In 249, Rome lost another entire fleet to a storm. Carthage returned to mastery of the sea. Were there any trees left in Italy to build another fleet and enough plebeians to man it? You would think the Romans Read more…
Xanthippus was a Spartan who fortunately arrived in Carthage at just the right time to buck them up. He proceeded to make no secret of his disdain for Punic generalship. Put up or shut up, he was told. He Read more…
Here is the story of one of the great naval battles of the First Punic War. In 256 B.C., Rome sent a huge fleet of 330 galleys and transports to pick up most of its Sicilian army and drop it Read more…
The First Punic War began in 264 B.C. and early on it became apparent it would be a war fought for control of Sicily. Since Sicily is an island, Carthage was confident it would win because of its powerful navy. Read more…
In the First Punic War, all warships were wooden, oared galleys. The standard tactic was called the diekplus (“break through”). Fleets advanced line abreast (the galleys would approach in a side by side line). A few of the galleys would Read more…
The quinquereme was the dominant oared galley in the Punic Wars. Dionysius of Syracuse is credited with inventing it. Five referred to the five oarsmen that rowed a bank of oars. It is believed that this meant two oars (the Read more…
The return of Pyrrhus from his Sicilian adventure found Rome in bad straits. It was war-weary (constant warfare can do that to you) and suffering from a plague. In spite of that, Rome was still Rome. In 275 B.C., it Read more…
The first battle in the Pyrrhic War was fought near Heraclea in 280. Heraclea was located southwest of Tarentum on the sole of Italian boot. The Romans camped on the other side of a river. When a scout was Read more…
In 282 B.C., the city of Thurii asked Tarentum to help it against the Lucanians. When the Tarentines turned them down, Thurii asked Rome. As you can imagine, the Romans were only too happy to rescue Read more…
294 B.C. was marked by raiding by both sides and several battles. One of the battles saw the Samnites taking advantage of a thick fog to assault a Roman camp. They captured the tent of the quaestor (the lowest Read more…