The First Punic War: A War of Worlds

The story of Rome's first overseas war against the Carthaginian Empire.

The First Punic War was the longest war in all of Greco-Roman history, lasting from 264 to 241 BC. It saw the largest naval battle in all human history. 

Clash of Two Empires

The year 264 BC was a fateful for Rome. The Republic annexed the remaining city of southern Italy. The Roman conquest of Italy was complete. What followed would be Rome’s first-ever overseas war. It was fought against Carthage, a Phoenician colony in North Africa. Hence, the name “Punic,” which comes the Latin punicus meaning “Phoenician.” 

By the 3rd century BC, Rome and Carthage were the two dominant powers of the Western Mediterranean. Like Rome, Carthage enjoyed geographical advantages. It was situated in the coast of North Africa, with a good harbor right at the Mediterranean’s narrow bottleneck around Sicily. Thus, Carthage controlled all sea travel going from east to west. 

Carthage

According to legend, Carthage was founded as a trade outpost by the Phoenician city of Tyre, located in modern-day Lebanon. Over time, Carthage became an independent state, owning an overseas empire of its own. It consolidated control over the local tribes of North Africa. Unlike Rome, Carthage did not incorporate its conquest or extend the rights of citizenship. Instead, Carthage forced defeated states to pay tribute. At the war’s start, Carthage was in an even better position than Rome to control the entire region. It possessed the entire coastline of North Africa, spanning from modern Libya to Morocco. Punic settlements were peppered across Spain, Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands. 

While the early Romans were farmers, Carthage was mostly dominated by the merchant class. Carthage earned its fortunes from its overseas colonies, which provided rich minerals. Mines in Spain and Sardinia were used to obtain silver, copper, and iron. The merchants of Carthage reached as far as Britain, where it got its supply of tin, a rare commodity in Antiquity. Merchants and mariners, such as Hanno the Navigator, passed as far as the Strait of Gibraltar and explored down the west coast of Africa. From these ambitious voyages, as while as inland trade, the Carthaginians obtained gold, ivory, and elephants. Elephants were trained and used by Carthage’s army. Carthage maintained a large merchant fleet, which participated in the international trade of luxury and consumer goods across the Mediterranean. 

Carthage’s professional army was much smaller than that of Rome, so it largely resorted to the use of hired mercenaries. Punic troops were recruited from the indigenous tribes and disparate territories of Carthage’s vast empire. Libyans were used as skirmishers. Spanish tribes were used as heavy infantry. Numidian horsemen were used for light calvary. Carthage’s war elephants were African, and were smaller than the Indian elephants used in the Eastern Hellenistic Kingdoms. An elephant was about 8 feet tall at the shoulder. 

Carthage’s most impressive feature was its navy, which was used to protect their merchant ships. The port of Carthage was able to hold as many as 180 ships at a time. Storehouses provided timber, rope, caulking, and sails. 

Carthage’s political system was a mixture of oligarchy and democracy. Superficially, it was similar to that of Rome. Carthage had its own Senate, elected magistrates, and a council of 104 judges. But real power rested in the hands of Carthage’s rich merchant families. 

The Carthaginians maintained the religious practices of their Phoenician ancestors. Each year, sacrifices were offered at the Temple of Melqart, in Tyre. They clung to rituals, even when those were abandoned in their motherland. Notably, Carthage continued to practice child sacrifice to the gods Baal Hammon and Tanit as late as 146 BC. High priests often held political office, and there was a close connection between religion and politics. 

Causes of War

There were several reasons why war broke out between Rome and Carthage. First, there were economic reasons. Both Rome and Carthage had their eyes on Sicily, which was a key to east-west trade in the Mediterranean. Sicily was home to rich Greek cities, such as Messana and Syracuse. Second, the Romans felt an obligation to protect their Greek allies of southern Italy from Carthage’s aggression. Third, after the Italian wars, Rome was left with a paranoid fear of rival powers. Fourth, Rome’s ambitious aristocrats were greedy for the glory associated with conquest. 

