What if the dominating Phoenician center in West Med was in Sicily and not Africa?

raharris1973

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What effects might this have if the central power base of alt-"Carthage" is in Sicily and colonies on the European or African continental shores are secondary and subordinate to it?

Is any location within Sicily more advantageous than another (west versus east for example)?

Could the alt-"Carthage" preempt Greek colonization in Sicily entirely?

Presuming Rome rises, is the geography of the Punic state more or less advantageous than OTL?
 
Unless this alt-Carthage (Lilybaeaum, Motya, Soluntum, Zyz, take your pick) has as large a population as the Phoenician colonies in North Africa to defend itself without much early support from the motherland, they'll be at the mercy of both the Greeks and the native Sicilian tribes (Elymians, Sicani, Sicels). Would they be less or more dependent on mercenaries or would they be compelled like Rome to grant citizenship to non-Phoenicians serving under this alt-Carthage's banner?

Sicily is quite mountainous. Our Carthage's military was composed of a compact core of Greek-styled citizen hoplites augmented by mercenaries and auxiliaries. Would this Punic state's army be modelled more on Celtic style of warfare?
 
Unless this alt-Carthage (Lilybaeaum, Motya, Soluntum, Zyz, take your pick) has as large a population as the Phoenician colonies in North Africa to defend itself without much early support from the motherland, they'll be at the mercy of both the Greeks and the native Sicilian tribes (Elymians, Sicani, Sicels). Would they be less or more dependent on mercenaries or would they be compelled like Rome to grant citizenship to non-Phoenicians serving under this alt-Carthage's banner?
Well, if we are changing the location of Carthage, then this alternate Carthage (founded 814 BC) could have been founded on the location of what would have been Messina (founded 700s BC) or Syracuse (founded 734 BC), pre-empting the strongest of the Magna Graecian rivals.

The presence of a rising, Carthage-like city-state in Sicily could have caused Sicily to be dotted with a few more Phoenician colonies to start with. Eventually a Punic alliance could subjugate the remaining Greeks on the island, maybe siding with some particularly ambitious Greek tyrant or mutinous mercenaries on the Greek side.
 
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