Timoleon

Timoleon (tĭmō`lēən), d. after 337 B.C., Greek statesman and general, noted as the scourge of tyrants. A Corinthian, he went (344) with a small army to Syracuse in answer to the appeal of the Syracusans to their mother city, Corinth, for aid against Dionysius the Younger. Timoleon fought against Dionysius, as well as against Hicetas, tyrant of Leontini, who hoped to usurp Dionysius's power, and against Hicetas's Carthaginian allies. He drove Dionysius and Hicetas from Syracuse, set up a democratic government, and brought new Greek colonists. He defeated (341) a large Carthaginian force, but made peace (c.338) with Carthage. He also ousted (337) the tyrants from the other Sicilian cities before retiring from public life as a result of failing eyesight.