The Siege of Syracuse by the Roman Republic takes place in 214-212 BCE, at the end of which the Magna Graecia Hellenistic city of Syracuse, located on the east coast of Sicily, falls.
The Romans storm the city after a protracted siege giving them control of the entire island of Sicily.
During the siege, the city is protected by weapons developed by Archimedes, the great inventor and polymath, who is slain at the conclusion of the siege by a Roman soldier, in contravention of the Roman general Marcellus' instructions to spare his life.
