THE FIRST PUNIC WAR: 264-241 BC
1. And so it was “the Messana Affair” that sparked the 23year ‘First Punic War’.
2. Apart from a short intervention in North Africa by Rome,
the war took place in and around SICILY.
Stages of the First Punic War
The Opening Moves in Sicily (264 – 261 BC)
a) A small Roman force, under Appius Claudius Caudex (as
one of the two consuls of 264 BC), crossed over to Sicily and took
Messana [now a Roman ally] - but allowed the
Carthaginian garrison there to leave.
b) But when a much larger force crossed over, Appius
Claudius Caudex found himself confronted by two
armies – that of Carthage and that of Syracuse, but he
defeated each, since they didn’t work together.
c) A very large number of communities, both some under
Punic control and some under Syracusan control, now
sought an agreement with Rome while the Carthaginians
busied themselves raising a mercenary army.
d) Carthage fortified AGRIGENTUM (half way along the south coast
of Sicily), which the Romans then besieged.
e) Somehow the Carthaginians there escaped; Rome took the
city and butchered the civilian population.
f) The Roman aim was now to clear Sicily of the Carthaginian
presence BUT
1. Rome depended on set-piece LAND battles, while
2. Carthage could dominate coastal regions and
coastal communities using its FLEET.
3. It was clear that Rome could not succeed against
Carthage’s main base at LILYBAEUM (at the far
western end of the island) without naval forces.
Rome had to construct, for the first time, a substantial
FLEET to make any real progress.
LILYBAEUM
AGRIGENTUM
Conflict at Sea (260 – 256 BC)
1. Rome hastily built a fleet: the source of their knowledge
about how to go about this is controversial BUT
2. what they did do was incorporate a new device on their
warships – the CORVUS (‘the crow’) which enabled
legionary soldiers to board enemy vessels.
3. The corvus was first employed in 260 BC off MYLAE (west
of Messana) when Carthage lost about half of its 130 or so
ships and Rome lost very few of its 145.
4. Rome then (questionably) divided its efforts and
a) moved by land and sea against coastal communities in
SICILY, while also
b) attacking SARDINIA and CORSICA (where the
Carthaginians had a presence in coastal regions) to stop
raids on the coasts of Italy from there.
The corvus
which joined
ships together
to permit
boarding by
Roman troops
5.
Despite some Roman successes over three years and the
renewal of Carthaginian efforts in Sicily under
HAMILCAR BARCA, by about 256 BC a stale mate had
been reached.
War in North Africa (256 – 255 BC)
The Romans now decided to carry the war to North Africa to
challenge the Carthaginians closer to home:
1. A Roman fleet of perhaps 330 (transports and warships to
protect them) sailed round eastern Sicily to PHINTIAS
where two legions were waiting to join them.
2. A large Carthaginian fleet left LILYBAEUM (at the
western end) to meet the Romans as they set out.
3. They clashed off ECNOMUS.
LILYBAEUM
PHINTIAS and ECNOMUS
Even though Rome lost 24 warships, the corvi (“crows”) saw
30 Carthaginian ships sunk and 64 captured.
5. a) The Romans now crossed to North Africa while …..
b) the Carthaginians retreated to Carthage itself.
6. a) CARTHAGE (the City) could only be taken by a
blockade from both the sea side and from the land
side.
b) Roman forces, therefore, were active ravaging the
Carthaginian countryside and moving elsewhere along
the coast to attack some of the smaller communities that
were loyal to Carthage.
4.
CARTHAGE
7.
a) But winter was coming.
b) All the Roman legionary troops and some 75,000 rowers
would have to be fed if they all remained in Africa.
8. And so it was determined that
a) the bulk of the forces and ships, including captured
booty and, perhaps, 20,000 slaves taken in north Africa,
would go back to Rome; and
b) about 40 warships would remain with about 15,000
infantry and 500 cavalry.
9. BUT the consul who remained in Africa, M. Atilius
Regulus, appears not to have known that a Spartan general,
XANTHIPPUS, had come to Carthage and was organizing a
good mercenary army there.
10.
a) In 255 BC Xanthippus marched out from Carthage (the City)
with 12,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and elephants.
b) The 15,000 Roman forces were routed.
c) Only 2,000 escaped; 500 were taken prisoner; the
rest were lost.
11. When the news reached Rome, ships were sent to rescue
the survivors.
12. On the way they defeated a Carthaginian fleet off the
coast of Carthage at Cape Bon but
13. a) on the return journey, off CAMARINA (in southern
Sicily), nearly all the ships were lost in a huge storm.
b) A very large number of men drowned – since the
transports will have had a large number of rowers.
Note: Rome did not use slaves as rowers.
and free allies from states in Italy.
They will have been Roman citizens
CAMERINA
where most of
Rome’s ships
were lost
owing to a
huge storm
Extended Activity in Sicily (254 – 241 BC)
A. Rome had had to replace its large losses – which
(amazingly) it did in less than a year.
B. Carthage, while replacing losses too, had to reassert its
control in North Africa over areas that had broken away.
C. By the fighting season of 254 BC each side was ready to
renew the conflict - concentrating again on SICILY.
The Main Developments
The first six or so years of renewed activity saw:
1. a) PANORMUS (modern Palermo), a major Carthaginian
centre, taken by Rome.
b) As a result various communities went over to the
Roman side – leaving Carthage confined to the
western end of Sicily.
