First Punic War The First Punic War ( 264 to 241 BC ) was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic . For 20 years , the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea , primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters but also to a lesser extent in Italy and North Africa . Carthage , located in what is today Tunisia , was the dominant Western Mediterranean power at the beginning of the conflicts . However , the Roman Republic eventually emerged as the victor , imposing strict treaty conditions and heavy financial penalties against Carthage . The series of wars between Rome and Carthage were known to the Romans as the " Punic Wars " because of the Latin name for the Carthaginians : " Punici " , derived from " Phoenici " , referring to the Carthaginians ' Phoenician ancestry . Background . By the mid 3rd century BC , the Romans had secured the whole of the Italian peninsula , except Gallia Cisalpina ( Po Valley ) . Over the course of the preceding one hundred years , Rome had defeated every rival that stood in the way of their domination of the Italian peninsula . First the Latin league was forcibly dissolved during the Latin War , then the power of the Samnites was broken during the three prolonged Samnite wars , and the Greek cities of Magna Graecia who were unified after Pyrrhus of Epirus finally left Italy , requiring the Greek Cities in southern Italy to submit to Roman authority at the conclusion of the Pyrrhic War . Carthage considered itself the dominant naval power in the western Mediterranean . It originated as a Phoenician colony in Africa , near modern Tunis , and gradually became the center of a civilization whose hegemony reached along the North Africa n coast and deep in its hinterland , and also included the Balearic Islands , Sardinia , Corsica , a limited area in southern Spain , and the western half of Sicily . The conflict began after both Rome and Carthage intervened in Messana , the Sicilian city closest to the Italian peninsula . Beginning . In 288 BC , the Mamertines — a group of Italian ( Campanian ) mercenaries originally hired by Agathocles of Syracuse — occupied the city of Messana ( modern Messina ) in the northeastern tip of Sicily , killing all the men and taking the women as their wives . At the same time , a group of Roman troops made up of Campanian " citizens without the vote " also seized control of Rhegium , which lies across the straits on the mainland of Italy . In 270 BC , the Romans regained control of Rhegium and severely punished the survivors of the revolt . In Sicily , the Mamertines ravaged the countryside and collided with the expanding regional empire of the independent city of Syracuse . Hiero II , tyrant of Syracuse , defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River . Following the defeat at the river Longanus , the Mamertines appealed to both Rome and Carthage for assistance , and acting first , the Carthaginians approached Hiero to take no further action and convinced the Mamertines to accept a Carthaginian garrison in Messana . Either unhappy with the prospect of a Carthaginian garrison , or convinced that the recent alliance between Rome and Carthage against Pyrrhus reflected cordial relations between the two , the Mamertines petitioned Rome for an alliance , hoping for more reliable protection . However , the rivalry between Rome and Carthage had grown since the war with Pyrrhus ; therefore , according to Warmington , an alliance with both powers was simply no longer feasible . According to the historian Polybius , considerable debate took place in Rome on the question of whether to accept the Mamertines ' appeal for help , and thus likely enter into a war with Carthage . While the Romans did not wish to come to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen a city from its rightful possessors , and although they were still recovering from the insurrection of Campanian troops at Rhegium in 271 , many were also unwilling to see Carthaginian power in Sicily expand even further . Leaving the Carthaginians alone at Messana would give them a free hand to deal with Syracuse ; after the Syracusans had been defeated , the Carthaginian takeover of Sicily would essentially be complete . A deadlocked senate put the matter before the popular assembly , where it was decided to accept the Mamertines ' request and Appius Claudius Caudex was appointed commander of a military expedition with orders to cross to Messana . Roman landing and advance to Syracuse . Sicily is a semi - hilly island , with geographical obstacles and rough terrain making lines of communication difficult to maintain . For this reason land warfare played a secondary role in the First Punic War . Land operations were confined to small