History of Sicily

Sicily has been controlled by many great ancient powers such as the Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Spanish, Islamic, Byzantine, Catalan, and Hohenstaufen. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and its strategic importance for trade among the nations of the Mediterranean is of the utmost importance for getting the upper hand in trade. Greece began to colonize Sicily in 750 BCE, and the natives were absorbed into the Hellenic culture. During the Peloponnese War Sicily, particularly the city of Syracuse, was the target of the Athenians and there the Athenians lost the war. The Carthaginians also held some land on the western side of Syracuse while to the northern end the Romans had made themselves at home. During the First Punic War the Romans crushed the Carthaginians while in the Second Punic War the Carthaginians tried to take the island but utterly failed. the Vandals took over the island in 400 AD, then the Goths took it over in 488 AD, and then the Byzantines took it over in 535 but the Saracens soon conquered it in 652 AD. After the Byzantines took the island once again soon after they moved the capitol to Syracuse in 660 AD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily