Geography of the Odyssey from historical inquiries that Hesiod had made. The 2nd century BC poet-historian Apollodorus of Athens sympathises with Eratosthenes, believing that Homer imagined the wanderings as having taken place in a kind of fairyland in the Atlantic; he actively criticises the standard identifications in and around Sicily, and refuses to offer any identifications of his own. The 2nd century BC historian Polybius discusses the wanderings in book 34 of his history. He refutes Apollodorus' idea that the wanderings were in the Atlantic on the basis of "Odyssey" 9.82, where Odysseus says that he sailed for nine days from Cape Malea in
Siege of Syracuse (278 BC) and Sostratus cooperated with Pyrrhus, he did not trust them. When Sostratus no longer felt safe and fled, he accused Thoenon of conspiring with Sostratus and had him killed. The Sicilian Greeks became hostile to him, with some cities allying themselves with the Carthaginians and the Mamertines. At this point he decided to return to Southern Italy to support the Samnites and Tarentines, who were losing the war with the Roman Republic. Siege of Syracuse (278 BC) The Siege of Syracuse in 278 BC was the last attempt of Carthage to conquer the city of Syracuse. Syracuse was weakened by