Rome and Carthage had many similarities. Both were founded around the same time, Rome in 753 BC and Carthage in 814 BC. Both were young, expansionist empires. But their differences were even greater. Rome boasted of a better army, comprised of citizen-soldiers who worked as farmers. Carthage ruled through its navy, while the ranks of its army was filled with mercenaries and foreign conscripts. Rome was an agrarian society, while Carthage was dominated by wealthy merchants. Rome was a Republic, but Carthage was more of an oligarchy. 

Outbreak

The war broke out over a minor dispute involved a group of mercenaries in Sicily, known as the Mamertines. The Mamertines led raids into the city-states of Messana and Syracuse, both in Sicily. Once a new leader came to power in Syracuse, the Mamertines feared retribution. They appealed to Carthage for aid in 265 BC. In 264 BC, under the sway of ambitious consuls, the Senate persuaded the Romans to send an expedition of their own. This caused Carthage with Syracuse against Messana and Rome. And then the war came.

Rome rapidly rushed over two armies, led by the consuls, into Sicily. They began an aggressive campaign. Syracuse flipped sides, and aligned itself with Rome against Carthage. The Romans proceeded to seize Agrigentum. Alarmed by these successes, Carthage recalled their commander in Sicily. 

The Romans were encouraged by these early victories, and they began to contemplate seizing all of Sicily for themselves. They realized, however, that they needed a strong navy in order to capture and keep the island. In 261 BC, the Romans began to construct a fleet. According to Polybius, the Romans were so inexperienced with sail, that they didn’t even know how to build a ship. Fortunately for them, a Carthaginian warship had recently crashed off the coast of Italy. It was captured intact, and Roman engineers copied the ship’s design. But the Romans added a feature of their own: the corvus. The corvus was a long, wooden axe-like structure that the Romans used to latch onto enemy ships. The Romans became increasingly ambitious and aggressive, invading North Africa itself. 

The Tide Turns…

Everything seemed to be in Rome’s favor, but the Romans’ lack of nautical experience soon caught up to them. The Romans never learned how to sail, and Roman admirals foolishly ignored bad weather. Their fleets were decimated. As many as a hundred thousand Romans drowned in a single afternoon. It was a nightmare. This was made worse by the corvus, which made Roman ships top-heavy. It made them easier to tip over amid bad weather. 

Even worse, Carthage sent over a new general into Sicily: Hamilcar Barca, the father of the famous Hannibal. The name Barca means “thunderbolt.” He was a dynamic general who, with lightning speed, recaptured most of Sicily’s cities. Now, the war turned in Carthage’s favor. 

An Uneasy Victory

At this point in the war, politics began to play a decisive role in its outcome. Despite the mounting losses, Rome’s Senate refused to capitulate. Each disaster renewed Rome’s thirst for vengeance against their Punic rivals. Meanwhile, in Carthage, a new political faction came to power, which focused on mainland Africa. They didn’t care about Sicily, and withdrew Carthage’s forces. Hamilcar was left without reinforcements. 

This allowed the Romans to regain their victories in Sicily. Hamilcar fought on, dragging the war into the 240s BC. While Hamilcar was neglected by his government, Rome had been building up yet another fleet. In 241 BC, at the Battle of the Aegates Islands, the Romans decisively defeated the hastily and undermanned Carthaginian fleet. Victory was finally achieved, after decades of conflict. Under the peace treaty, Carthage was forced to pay 3,200 talents of silver over ten years. Carthage had to surrender all claims to Sicily, ceding it to Rome. 

Legacy

The First Punic War was a turning point in Rome’s history. Not because Carthage was defeated, because Carthage was still a powerful rival. But because it brought Rome its first major overseas colony. This created a bureaucratic dilemma on how to administer Sicily. For Rome’s prior conquests in the Italian mainland, the conquered peoples were incorporated and given Roman citizenship. But the people of Sicily were more culturally alien to the Romans than the mainland Italians had been. 

The Romans decided to annex Sicily as a province, placed under the direct control of a Roman governor. Instead of supplying manpower for Rome’s army, Sicily was expected to pay annual taxes. This new policy would later be applied to all of Rome’s subsequent conquests. 

Carthage was down, but not out. The defeated power would rebound, and hostilities would resume with Rome just 20 years later.