scale raids and skirmishes , with few pitched battles . Siege s and land blockades were the most common large - scale operations for the regular army . The main blockade targets were the important ports , since neither Carthage nor Rome were based in Sicily and both needed continuous reinforcements and communication with the mainland . The land war in Sicily began with the Roman landing at Messana in 264 BC . If one follows Polybius , the course of events was the following : Despite the Carthaginian pre - war naval advantage , the Roman landing was virtually unopposed . Two legions commanded by Appius Claudius Caudex disembarked at Messana , where the Mamertines had expelled the Carthaginian garrison commanded by Hanno ( no relation to Hanno the Great ) . After defeating the Syracusan and Carthaginian forces besieging Messana , the Romans marched south and in turn besieged Syracuse . After a brief siege , with no Carthaginian help in sight , Syracuse made peace with the Romans . According to the terms of the treaty , Syracuse would become a Roman ally , would pay a somewhat light indemnity of 100 talents of silver to Rome , and , perhaps most importantly , would agree to help supply the Roman army in Sicily . This solved the Roman problem of having to keep an overseas army provisioned while facing an enemy with a superior navy . Following the defection of Syracuse , several other smaller Carthaginian dependencies in Sicily also switched to the Roman side . Carthage prepares for war . Meanwhile , Carthage had begun to build a mercenary army in Africa which was to be shipped to Sicily to meet the Romans . According to the historian Philinus , this army was composed of 50 , 000 infantry , 6 , 000 cavalry , and 60 elephants . According to Polybius , this army was partly composed of Ligurians , Celts and Iberians . In past wars on the island of Sicily , Carthage had won out by relying on certain fortified strong - points throughout the island , and their plan was to conduct the land war in the same fashion . The mercenary army would operate in the open against the Romans , while the strongly fortified cities would provide a defensive base from which to operate . Battle of Agrigentum . One of these cities , Agrigentum ( known to the Greeks as Acragas ) , would be the next Roman objective . In 262 BC , Rome besieged Agrigentum , an operation that involved both consular armies — a total of four Roman legion s — and took several months to resolve . The garrison of Agrigentum managed to call for reinforcements and the Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno came to the rescue and destroyed the Roman supply base at Erbessus . With supplies from Syracuse cut , the Romans were now besieged and constructed a line of contravallation . After a few skirmishes , disease struck the Roman army while supplies in Agrigentum were running low , and both sides saw an open battle as preferable to the current situation . Although the Romans won a clear victory over the Carthaginian relief force at the Battle of Agrigentum , the Carthaginian army defending the city managed to escape . Agrigentum , now lacking any real defenses , fell easily to the Romans , who then sacked the city and enslaved the populace . Rome builds a fleet . At the beginning of the First Punic War , Rome had virtually no experience in naval warfare , where as the strong and powerful Carthage had a great deal of experience on the seas thanks to its centuries of sea - based trade . Nevertheless , the growing Roman Republic soon understood the importance of Mediterranean control in the outcome of the conflict . Origin of Roman design . The first major Roman fleet was constructed after the victory of Agrigentum in 261 BC . Some historians have speculated that since Rome lacked advanced naval technology the design of the warships was probably copied from captured Carthaginian trireme s and quinquereme s or from ships that had beached on Roman shores due to storms . Other historians have pointed out that Rome did have experience with naval technology , as she patrolled her coasts against piracy . Another possibility is that Rome received technical assistance from its seafaring Sicilian ally , Syracuse . Regardless of the state of their naval technology at the start of the war , Rome quickly adapted . The corvus . In order to compensate for the lack of experience , and to make use of standard land military tactics at sea , the Romans equipped their new ships with a special boarding device , the " corvus " . The Roman military was a land - based army while Carthage was primarily a naval power . This boarding - bridge allowed the Roman navy to circumvent some of Carthage ' s naval skills by using their marines to board Carthaginian ships and fight in