Description : The city was founded around 688 BC by colonists from Rhodes and Crete, 45 years after the founding of Syracuse. The city was named after the river Gela, which in turn was so called from its winter frost ("gela" in the Sicilian dialect). The Greeks established many colonies in the south of what is now Italy, and for many centuries had a major influence on the area. Gela flourished and after only a century, a group of Geloi founded the colony of Agrigento. The expansion, however, led to economic and social strain, causing the plebs to leave the city and settle in nearby Maktorion. However, the revolt was opposed by the high priest of Diana and the exiled plebs returned to Gela. For over a century no further mention is made about the internal politics of the city by the ancient historians, until they note that a tyrant, Cleander, ruled Gela between 505 BC and 498 BC. After his death, power transferred to his brother Hippocrates, who conquered Callipoli, Leontini, Naxos, Hergetios and Zancles (present-day Messina). Only Syracuse, with the help of her former colonizing city, Corinth and Corcyra, managed to escape the Gelese expansion. When Camarina, a Syracusan colony, rebelled in 492 BC, Hippocrates intervened to wage war against Syracuse. After having defeated the Syracusan army at the Heloros river, he besieged the city but was convinced to retreat in exchange for possession of Camarina. The tyrant lost his life in 491 in a battle against the Siculi, the native Sicilian people.
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