Between the strongholds ran the Himera river, which both sides used as a defense against each other. For a long time both sides did not risk crossing the river in force. Diodorus attributes this to sayings from earlier times which foretold that a great number of men were destined to die in battle at this place. Both sides engaged in raiding their enemy's territory and camp. When Greeks were driving away beasts of burden from the enemy camp, Carthaginian troops pursued them. Agathocles set up an ambush for the pursuers near the river, who were easily driven back when they tried to cross the river. Agathocles exploited this opportunity to start the battle. He ordered his whole army to cross the river and attacked the enemy camp. The Greeks threw down the palisade and took the Carthaginians by surprise. They had no opportunity to form a line of battle and fought fiercely for the moat, but the Greeks won the contest. To counter the attack Hamilcar ordered his elite Balearic slingers to unleash a hail of stones on the attackers. Many Greeks were wounded or killed and driven away from the camp. Agathocles continued to attack the camp at other points and was close to taking the camp. The Greeks were then attacked by unexpected reinforcements from Libya which arrived by ship. The battle reversed itself and the Greeks fled to the Himera river or their camp. The Greeks withdrew over a distance of forty stades, about , while being pursued by the Carthaginian cavalry. Because the pursuit took place during the middle of the day most of the fleeing Greeks became thirsty due to the heat and drank the water from the Himera river. Because the Himera river is naturally salty (which is reflected by its modern name "Salso") many Greeks died from drinking its water. According to Diodorus the number of casualties caused by the river were roughly equal to the number of Greeks killed in the pursuit. He states that in the whole battle 500 Carthaginians and 7,000 Greeks fell. Agathocles had managed to survive and collected those who had survived the rout. He burned his camp and withdrew into Gela. Agathocles decided to remain in Gela for some time to divert the Carthaginian army from Syracuse. This allowed the Syracusans to harvest their crops. Hamilcar first tried to besiege the city, but gave up when he discovered that Agathocles had large supplies and enough soldiers to defend the city. He then visited the cities and strongholds which were still siding with Agathocles to win them over.