hand to hand combat . Instead of maneuvering to ram , which was the standard naval tactic at the time , " corvus " equipped ships would maneuver alongside the enemy vessel , deploy the bridge which would attach to the enemy ship through spikes on the end of the bridge , and send legionaries across as boarding parties . The new weapon would prove its worth in the Battle of Mylae , the first Roman naval victory , and would continue to do so in the following years , especially in the huge Battle of Cape Ecnomus . The addition of the " corvus " forced Carthage to review its military tactics , and since the city had difficulty in doing so , Rome had the naval advantage . Battle of Mylae . The Roman commander , Gaius Duilius , met the Carthaginian general , Hannibal Gisco , off northern Mylae in 260 . Polybius states that the Carthaginians had 130 ships , but does not give an exact figure for the Romans . The loss of 17 ships at the Lipari Islands from a starting total of 120 ships suggests that Rome had 103 remaining . However , it is possible that this number was larger than 103 , thanks to captured ships and the assistance of Roman allies . The Carthaginians anticipated victory , especially because of their superior experience at sea . The " corvi " were very successful , and helped the Romans seize the first 30 Carthaginian ships that got close enough . In order to avoid the " corvi , " the Carthaginians were forced to navigate around them and approach the Romans from behind , or from the side . The " corvus " was usually still able to pivot and grapple most oncoming ships . Once an additional 20 of the Carthaginian ships had been hooked and lost to the Romans , Hannibal Gisco retreated with his surviving ships , leaving Duilius with a clear victory . Instead of following the remaining Carthaginians at sea , Duilius sailed to Sicily to retrieve control of the troops . There he saved the city of Segesta , which had been under siege from the Carthaginian infantry commander Hamilcar . Modern historians have wondered at Duilius ’ decision not to immediately follow up with another naval attack , but Hannibal Giscos ’ s remaining 80 ships was probably still too strong for Rome to conquer . Hamilcar ' s counterattack . The Roman advance now continued westward from Agrigentum to relieve in 260 BC the besieged city of Macella , which had sided with Rome and were attacked by the Carthaginians for doing so . In the north , the Romans , with their northern sea flank secured by their naval victory at Battle of Mylae , advanced toward Thermae . They were defeated there by the Carthaginians under Hamilcar ( a popular Carthaginian name , not to be confused with Hannibal Barca ' s father , with the same name ) in 260 BC . The Carthaginians took advantage of this victory by counterattacking , in 259 BC , and seizing Enna . Hamilcar continued south to Camarina , in Syracusan territory , presumably with the intent to convince the Syracusans to rejoin the Carthaginian side . Continued Roman advance . The next year , 258 BC , the Romans were able to regain the initiative by retaking Enna and Camarina . In central Sicily , they took the town of Mytistraton , which they had attacked twice previously . The Romans also moved in the north by marching across the northern coast toward Panormus , but were not able to take the city . Invasion of Africa . After their conquests in the Agrigentum campaign , and following several naval battles , Rome attempted ( 256 / 255 BC ) the second large scale land operation of the war . Seeking a swifter end to the war than the long siege s in Sicily would have provided , Rome decided to invade the Carthaginian colonies of Africa and usurp Carthage ' s supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea , consequently forcing Carthage to accept its terms . Battle of Cape Ecnomus . In order to initiate its invasion of Africa , the Roman Republic constructed a major fleet , comprising transports for the army and its equipment , and warships for protection . Carthage attempted to intervene with a fleet of 350 ships ( according to Polybius ) , but was defeated in the Battle of Cape Ecnomus . Regulus ' s raid . As a result of the battle , the Roman army , commanded by Marcus Atilius Regulus , landed in Africa and began ravaging the Carthaginian countryside . At first , Regulus was victorious , winning the Battle of Adys and forcing Carthage to sue for peace . The terms were so heavy that negotiations failed and , in response , the Carthaginians hired Xanthippus , a Spartan mercenary , to reorganize the army . Xanthippus defeated the Roman army and captured Regulus at the Battle of Tunis , and then managed to cut off what remained of the Roman army from its base by re - establishing Carthaginian