# So, who all conquered Sicily? (yes, "who didn't" would be a shorter list) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565 "2005-07-14T19:45:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565/1 "2005-07-14T19:45:21Z")
I’m Sicilian on my father’s side, and I kinda generally knew a lot of people conquered it over the years, but damn. I did a Google search for “conquered Siciliy” and I’m not sure who didn’t conquer them. I think **I** got drunk and conquered them once. Here’s what I got (in no particular order): Greeks Romans Arabs Byzantines Normans French Spanish Moors, according to Dennis Hopper in “True Romace” (there are other references, of course) Vandals Ostrogoths Allies (WW2) Am I missing anyone? ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565/2 "2005-07-14T19:52:03Z")
The Carthaginians, circa the 4th century BC. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565/3 "2005-07-14T19:53:50Z")
The Carthaginians conquered the western part of it. And it was conquered by the Italians under Garibaldi in 1860 and eventually turned over to the Kingdom of Italy. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565/4 "2005-07-14T19:56:08Z")
Perhaps the Carthaginians, who fought with the native Greeks for control of the island through most of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. At their best, the Carthaginians held all of Sicily save Syracuse, but never really held it long enough to say they’d “conquered” the island. Still traces of their culture remain on the island, particularly in [Palermo](http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art115.htm). ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565/5 "2005-07-14T19:58:56Z")
Oh, don’t be so hard on your Sicilian side. Siciliy’s location makes it a major strategic prize. Everybody wanted a piece of it. Think of Sicily as the Jackie Kennedy of islands to conquer. Whoa! What a prize! Compare it to, say, Scotland, where my father was born. What kind of prize is a bunch of rocks populated by cranky sheperds? The Romans turned around and built Hadrian’s Wall when they met the Scots, savages clad in animal skins who hid in cliffs and hurled rocks down on the Roman soldiers marching below them in formation. Scotland is viewed differently now we know there is oil offshore. Prior to that, Scotland’s value as a strategic prize was to Siciliy’s as Janet Reno is to Elizabeth Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565/6 "2005-07-14T19:58:58Z")
Me, in various Civilization games, Europa Universalis 2 and Crusader Kings World conquest is fun, what can I say? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-all-conquered-sicily-yes-who-didnt-would-be-a-shorter-list/312565/7 "2005-07-14T20:29:59Z")
Oh, Pshaw. To listen to the Scilians, they just let people think they conquered it.