The First Punic War broke out on the island of Sicily where the Carthaginians had long had imperial ambitions. After the death in 289 of the Syracusan ruler Agatho-cles, who had built a powerful state, some of his mercenaries, known as Mamertines, had seized control of Messana, dominating the straits between Italy and Sicily. For years, the Mamertines successfully maintained their position and even extended it through raids that ranged widely over the island. When pressed by Syracusan armies - the victory gave Hiero, the Syracusan general, the opportunity to proclaim himself king - the Mamertines quickly found themselves in need of friends. Here, matters
Become less certain. Factions among the Mamertines appealed to Carthage and to Rome for aid, but the chronology is uncertain: the appeal to Carthage certainly took place during Hiero’s siege of the city, but the plea for Roman assistance may have come somewhat later. In any case, the Carthaginians moved first, installing a garrison in the city and effectively ending Hiero’s siege. The Roman response was slower: According to Polybius (1.11.1-3), the Senate feared that Carthaginian control over the island would represent a threat to their leadership in Italy but it did not act decisively. Instead, the consuls of 264, potential leaders in any expedition, persuaded a popular assembly to vote to dispatch an army, encouraging the citizenry with promises of plunder. Senate and magistrates, it should be noted, may have viewed Syracuse as the intended enemy rather than Carthage.1
Here, Roman intervention began with a request for assistance, and this same process will frequently reappear in the following decades. Greek and Roman authors often presented the Senate and magistrates as passive, waging war in response to the pleas of others for protection against aggressive neighbors or in defense of Rome and its interests against the assaults of competitors. This form of self-representation presents certain persistent problems in historical interpretation, for the reality behind responses to appeals can be difficult to discern. After all, states, even aggressive ones, can sometimes wage war for just these reasons. But responding favorably to pleas for assistance can also be an aggressive act: states can actively seek new communities to protect, especially in spheres where their perceived competitors are active, and they can decide to give assistance when it is convenient or useful. But still, eager benefactors do require willing beneficiaries (see also Chapter 26).
On Sicily, what began as a conflict between Syracusans and Mamertines spread to engulf the entire island. Some Mamertines, unwilling to accept Carthaginian leadership over their city, expelled their garrison, possibly with Roman assistance. At about the same time, Ap. Claudius Caudex (cos. 264) brought his army across the straits separating Sicily from Italy, despite the presence of a Carthaginian fleet. Hiero and the Carthaginian commander then decided to cooperate. In 263, both consuls led their armies into Sicily, and a number of Sicilian cities sought Rome’s friendship. Hiero, the consuls’ immediate target, made peace with Rome, formed an alliance, and paid a large indemnity. With the removal of the weakest of the three contending states, the war became a contest between the Romans and the Carthaginians. The consuls of 262 attacked Agrigentum, the Carthaginians’ base of operations, and, after a lengthy siege, their armies sacked the city. Polybius (1.20.1-2) maintained that the fall of Agrigentum encouraged the Senate to attempt to drive the Carthaginians entirely from the island. During the war, the Carthaginians were also engaged in wars of expansion in Africa.2
The bulk of the war consisted of small-scale land operations on Sicily and naval operations around the island. In 256, however, both consuls attempted to bring the war to a swift conclusion by attacking Carthage itself, perhaps in imitation of a similar assault by Agathocles. After some initial successes, one of the consuls, M. Atilius Regulus, who had remained in Africa, was defeated severely and his army largely destroyed. Except for raids on Italy or Africa, the remainder of the war was fought on Sicily. There, Carthaginian forces steadily lost ground. In 254, two consuls captured
Panormus, the modern Palermo, the largest city on the island that still followed Carthage. Combat in the later stages of the war concentrated around Lilybaeum, the chief Carthaginian fortress in western Sicily, and Drepana, the base for the Punic fleet. Early in 241, C. Lutatius Catulus (cos. 242) defeated a Punic fleet off the Aegates Island, and the Carthaginian position in Sicily became untenable. In the ensuing negotiations, the Carthaginians agreed to evacuate Sicily, return all prisoners, pay a large indemnity, and refrain from sending warships into Italian waters; Carthage and Rome both agreed not to attack the other’s allies.
The treaty did not end hostilities. At the close of the war, the Carthaginians brought their army back to Africa. There, this force - like all Punic armies, an uneasy mixture of Greek, Iberian, Gallic, and Ligurian mercenaries and soldiers provided by allies and dependant Libyan communities - revolted as a result of a pay dispute. After failed negotiations, the revolt spread to dependent communities in Africa. Polybius (1.65.6) described the so-called Mercenary War as ‘‘inexpiable’’ because of its savagery. The Carthaginians won the war, but the Romans took advantage of Carthaginian weakness to impose a further indemnity and to require that Carthaginian forces evacuate Sardinia, where the revolt had spread.
The First Punic War and its aftermath marked a turning point in Roman practice, although the Roman elite may not have realized this at first or intended it. In the long wars that gave Rome leadership over Italy, the Senate had not felt the need to send governors or maintain garrisons after the conclusion of successful wars. For seven years after Rome had forced Carthage to abandon the islands, consuls campaigned in Sardinia and Corsica, defending Rome’s position and the communities that had sought its friendship against the inhabitants of the islands’ interiors. With the resurgence of Carthaginian power in the 220 s (see below), the Senate may have also feared that its position in Sicily was threatened. Beginning with the elections for 227, Roman assemblies chose two additional praetors (for a total of four), providing more commanders to maintain and assert Roman interests, and from this time, the Senate regularly dispatched two commanders, usually praetors, to guard Rome’s position on Sicily and Sardinia. This change, it should be noted, marked the beginning of regular praetorian assignments away from Rome.
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