Timeline (Patris Burning)

471 Point of Divergence Death of Hieron I, tyrant of Syracuse. His younger brother, Thrasyboulos, convinces Hieron's son (Hiero) to give up his rights to the tyranny and takes over.

470 Thrasyboulos survives an attempt to out him by his family 11 months into his rule. Hiero, at the time out of the city, manages to flee and makes his way to Corinth.

469 Thrasyboulos institutes mass purges of his enemies, killing citizens across the lower, merchant, and aristocratic classes.

467 Thrasyboulos is finally ousted by his family. Due to the purges, not enough potential opponents remain to pose a danger to the family, and they are able to maintain a precarious/un-nm stable rule over the city, defined more by infighting than danger from the outside.

466 Gelan creates a new Sicilian League on its own, in opposition to increasingly poor leadership from Syraucse. They begin fighting Syracuse. Some members of the aristocratic and merchant classes from Syracuse who had fled from the city congregate in Gelan. Seeing an impending war with Agrigento for dominance and a possible Carthaginian invasion, they decided to appeal to Corinth for help.

466 Joint embassy from the exiles and Gelan goes to Corinth where they appeal for an intervention to overthrow the government.

Cimon in Athens, seeing the events at the time and envisioning the war to come, reaches out to Athens

460 Beginning of the Gelan-Carthaginian War. Corinth agrees to intervene in Sicily, both to protect the Syracusans and to ultimately protect Greek interests against barbarian influences. Originally they plan to reinstate Hiero as a new tyrant, but after he dies they decided to put in an aristocratic republic.

Learning of the potential Corinthian invasion, Syracuse attempts to make an alliance with Corcyra, another colony of Corinth with hateful feelings towards the latter.

459 Corinthian invasion of Sicily begins, with the support of the new Sicilian League. Initially successful, pushing the Syracusan army (now devoid of an effective commander due to the purges of recent years) back to the areas surrounding the city. Corcyra agrees and sends it fleet to harass the Corinthian fleet, arriving in June.

458. The Corinthian fleet is largely beaten and shattered in a series of battles, creating an awkward situation with Syracuse trapped on land but ruling the sea, and a dominant Corinthian-Sicilian army controlling the land.

457