GELON, tyrant of Gela and afterwards of Syracuse, raised himself to the supreme power in his native city of Gela by his military talents. The quarrels between the aristocracy and the plebs of Syracuse gave him an opportunity of interfering in the affairs of that city, and he so managed among the disputants that he ended by becoming its "tyrannus." He used his power so discreetly that Syracuse attained a degree of wealth, influence, and prosperity which reconciled the people to their bondage. The great event in Gelon's subsequent history was his defeat of the Carthaginians under Hamilcar at Panormus, on the same day that the Greeks defeated Xerxes at Salamis, B.C. 480. After Gelon had thus established his power, he made a show of resigning it; but his proposal was rejected by the multitude, and he reigned without opposition till his death, 478 B.C. His memory was held in such respect that, 150 years after his death, when Timoleon was erasing from Sicily every vestige of the tyrants that had once reigned there, he spared the statues of Gelon. (See SYRACUSE, and CARTHAGE.)