Portal:Gelon II of Syracuse
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Gelon, or Gelo, eldest son of Hiero II of Syracuse.
- Addressed as "King of Syracuse" in Archimedes' essay The Sand Reckoner
- Praised by Polybius for honouring his parents:
- "Gelo, who lived till over fifty, set before himself in his life the most admirable object, that is to obey his father, and not to esteem either wealth or royal power or anything else as of higher value than affection and loyalty to his parents."
- —Polybius, The Histories 7 (9)
- "Gelo, who lived till over fifty, set before himself in his life the most admirable object, that is to obey his father, and not to esteem either wealth or royal power or anything else as of higher value than affection and loyalty to his parents."
- Died, possibly at his own father's hands, after defecting to the Carthaginians after the Battle of Cannae:
- "Gelo, the eldest son of the family, treating with equal contempt his aged father and the alliance with Rome, after the defeat of Cannae, went over to the Carthaginians. He was arming the natives and making friendly overtures to the cities in alliance with Rome and would have brought about a revolution in Sicily had he not been removed by the hand of death, a death so opportune that it cast suspicion even on his father."
- —Livy, From the Founding of the City 23 (30).
- "Gelo, the eldest son of the family, treating with equal contempt his aged father and the alliance with Rome, after the defeat of Cannae, went over to the Carthaginians. He was arming the natives and making friendly overtures to the cities in alliance with Rome and would have brought about a revolution in Sicily had he not been removed by the hand of death, a death so opportune that it cast suspicion even on his father."