The defeat at Agrigentum apparently does not …
Years: 260BCE - 260BCE
The defeat at Agrigentum apparently does not bar Gisco from continuing leadership.
In the following year, 260 BCE, Gisco returns as the admiral in charge of the Carthaginian fleet in the Straits of Messina.
The Romans are about to launch their first-ever navy, and Carthage had determined that this innovation should be thwarted.
Gisco defeats and captures the Roman consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina in the Battle of the Lipari Islands, which earns Scipio the nickname Asina ("Donkey").
However, this victory is robbed of practical meaning with the bulk of the Roman fleet continuing to maneuver in the surrounding waters.
Later in 260 BCE, Gisco is to engage this fleet and to be the first Punic general to encounter the Roman corvus boarding device with its deadly effect.
The Roman military is a land-based army while Carthage is primarily a naval power.
In order to compensate for the lack of experience, and to make use of standard land military tactics on sea, the Romans equip their new ships with this special boarding device.
This boarding-bridge allows the Roman navy to circumvent some of Carthage's naval skills by using their marines to board Carthaginian ships and fight in hand to hand combat.
Instead of maneuvering to ram, which is the standard naval tactic at this time, corvus-equipped ships can maneuver alongside the enemy vessel, deploy the bridge which attach to the enemy ship through spikes on the end of the bridge, and send legionaries across as boarding parties.
Gaius Duilius, a novus homo, meaning not belonging to a traditional family of Roman aristocrats, has managed, nevertheless, to be elected consul for the year of 260 BCE, at the outbreak of the Punic war.
As junior partner of the patrician Scipio Duilius had been given the command of the rear fleet, not expected to see much action.
However, the naivety of Scipio, which led to his capture in the Lipari encounter, has left Duilius as senior commander.
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- Sicily, classical
- Carthage, Kingdom of
- Segesta, (Elymian-Ionian Greek) city-state of
- Syracuse, Corinthian city-state of
- Camerina (Dorian Greek) city-state of
- Akragas (Dorian Greek) city-state of
- Roman Republic
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Showing 5 events out of 5 total
Years: 260BCE - 260BCE
Locations
People
Groups
- Sicily, classical
- Carthage, Kingdom of
- Segesta, (Elymian-Ionian Greek) city-state of
- Syracuse, Corinthian city-state of
- Camerina (Dorian Greek) city-state of
- Akragas (Dorian Greek) city-state of
- Roman Republic
Topics
Commodoties
Subjects
Regions
Subregions