Mamertines The Mamertines ( Mamertini " sons of Mars " ) were mercenaries of Italian origin who had been hired from their home in Campania by Agathocles ( 361 – 289 BCE ) , Tyrant of Syracuse and self - proclaimed King of Sicily . After Syracuse lost the Third Sicilian War , the city of Messana was ceded to Carthage in 307 BC . When Agathocles died in 289 BC he left many of his mercenaries idle and unemployed in Sicily . Most of them returned home but some liking the climate and the prospect of adventure on a foreign island remained . They played a major role in the lead up to the First Punic War . In 280 BC , the Mamertines appealed to King Pyrrhus of Epirus for help . During this time , Rome began expanding into Magna Graecia , and the there also appealed for help . This action sparked the Pyrrhic War . Pyrrhus was proclaimed king of Sicily and began his fight against the Carthaginians , in which he scored several great victories . Pyrrhus , though a great commander , mistreated the Sicilians , who quit supporting Pyrrhus . After a few great victories , Pyrrhus abandoned his Sicilian campaign and returned whence he had come , to the states of Southern Italy . Pyrrhus fought one last campaign on the Italian mainland , but eventually returned to Epirus after the Battle of Beneventum ( 275 BC ) . Capture of Messana . The then - small band of desperados came across the walled Greek settlement of Messana ( now Messina ) . Messana was built on a strategic location on the north - eastern tip of Sicily on the strait between Sicily and Italy . Together with the fort Rhegium on the toe of Italy , it was the crossing point between Italy and Sicily . Being a peaceful people , the inhabitants allowed the travelling mercenaries into their homes . After a time , the mercenaries became restless and plotted to capture the town . One night , the mercenaries betrayed their hosts and killed most of the population , who were unprepared . In this way , they claimed Messana for themselves . The surviving Messanians were thrown out and the property and women divided . After their victory , the mercenaries named themselves the Mamertines after the Oscan war - god Mamers . Dominion over north - eastern Sicily . The Mamertines held the town of Messana for over 20 years . They changed it from being a bustling town of farmers and traders to a raiding base . The Mamertines became pirates on land and sea . Taking advantage of the peacefulness of the Sicilians they looted the nearby settlements and captured unwary trade ships on the strait , carrying their plunder back to their base . They captured prisoners and demanded tribute . During this period , they struck coins on which their name is printed and images of their gods and goddesses . Their exploits made them rich and powerful . They began travelling further inland , even as far as Gela . Decline . The Mamertine presence did not go unchallenged forever . In around 270 BC , the Mamertine exploits came to the attention of Syracuse , by word of the refugees from the settlements . Hiero II , a former tyrant who was by then the acclaimed King of Syracuse , began to gather an army of citizens with which to rid the land of the destroyers of the peace and rescue his Greek kinsmen . Hiero met with the Mamertines when they were nearing Syracuse . Marching out his troops , he first sent his unruly mercenaries forward and allowed them to be butchered by the Mamertines . The faithless part of his army disposed of , Hiero marched his citizen soldiers back to the city where he drilled them to a better fighting condition . Leading his confident army north , he found the Mamertines again at the Longanus River on the plain of Mylae where he easily defeated them , since the Mamertines were not accustomed to large pitched battles and had become reckless after beating Hiero ' s mercenaries . In the battle , Hiero captured the Mamertine leaders and the remnants fled back to the safety of Messana . Hiero had restricted the Mamertine activity and placed them in a dire situation . When Hiero returned to besiege their base ( Messana ) in 265 BC the Mamertines called for help from a nearby fleet from Carthage , which occupied the harbor of Messana . Seeing this , the Syracuse forces retired , not wishing to confront Carthaginian forces . Uncomfortable under the Cathaginian " protection , " the Mamertines now appealed to Rome to be allowed into the protection of the " Roman " people . At first , the Romans did not wish to come to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen a city from its rightful possessors . However , unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and get too close to Italy , Rome responded by entering into an alliance with the Mamertines . In response , Syracuse allied itself with Carthage , imploring " their " protection . With Rome and Carthage brought into conflict , the Syracuse / Mamertine conflict escalated into the First Punic War . Ironically , once the scale of the conflict had escalated beyond them , the Mamertines were lost to the historical record and their fate is lost , swallowed up in the larger events of the Punic wars . Legacy . After the First Punic War , the Mamertines are lost to history , although their name was not quite forgotten in the ancient world since " Mamertine wine " from the vineyards of north - eastern tip of Sicily was still known and enjoyed in the 1st century . It was the favourite of Julius Caesar and it was he who made it popular after serving it at a feast to celebrate his third consulship . Even centuries after the Mamertine occupation , the inhabitants of Messana were still called Mamertines . In his novel " Salammbô " , Gustave Flaubert writes of the Greeks singing the ' old song of the Mamertines ' : " With my lance and sword I plough and reap ; I am master of the house ! The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and Great King . "