naval supremacy . Carthage ' s respite . The Romans , meanwhile , had sent a new fleet to pick up the survivors of its African expedition . Although the Romans defeated the Carthaginian fleet and were successful in rescuing its army in Africa , a storm destroyed nearly the entire Roman fleet on the trip home ; the number of casualties in the disaster may have exceeded 90 , 000 men . The Carthaginians took advantage of this to attack Agrigentum . They did not believe they could hold the city , so they burned it and left . Renewed Roman offensive . The Romans were able to rally , however , and quickly resumed the offensive . Along with constructing a new fleet of 140 ships , Rome returned to the strategy of taking the Carthaginian cities in Sicily one by one . Initial failure . Attacks began with naval assaults on Lilybaeum , the center of Carthaginian power on Sicily , and a raid on Africa . Both efforts ended in failure . The Romans retreated from Lilybaeum , and the African force was caught in another storm and destroyed . Northern advance . The Romans , however , made great progress in the north . The city of Thermae was captured in 252 BC , enabling another advance on the port city of Panormus . The Romans attacked this city after taking Kephalodon in 251 BC . After fierce fighting , the Carthaginians were defeated and the city fell . With Panormus captured , much of western inland Sicily fell with it . The cities of Ietas , Solous , Petra , and Tyndaris agreed to peace with the Romans that same year . Southwestern expedition . The next year , the Romans shifted their attention to the southwest . They sent a naval expedition toward Lilybaeum . En route , the Romans seized and burned the Carthaginian hold - out cities of Selinous and Heraclea Minoa . This expedition to Lilybaeum was not successful , but attacking the Carthaginian headquarters demonstrated Roman resolve to take all of Sicily . The Roman fleet was defeated by the Carthaginians at Drepana , forcing the Romans to continue their attacks from land . Roman forces at Lilybaeum were relieved , and Eryx , near Drepana , was seized thus menacing that important city as well . Following the conclusive naval victory off Drepana in 249 BC , Carthage ruled the seas as Rome was unwilling to finance the construction of yet another expensive fleet . Nevertheless the Carthaginian faction that opposed the conflict , led by the land - owning aristocrat Hanno the Great , gained power and in 244 BC , and considering the war to be over , started the demobilization of the fleet , giving the Romans a chance to again attain naval superiority . Conclusion . Stalemate in Sicily . At this point ( 247 BC ) , Carthage sent general Hamilcar Barca ( Hannibal ' s father ) to Sicily . His landing at Heirkte ( near Panormus ) drew the Romans away to defend that port city and resupply point and gave Drepana some breathing room . Subsequent guerilla warfare kept the Roman legions pinned down and preserved Carthage ' s toehold in Sicily , although Roman forces which bypassed Hamilcar forced him to relocate to Eryx , to better defend Drepana . Battle of the Aegates Islands . Perhaps in response to Hamilcar ' s raids , Rome did build another fleet paid for with donations from wealthy citizens and it was that fleet which rendered the Carthaginian success in Sicily futile , as the stalemate Hamilcar produced in Sicily became irrelevant following the Roman naval victory at the Battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC , where the new Roman fleet under consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus was victorious over an undermanned and hastily built Carthaginian fleet . Carthage lost most of its fleet and was economically incapable of funding another , or of finding manpower for the crews . Without naval support , Hamilcar Barca was cut off from Carthage and forced to negotiate peace and agree to evacuate Sicily . It should be noted that Hamilcar Barca had a subordinate named Gesco conduct the negotiations with Lutatius , in order to create the impression that he had not really been defeated . Role of naval warfare . Due to the difficulty of operating in Sicily , most of the First Punic War was fought at sea , including the most decisive battles . But one reason the war bogged down into stalemate on the landward side was because ancient navies were ineffective at maintaining seaward blockades of enemy ports . Consequently , Carthage was able to reinforce and re - supply its besieged strongholds , especially Lilybaeum , on the western end of Sicily . Both sides of the conflict had publicly funded fleets . This fact compromised Carthage and Rome ' s finances and eventually decided the course of the war . Despite the Roman victories at sea , the