however, possibly influenced by their success, greeks started to employ spaniards themselves in the peloponnesian war, with alcibiades bringing some with him to the peloponnesian league after a recruitment campaign in sicily. the latter conflict also saw the participation of iberians in the athenian coup of 411 bc, helping the oligarchs under the orders of aristarchus of athens. in 396 bc, after the carthaginian general himilco abandoned all his mercenaries to their fate upon leaving sicily in the third sicilian war, the spanish peninsular forces were the only not to be annihilated. according to diodorus, they banded up in battle formation and offered dionysius i of syracuse their services, impressing dionysius into hiring them as a personal guard. later, in 368, his son dionysius ii sent a contingent of celts and iberians (an expression possibly meaning celtiberians or other spanish celts) to the theban–spartan war in order to temporally relieve the spartans in the siege of corinth, which they accomplished.