Anaxilas was master of Rhegium in 494 BC, when he encouraged the
Samians and other
Ionian fugitives to seize
Zancle, a city across the strait in
Sicily which was then under the rule of the tyrant
Scythes. event at the
Olympic games, and struck this
tetradrachm to commemorate his success.
Pausanias tells a somewhat different story. After the second war with the
Spartans, Anaxilas assisted the refugees from Messina in the Peloponnese to take
Zancle in Sicily. Anaxilas married Cydippe, daughter of
Terillus, tyrant of
Himera. It was this auxiliary army that
Gelo defeated at
Himera. Anaxilas wanted to destroy the
Locrians, but was prevented by
Hiero I of Syracuse, as related by
Epicharmus. Anaxilas' daughter was married to
Hiero. Anaxilaus died in 476 BC, leaving
Micythus guardian of his children. The children only gained control of their inheritance in 467 BC, when
Leophron became tyrant. However, in 461 BC the new rulers were removed by a popular revolt of the citizens of both Rhegium and Messana. ==References==