By 255 B.C., the Carthaginians were in dire straits, having faced the prospect of a Roman invasion of North Africa. However, the talented leadership of Xanthippus of Lacedaemonia and Hamilcar Barca managed to stave off defeat for another 15 years, but the unrelenting nature of the Romans in spite of military and natural disasters would bring an end to the First Punic War.
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>It was, therefore, because they [the Romans] saw that the war was dragging on that they first applied themselves to building ships β 100 quinqueremes and twenty triremes. They faced great difficulties because their shipwrights were completely inexperienced in the building of a quinquereme, since these vessels had never before been employed in Italy. Yet it is this fact which illustrates better than any other the extraordinary spirit and audacity of the Romansβ decision. It was not a question of having adequate resources for the enterprise, for they had in fact none whatsoever, nor had they ever given a thought to the sea before this. But once they had conceived the idea, they embarked on it so boldly that without waiting to gain any experience in naval warfare they immediately engaged the Carthaginians, who had for generations enjoyed an unchallenged supremacy at sea.
>One piece of evidence of their extraordinary daring and of the truth of my account, is this. When they first ventured to transport their forces to Messana, not only had they no decked ships, but no warships at all, not so much as a single galley. They merely borrowed penteconters and triremes from the Tarentines, the Locrians and the people of Elea and Neapolis, and ferried the troops across at great risk. It was on this occasion that the Carthaginians sailed out to attack them as they were crossing the straits, and one of their decked ships, in their eagerness to overtake the transports, ventured too near the shore, ran aground, and fell into the hands of the Romans. It was this ship which they proceeded to use as a model, and they built their whole fleet according to its specifications; from which it is clear that but for this accident they would have been prevented from carrying out their programme for sheer lack of the necessary knowledge.
>As it was, those who had been given the task of ship-building occupied themselves with the construction work, while others collected the crews and began to teach them to row on shore in the following way. They placed the men along the rowersβ benches on dry land, seating them in the same order as if they were on those of an actual vessel, and then stationing the keleustes [crewman who called the time, regulating the pace and rhythm of the rowing] in the middle, they trained them to swing back their bodies in unison bringing their hands up to them, then to move forwards again thrusting their hands in front of them, and to begin an
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The First Punic War, lasting from 264 to 241 B.C., was the longest uninterrupted war in the ancient world, fought between the Roman Republic and the Phoenician city-state of Carthage. Exploring the origins of the conflict is essential, tracing the earliest instances of Romano-Punic relations to the intervention of Rome on the behalf of the Mamertines in 264. While the Romans may be able to hold their own in land engagements, will they be able to meet the awesome nautical power of Carthage and emerge victorious in the clash off Cape Ecnomus, the largest naval battle in the ancient world?
Slaves are most known for upsetting the structure of the Roman economy, producing poor people who suddenly wanted the rights of the army and political participation, and made populism a big thing, with the rise of the Latifundia. How much of the population had to be slaves before and after in order for this shift to be so strong?
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the final AoE: DE campaign review - The First Punic War, which was first featured in the demo version of The Rise of Rome expansion and covered the exploits of the Carthaginians during the said war.
As always, the review focuses on the changes to the map, objectives and starting positions and historicity compared with the original campaign.
Some of the scenarios have been renamed so the original name has been added in brackets where applicable.
Spoilers ahead - you have been warned.
1. The Battle of Agrigentum (Struggle for Sicily) - The original scenario was effectively a tutorial and has been completely redone.
You now start in bronze age with a walled town in the eastern part of the map with most of your resources (albeit not very many) being located across a river that can only be accessed with transport ships but it keeps them safe from raids. You also start with a few hoplites and a war elephant - likely not coincidental as Carthaginians get bonus HP for both of these units types.
You will be facing two enemies, both called Romans, one to the west and one to the northwest of your base. They also start in the bronze age with walled towns and some military so early aggression is guaranteed. The objective is to destroy both enemies' government centres.
The map itself is fairly open and most of the resources are in no man's land so early expansion is quite crucial. You will also find some gaia cavalry in the west corner of the map described as your Numidian allies though they may not prove useful at all as they are stuck behind a forest and will have to wait for the enemy or yourself to cut through to let them loose.
In the original mission you started in stone age with a TC and 3 villagers while your enemy started in tool age with a small base and a few axemen and slingers. The objective was to kill all enemy military units. Very simple mission but it was the tutorial after all.
Overall a very positive change and a necessary one as there already is a whole tutorial campaign. As a sidenote, the Carthaginians have lost this battle historically speaking.
2. The Battle of Mylae - The map has been completely redone, but the objectives are still the same - to bring the two enemy artifacts back to your base.
The map now seems to resemble the Strait of Messina (between mainland Italy and Sicily). Your starting position seems to match the real life location of the town of Mylae, the Romans (red) are located across the
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The First Punic War, lasting from 264 to 241 B.C., was the longest uninterrupted war in the ancient world, fought between the Roman Republic and the Phoenician city-state of Carthage. Exploring the origins of the conflict is essential, tracing the earliest instances of Romano-Punic relations to the intervention of Rome on the behalf of the Mamertines in 264. While the Romans may be able to hold their own in land engagements, will they be able to meet the awesome nautical power of Carthage and emerge victorious in the clash off Cape Ecnomus, theΒ largest naval battle in the ancient world?
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