initially (750–650 BC) did not resist the Greeks, but after the Greeks had returned to Iberia sometime after 638 BC, being virtually absent for at least two centuries, Carthage emerged as the leader of the Phoenician resistance. During the 6th century BC, mostly under the leadership of the Magonid dynasty, Carthage established an empire which would commercially dominate the Western Mediterranean. The Phoenician cities of Motya, Panormus and Solus in Sicily and the Elymians had teamed up to defeat the Greeks of Selinus and Rhodes near Lilybaeum in 580 BC, the first such recorded incident in Sicily. These cities remained independent until becoming part of the Carthaginian hegemony after 540 BC. Prelude: Phocaeans The Phocaean Greeks from Asia Minor (modern Turkey) had founded the colony of Massalia around 600 BC, which the Carthaginians had tried and failed to prevent. Massalia became a thriving trading center and a major rival of Carthage for the Spanish markets and the tin trade through Gaul. The Phocaeans also planted a colony in Alalia on Corsica around 562 BC. When the city of Phocaea itself fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia in 546 BC, most Phoceans moved to Alalia, partly because they were on good terms with the Greek colonies along the Strait of Messina and had even been granted toll-free passage. Later, after the battle, in 540 BC, they founded Elea in southern Italy (Magna Grecia). The Phocaeans had managed to establish their base at a time when Carthage was engaged in defending Punic colonies in Sicily (Greeks had started to encroach on Punic cities in 580 BC) and conquering territory in Sardinia, Tyre was facing Persian domination and the Etruscans were engaged in expansion across Italy, starting with the formation of the Etruscan League. The Greeks started to prey on Carthaginian and Etruscan trade from Corsica, which continued unchecked for five years. However, fearing that the Greeks would threaten their colonies in North Italy and Sardinia next, the Etruscans and Carthaginians joined forces to oppose the Greeks around 540 BC. It is not known if the Carthaginians had allied with the Etruscan League or with individual Etruscan cities. The battle It is assumed that the Phocaean Greeks had 60 pentekonters (ships with 48 oars and two rudders for steering), not the trireme that would become famous at the Battle of Salamis, and the allied fleet was twice as large, also composed of