Il re Agatocle nello spazio ionico: prospettive e modelli

In 306 B.C. Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, proclaims himself basileus by imitation\ud of the Diadochi of Alexander: this date marks his political life and the definition of autocratic power in Syracuse and in Sicily. Above all, Agathocles was a\ud great strategos: according to Diodorus he based his basileia on army, territory,\ud and military enterprises. Before 306, his largest and most famous enterprise is\ud his expedition to Libya; after becoming king, Agathocles turns back to Italy and\ud to the Ionian area. In this strategic plan, he resumes some aspects of Dionysius’\ud political project: in fact Dionysius and Alexander the Great were his most important\ud models. At the same time, Agathocles wanted a stronger role in the Mediterranean\ud balance of power. Unfortunately this stage is badly documented both in\ud literary and historiographic sources, but it’s evident he pursued a meaningful relationship\ud not only with Ptolemy of Egypt, but with Macedon and the Macedonians.\ud The focus of this political relation was the island of Corcyra: it was besieged\ud by Cassander and freed by Agathocles. The Syracusan king gave it as dowry to\ud his daughter Lanassa, who married Pyrrhus in 295 and then, in 291, Demetrius\ud Poliorcetes: the latter probably intended to enlarge his power towards the West\ud and particularly towards Sicily. At that moment, Corcyra was the centre of a\ud network of relations among the new Hellenistic kings