with Timoleon at the head. In Sicily at this time Ilieetas and Dionysius the Younger were both striving to obtain the supremacy in Syra cure. The force commanded by Timoleon was small, but he succeeded in a short time in driv ing both of the would-be tyrants from the city. After repeopling the almost desolate city by re calling the exiles, and inviting new colonists from Greece. Italy, and Sicily, he spent the next two years in enacting laws and organizing a constitu tion, villa he put on a completely democratic footing. The Carthaginians, alarmed at the re
viving power of Syracuse, and the prospect of union among the Sicilian Greeks, now sent an army of 80.000 men under Hasdrubal and Hamil car to subdue the whole island. Timoleon, with only 12,000 men, encountered them (n.c. 339) on the Crimissus. and gained one of the victories ever won by Greeks over He now proceeded to free the other Greek cities from the rule of the tyrants, and made a treaty with the Carthaginians, whereby the Halycus River was fixed as the boundary between the Greek and Carthaginian dominions in Sicily. Hicetas was driven from Leontini, and Mamercus from Catena, and free constitutions were con ferred upon all the Greek cities in Sicily. After his great work was accomplished Timoleon lived as a private citizen at Syracuse, respected and honored, until his death. Ile died in B.C. 337. having been blind for a considerable three pre viously, and was buried in the market-place of Syracuse, where a gymnasium, called the Timo leonteum, was afterwards erected over his tomb. Consult Plutarch's Life of Timoleon, the stand ard histories of Greece. and Freeman's History of Sicily (1S91-94).