First Punic War (264-241) begins with the Crisis at ...



First Punic War (264-241) begins with the Crisis at Messana, when Hiero II attacks the Mamertines. Appius Claudius Caudex sent to Sicily to protect Messana from the Carthaginians. The Romans finally move on Messana. By the end of the year, Carthage and Syracuse had been expelled from the neighbourhood of Messana, and Hiero was shut up in Syracuse.There was no triumph for Claudius upon his return to Rome |The Roman Assembly voted to accept the new alliance with Messana and send an army to Sicily, although Romans were tired of war | |

|263 |Consuls M. Valerius and M. Otacilius Crassus |  |The Carthaginian strategy: hold |

| |go to Sicily with 40,000 men. Several | |impregnable defensive points, |

| |Carthaginian towns taken. M. Valerius attacks | |control the sea, allow Rome to |

| |Syracuse with a large army. Hiero defects to | |exhaust itself. Fortune will |

| |the Romans. Valerius received cognomen | |eventually secure victory. |

| |Messalla for diplomatic success, and was voted| | |

| |a triumph | | |

|262 |The struggle for Agrigentum (262-261): A Carthaginian relief force was beaten off. |  |

| |Romans realize that the war has widened significantly and to win it they must drive | |

| |Carthage out of Sicily. To do so, they must have sea power. | |

|261 |Carthaginians within the city withdrew and the Romans finally took the city. |Polybius says the Romans used a |

| |Agrigentum sacked, people sold as slaves. Their action aroused more hatred than fear. |beached Carthaginian ship as a |

| |Carthage no longer willing to meet Romans in the field. The Romans now began to attack|model. |

| |Greek cities allied with the Carthaginians. Carthage made better progress in Sicily on| |

| |anti-Roman sentiment, sent in Hamilcar. | |

| |Punic naval squadrons raid the Italian coast. Rome decides to develop a navy 100 | |

| |quinquiremes and 20 triremes equipped ships with new "secret weapon" the corvus, | |

| |(‘raven’ or ‘crow’) a spiked boarding bridge, which converts a sea battle into a land | |

| |battle. | |

|260 |First Naval Engagements. Carthaginian navy defeated a Roman naval squadron at Lipara |  |

| |Islands and Scipio 'Asina' captured.. | |

|  |Sea battle at Mylae the Roman admiral Gaius Duilius defeated a Carthaginian squadron |Great celebration at Rome. Duilius|

| |of more maneuverable ships by grappling and boarding. The Roman fleet is using the |built a victory monument in the |

| |corvus.143 Roman ships defeated 130 Carthaginian ones, capturing 31 and sinking 14. |Roman forum, fragments of which |

| |Relieved Segesta |are preserved today. |

|259 |Consul L. Cornelius Scipio captures Corsica, |Carthage reduced to three strong points|The Carthaginians crucified their |

| |but attack on Sardinia fails. Corsica and |all in the extreme west of Sicily, but |unsuccessful commander Hannibal |

| |Sardinia - stalemate but it did not suffice to|continues her war strategy.  Victory at| |

| |loosen their grasp on Sicily. Scipio wins a |Thermae. | |

| |triumph. Carthage gains in Sicily -- Aquillius| | |

| |left there as proconsul. | | |

| |Another Roman naval victory. | | |

|258 |C. Sulpicius defeats a Punic fleet off Sulci; |  |  |

| |wins a triumph. In Sicily, Atilius Regulus | | |

| |attacks Panormus and captures Mytistratus. | | |

|257 |A third Roman naval victory, off Tyndaris. |Sardinia abandoned by Rome. C. Atilius |  |

| |Atilius celebrates a naval triumph. The Romans|Regulus raids Malta and sinks 18 enemy | |

| |decide that an invasion of the Carthaginian |vessels. | |

| |homeland in Africa was necessary to end the | | |

| |war. | | |

|256 |Roman fleet increased to 250 warships plus 80 transports. Carthaginian fleet grows to |  |

| |slightly smaller number. L. Manlius Vulso and M. Atilius Regulus in action off Sicily | |

| |capture 50 vessels, sink 30 more, losing 24. Battle of Ecnomus: A large Roman fleet | |

| |led by both consuls sailed out in and repelled the entire Carthaginian fleet off Cape | |

| |Ecnomus (off south Sicily, near modern Licata) by using the corvus again. | |

|  |Invasion of Africa Carthage besieged. Before |  |  |

| |the winter one consul returns to Italy with | | |

| |part of the troops. | | |

|255 |After one campaign the Carthaginians were | |  |

| |ready to sue for peace. The terms offered by | | |

| |the Roman consul Marcus Atilius Regulus were | | |

| |intolerably harsh. | | |

|  |Carthage fights back and they rejected the terms. A Spartan general, Xanthippus, and |The Carthaginians were to show on |