Roman Republic lost countless ships and crews during the war , due to both storms and battles . On at least two occasions ( 255 and 253 BC ) whole fleets were destroyed in bad weather ; the disaster off Camarina in 255 BC counted two hundred seventy ships and over one hundred thousand men lost , the greatest single loss in history . One theory for the problem is the weight of the " corvus " on the prows of the ships made the ships unstable and caused them to sink in bad weather . Later , as Roman experience in naval warfare grew , the " corvus " device was abandoned due to its impact on the navigability of the war vessels . Aftermath . Rome won the First Punic War after 23 years of conflict and in the end became the dominant naval power of the Mediterranean . In the aftermath of the war , both states were financially and demographically exhausted . Corsica , Sardinia and Africa remained Carthaginian , but they had to pay a high war indemnity . Rome ' s victory was greatly influenced by its persistence . Moreover , the Roman Republic ' s ability to attract private investments in the war effort to fund ships and crews was one of the deciding factors of the war , particularly when contrasted with the Carthaginian nobility ' s apparent unwillingness to risk their fortunes for the common war effort . Casualties . The exact number of casualties on each side is difficult to determine , due to bias in the historical sources . According to sources ( excluding land warfare casualties ) : Although uncertain , the casualties were heavy for both sides . Polybius commented that the war was , at the time , the most destructive in terms of casualties in the history of warfare , including the battles of Alexander the Great . Analyzing the data from the Roman census of the 3rd century BC , Adrian Goldsworthy noted that during the conflict Rome lost about 50 , 000 citizens . This excludes auxiliary troops and every other man in the army without citizen status , who would be outside the head count . Peace terms . The terms of the Treaty of Lutatius designed by the Romans were particularly heavy for Carthage , which had lost bargaining power following its defeat at the Aegates islands . Both sides agreed upon : Further clauses determined that the allies of each side would not be attacked by the other , no attacks were to be made by either side upon the other ' s allies and both sides were prohibited from recruiting soldiers within the territory of the other . This denied the Carthaginians access to any mercenary manpower from Italy and most of Sicily , although this later clause was temporarily abolished during the Mercenary War . Political results . In the aftermath of the war , Carthage had insufficient state funds . Hanno the Great tried to induce the disbanded armies to accept diminished payment , but kindled a movement that led to an internal conflict , the Mercenary War . After a hard struggle from the combined efforts of Hamilcar Barca , Hanno the Great and others , the Punic forces were finally able to annihilate the mercenaries and the insurgents . However , during this conflict , Rome took advantage of the opportunity to strip Carthage of Corsica and Sardinia as well . Perhaps the most immediate political result of the First Punic War was the downfall of Carthage ' s naval power . Conditions signed in the peace treaty were intended to compromise Carthage ' s economic situation and prevent the city ' s recovery . The indemnity demanded by the Romans caused strain on the city ' s finances and forced Carthage to look to other areas of influence for the money to pay Rome . Carthage , seeking to make up for the recent territorial losses and a plentiful source of silver to pay the large indemnity owed to Rome , turned its attention to Iberia , and in 237 BC the Carthaginians , led by Hamilcar Barca , began a series of campaigns to expand their control over the peninsula . Though Hamilcar was killed in 229 BC , the offensive continued with the Carthaginians extending their power towards the Ebro valley and founding " New Carthage " in 228 BC . It was this expansion that led to the Second Punic War when Carthage besieged the Roman protected town of " Saguntum " in 218 BC , igniting a conflict with Rome . As for Rome , the end of the First Punic War marked the start of the expansion beyond the Italian Peninsula . Sicily became the first Roman province ( Sicilia ) governed by a former praetor , instead of an ally . Sicily would become very important to Rome as a source of grain . Importantly , Syracuse was granted nominal independent ally status for the lifetime of Hiero II , and was not incorporated into the Roman province of Sicily until after it was sacked by Marcus Claudius Marcellus during the Second Punic War .