Anaxilaus (or Anaxilas)
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Anaxilaus (or Anaxilas): (d. 476 BC). Tyrant of Rhegium (Rhegion) (r494-476 BC). Soon after taking power in Rhegium, he was determined to dominate the Strait of Messina by seizing the city of Zancle (mod. Messina) on the opposite Sicilian shore. To this end, he negotiated with a group of refugees from Samos, promising them Zancle in exchange for their oath of loyalty. The plan fell through, however, when the Samians betrayed Anaxilaus and gave their support to Hippocrates, ruler of Zancle. Although thwarted in this first attempt, Anaxilaus finally succeeded in seizing Zancle in c490. He expelled all of the former inhabitants (including the Samians) from the city and repopulated it with new colonists drawn principally from Messenia in the Peloponnesus. It was this group who changed the city’s name to Messana, in remembrance of their former homeland. Anaxilaus soon came into conflict with Gelon I, the tyrant of Syracuse, and made an alliance against him with the Carthaginians. When the latter were defeated at Himera in 480 BC, Anaxilaus was forced to conclude a treaty with Syracuse which reduced him to becoming a dependant of Gelon. Turning his attention to expanding his power on the Italian mainland, Anaxilaus attempted to seize control of Locri in 477 BC. This also proved a failure when he was blocked by Hieron I of Syracuse, Gelon’s successor. Anaxilaus died the following year.