PANORMUS
(on the north
coast)
was taken by
Roman
forces in 254.
2.
a) In 253 BC Roman forces crossed to north Africa again
to weaken Carthaginian control over its allies, but
b) on their way back another 150 Roman ships out of 200
were lost in a storm.
3. Roman efforts in SICILY were only half-hearted during the
next two years (253 – 251), especially since reinforced
Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal, son of Hanno, were
able to ravage the countryside around Lilybaeum at the
western end of the island.
4. In 249 BC Rome returned to the sea in a major way and
attempted to destroy a Carthaginian fleet off DREPANA,
but the 120 ships under P. Claudius Pulcher, became trapped
between the shore and Carthage’s fleet.
Naval battle of
DREPANA
(249 BC)
The Roman fleet (of 120) was
almost totally annihilated with
the loss, perhaps, of 20,000
lives.
Roman commanders still did
not understand seafaring!
a) In 248 BC the seriousness of the situation saw
Rome appoint a dictator, A. Atilius Calatinus.
b) He set out from MESSANA with 120 warships and
800 transports and confronted a Carthaginian fleet
off Cape PACHYNUS (off the extreme south-east of Sicily).
c) But the Carthaginian fleet broke away to take
shelter because of an impending storm, in which …
d) the Roman fleet was almost TOTALLY wiped out.
6.
The next few years saw inconclusive fighting, both
sides at a very low ebb.
5.
CAPE PACHYNUS:
Again Rome suffered huge losses
because of a storm
The Carthaginian cause in Sicily was particularly poorly
served. Why was this so?
i) Hamilcar Barca could engage in little more than
guerilla tactics because of very limited resources;
ii) a major political upheaval at Carthage had seen the “war
party” ousted by large landowners who saw their interests
closer to home than in places like Sicily.
The Final Years
1. Building a new fleet in 243 BC, the Romans determined
that in 242 BC they would make a concerted effort against
LILYBAEUM (at the western end of Sicily) by sea to dislodge the
Carthaginians.
2. Although slow to recognize the threat, the Carthaginian
state did finally decide to return to Sicilian waters.
3. The decisive battle occurred off the AEGATES
ISLANDS [off the western end of Sicily] with about 200 ships on
each side.
i) Both parties “slogged it out” until the Carthaginian
fleet, having lost over 50 ships, conceded.
ii) Their remaining forces returned to Carthage.
iii) It was left to HAMILCAR BARCA to negotiate the
best terms he could obtain for Carthage.
AEGATES ISLANDS
(off the west coast of Sicily)
The Terms of the Treaty of 241 BC
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Carthage would retain its arms.
Carthage would withdraw from Sicily (and the small islands
between Sicily and Africa).
Carthage would recognize Roman possession of the small islands
north of Sicily.
Carthage would not attack the state of Syracuse (in SE Sicily)
Neither side would attack the other or its allies.
Neither side would recruit troops in the territory of the other.
Carthage would restore Roman war prisoners without ransom but
would have to pay a ransom for the return of Carthaginian
prisoners.
Carthage would pay a war indemnity of 1,000 talents of silver (30
tons) immediately and a further 2,200 talents (66 tons) over ten years
in equal annual instalments to Rome.
The Immediate Aftermath of the War
1.a) The ROMAN STATE, unlike its practice in ITALY, did
not make ALLIES (socii) of the city-states and peoples of
SICILY [other than the kingdom of Syracuse for the lifetime of its
‘king’ Hiero II].
b) Instead, Sicily was declared Rome’s first “PROVINCE”
(PROVINCIA) – an overseas possession subject to direct
annual taxation.
c) To Sicily was sent a praetor to act as “governor” for a
year – to oversee the “province”.
2. Carthage found itself in immediate difficulty without
sufficient funds to pay the MERCENARIES who had
fought for them (the bulk of its armed forces) for their
services.
3. This led to “the Mercenary War” in North Africa which
took some years to bring to an end.
4. a) During this war Rome (generously!) suspended
the clause which said that troops could not be
recruited by Carthage in “Roman” territory (or so we are
told);
BUT
b) took advantage of the difficulties Carthage was
experiencing to force Carthage to abandon all
claims it had to SARDINIA and CORSICA.
c) By 238 BC the two islands together became
Rome’s second overseas “possession” or
“province” (provincia) – subject to direct taxation and
the oversight of a “governor” (again a praetor).
There are two principal (but contradictory) interpretations
of this act by Rome. It has been argued either that
i)
the Roman state, after acquiring Sicily [if not before], had
very rapidly developed a taste for “empire”; or,
ii) aware that Carthage was very weak and unlikely to
reassert its control over Sardinia and Corsica (especially
since it had lost its navy), the Roman state moved in to
prevent the islands’ coastal regions becoming havens for
pirates - taking on its shoulders responsibility for
stability in the central Mediterranean, particularly perhaps
to keep its old maritime ally Massilia (Marseilles) [the Greek
state] happy.
So, within a very short time of the “First Punic War” ending,
Rome had two overseas possessions [“provinces”]: SICILY
(SICILIA) and SARDINIA-CORSICA (SARDINIA-ET-CORSICA).