First Punic War

The First Punic War was first of three vicious armed struggles between the Roman Republic and Carthage. It lasted for 23 years, taking place from 264 to 241 BC, in the Mediterranean Sea area, especially in Sicily and North Africa. The root cause was the clash of geopolitical influence that these powerful city-states tried to exert over all the other cities and ports in the Mediterranean region.

Since it was a large merchant empire, Carthage was very interested in expanding its hegemony to southern Italy. Therefore, the immediate cause of the First Punic War was a struggle for Sicily as the Carthaginians regarded this island as an important hub of their trading activity and maritime area of influence.

The Sicilian city of Messana held an strategic geographic position on the narrow strait between Sicily and southern Italy. It was attacked and captured by a group of Italian mercenaries called the Mamertines, who turned it into a pirates’ port, from where they carried out raids against Sicilian Greeks. To rid the island of mercenaries and renegades, King Hiero of Syracuse, which was also located on Sicily, carried out a military campaign and besieged Messana in 264 BC. The Mamertines asked both Rome and Carthage for help. The Carthaginian fleet arrived first, succeeding in forcing Hiero to lift the siege and pushing back his forces. However, instead of militarily and politically joining their savior, the Mamertines made an alliance with Rome.

The Roman forced the Carthaginian to withdraw. Nevertheless, Carthage would send a large army to retake Messana. In 263 BC, the Syracusans joined Rome, seeking protection against the Carthaginians and in 262, the Roman Army captured Agrigentum, a city and port on the coast of Sicily. Although Rome lacked warships at the beginning of the war, they managed of build a powerful fleet, defeating the Carthaginians at the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC. The Romans would obtain another naval victory at Cape Ecnomus in 256 BC. After an unsuccessful attempt to take Clypea on the coast of Africa, the Romans captured Panormous.

Although the Carthaginian commander Hamilcar Barca defeated the Roman forces in a series of battles from 247 to 242 BC, the Roman fleet managed to deal a vicious blow to the Carthaginian navy in 241 BC, near the Aegadian islands, west of Sicily. The loss of their navy forced Carthage to sign a peace treaty, in which they relinquished the part of Sicily they had conquered and the islands lying between Sicily and Italy to Rome. The Carthaginians were also forced to pay war reparations to Rome.

Below, the ruins of the ancient city of Agrigentum, in Sicily. It was besieged and plundered by the Romans at the beginning of the war.

 

Below, the naval battle of Mylae in 260 BC. From a 16th century painting.