Carthage's Revenge: 9 Days That Erased a City — Selinus

In the spring of 409 BC, the Greek city of Selinus believed the Hypsas River and three generations of stone walls made it untouchable. Nine days later, it did not exist. Sixteen thousand dead in the streets, five thousand marched in chains to Africa, and the walls pulled to their foundation stones — by an army that came not for plunder but for revenge. This is the Carthaginian general Hannibal Mago, grandfather's generation to the man who would later cross the Alps, settling a seventy-year-old debt born at the Battle of Himera. Grounded in Diodorus Siculus, Timaeus, and Philistus of Syracuse. ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 — They thought the river protected them 0:48 — Nine days, and the city was gone 3:51 — Himera, 480 BC: the debt no one forgot 8:21 — The quarrel with a smaller neighbor 9:47 — The diplomatic trap Selinus walked into 13:41 — The siege engines Sicily had never seen 18:08 — Day one: the decision that doomed them 23:19 — How a fortress fell in a week 29:29 — Why armies kept making this mistake ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This video is a work of historical interpretation for educational purposes. Ancient troop and casualty figures derive from Diodorus Siculus and are flagged as uncertain where the sources disagree. Reconstructed scenes are illustrative, not documentary footage. Tags: siege of selinus, selinus 409 bc, hannibal mago, carthage, carthaginian army, punic wars, ancient sicily, battle of himera, diodorus siculus, greek city states, ancient siege warfare, sicilian wars, syracuse, military history, ancient warfare, hypsas river, siege engines, battering ram, fall of selinus, ancient greece, mediterranean history, the war room files #AncientHistory #SiegeWarfare #MilitaryHistory