| |mercenaries defeat Regulus at the Battle of Bagradas. |several occasions that when forced|

| | |into a corner, they would fight |

| | |back with great determination. |

|  |Roman fleet of 250 defeats Carthaginian fleet of 200 off Cape Hermaeum. A Roman naval |Last invasion of Italy by the |

| |disaster - storm on the way home off Pachynus destroyed all but 80 of the Roman fleet |Gauls. |

| |- Regulus’ army is lost at sea. Rome rebuilds navy | |

|254 |Carthage recaptures Agrigentum. Roman fleet is rebuilt to 220 ships. The Romans | |

| |capture the important fortress port of Panormus (Palermo) falls -- Carthage reduced to| |

| |minor holdings in northeastern Sicily, but when Carthage moved reinforcements onto the| |

| |island, the war again came to a standstill. | |

|253 |Stalemate in Sicily Carthage at war with Numidia. Hanno the Great II expands territory|  |

| |in North Africa. | |

| |The Roman fleet Made a fruitless cruise of the African coast, missing the tide, | |

| |beached the fleet and then were wrecked in another gale at Cape Palinurus (Lucania) | |

| |and lost 150 ships. | |

|252 |For fear of the elephants brought to Sicily by the Carthaginians and the lack of ships|  |

| |there was little activity. Romans capture more towns in Sicily, including Lipara and | |

| |Thermae. | |

|251 |Late in the year, after Gaius Furius had gone back to Rome, Lucius Metellus won a |251 or 250 BC. the Romans rebuild |

| |victory capturing 100 elelphants |their fleet yet again, 50 new |

| | |ships managing 120 vessels. |

|250 |Carthaginian defeat at Panormus, followed by a siege of Lilybaeum (Marsala) City of |Regulus sent to Rome to negotiate |

| |Lilybaeum holds, however, during an 8 year siege. The Carthaginians asked for peace, |an exchange of prisoners. |

| |but the Romans again refused. Carthaginians again destroy Selinunte. Hasdrubal is | |

| |later recalled and executed. | |

|249 |Major naval defeat of the Roman fleet at Drepanum. |  |

| |Remaining Roman fleet under L. Junius Pullus shipwrecked near Camarina. Junius marches| |

| |ashore on Sicily and takes a strategic crossroads at Mt. Eryx. | |

|248 |Sieges of Lilybaeum and Drepana continue. Hiero's treaty expired Rome gave him |  |

| |friendship for all time | |

|247 |Sieges continue. Hamilcar raids South Italian |In in one of the most incomprehensible | |

| |coast. Rome abandons sea ventures. Rome and |decisions of antiquity, Carthage |  |

| |its allies continued the was but were |decided to lay up its fleet and | |

| |exhausted and nearly bankrupt.     |concentrate on seizing control of the | |

| | |North African interior to the southwest| |

| | |of Carthage. | |

|  | |Hannibal (the grace of Baal), the son |  |

| | |of Hamilcar Barca, born | |

|247-243|Hamilcar Barca arrives in Sicily, assumes control of the Carthaginian forces and |244: Brundisium founded. |

| |renews the attack. The Italian coast is raided frequently. By 244 Hamilcar is active | |

| |on Mr Eryx in guerrilla-type warfare. The Romans made no more progress than Hamilcar | |

| |Barca. Mt. Eryx is finally taken by Hamilcar (under siege since 249) | |

|242 |Rome builds 200 war ships. Successful ground and naval assaults are launched against |The Gallic allies of Carthage |

| |Carthaginian fortresses at Lilybaeum and Drepanum in Sicily. |defect to Rome. |

|241 |A fleet of 200 warships was equipped and sent out to renew the blockade of Lilybaeum |  |

| |under C. Lutatius Catulus. Decisive Roman naval victory at the Aegates Islands (March | |

| |10, 241). This victory, by giving the Romans undisputed command of the sea, rendered | |

| |certain the ultimate fall of the Punic strongholds in Sicily. | |

|  |Carthaginian home government told Hamilcar to |Sicily is organized as a province by |Construction of the Via Aurelia |

| |negotiate peace The last Carthaginian |the Lutatii, Gaius and Quintus. |from Rome to Pisa. |

| |fortresses surrender. The Carthaginians | | |

| |crucified the naval commander Hanno. | | |

|  |Roman victory The Roman victor, the consul C. Lutatius Catulus, settled initial peace |Roman intervention by Torquatus to|

| |terms after Rome increased the harshness of the terms. This officially ended the |suppress unrest at Falerii. |

| |First Punic War. | |

Official Terms of the Treaty:

1. All Carthaginian claims on Sicily were given up to the Romans.

2. Over 10 years, the Carthaginians had to pay a substantial indemnity (3200 talents; talent=75 lbs. of silver; roughly 240,000 lbs. of silver, which, according to modern calculations, is around $50 million)

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