Anaxilas orAnaxilaus (Ancient Greek:Ἀναξίλας, Ἀναξίλαος), son of Cretines, was atyrant ofRhegium (modernReggio Calabria) inMagna Graecia. He was originally fromMessenia, a region in thePeloponnese.[1]
Anaxilas was master of Rhegium in 494 BC, when he encouraged theSamians and otherIonian fugitives to seizeZancle, a city across the strait inSicily which was then under the rule of the tyrantScythes.[2] Shortly after the Samian takeover, Anaxilas besieged the city himself, drove the Samians out, peopled it with fresh inhabitants, and changed its name toMessana, after his nativeMessene.[3][4]
Pausanias tells a somewhat different story. After the second war with theSpartans, Anaxilas assisted the refugees from Messina in the Peloponnese to takeZancle in Sicily.[6]
Anaxilas married Cydippe, daughter ofTerillus, tyrant ofHimera.[2] In 480 BC he obtained the assistance of theCarthaginians for his father-in-law, who had been expelled from his city byTheron, tyrant ofAgrigentum.[7] It was this auxiliary army thatGelo defeated atHimera. Anaxilas wanted to destroy theLocrians, but was prevented byHiero I of Syracuse, as related byEpicharmus.[2]
Anaxilas' daughter was married toHiero.[8] Anaxilaus died in 476 BC, leavingMicythus guardian of his children. The children only gained control of their inheritance in 467 BC, whenLeophron became tyrant. However, in 461 BC the new rulers were removed by a popular revolt of the citizens of both Rhegium and Messana.[9]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Anaxilaus".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
