Long after they secured a vast territory within Italy and won over the Samnites (their last serious threat nearby), the Romans found themselves embroiled in a bitter conflict with the Carthaginians, by then the naval superpower of the western Mediterranean (East was dominated by the Diadochi fleets, in particular Ptolemaic Egypt).įrom 264 BC onwards indeed, the Romans set foot in Sicily, for the first time outside Italy, in order to "help" Mamertines, Italic Mercenaries previously recruited by Agathocles of Syracuse and now set loose, unpaid, rampaging the countryside and capturing Messina, now asking the Carthaginian navy for help. ![]() The Romans went to naval warfare a bit late, compared to what they achieved on land.
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