Siege of Drepana
The Siege of Drepana took place from about 249 to 241 BC during the First Punic War.
Drepana and Lilybaeum (today Marsala) were two Carthaginian naval strongholds on the western end of Sicily that came under prolonged Roman attack. During the beginning of the siege, the naval victory of the Carthaginians over the Roman Republic at the Battle of Drepana destroyed the Roman naval blockade and allowed the Carthaginians to provide support for the two besieged ports via the sea. The access by land to Drepana was controlled by Mount Eryx and was contested by both armies with the Romans eventually prevailing.
In 241, the Romans under Gaius Lutatius Catulus had rebuilt their fleet and intensified their siege to Drepana forcing the Carthaginians to send a fleet for support. The fleet from Carthago was intercepted and destroyed by the newly built Roman fleet during the Battle of the Aegates Islands ending the First Punic War.
- Dillon, Matthew; Garland, Lynda (2005). Ancient Rome: From the Early Republic to the Assassination of Julius Caesar. London: Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 0-415-22458-6.
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