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Before
the First Punic War, 509--264 B.C.E.
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| Polybius of the
Achaian League, 167 BC, friend of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus: |
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Carthage:
Legislative
Responsibilities:
Council of 30
Nobles
Senate
Religious and Financial
Responsibilities:
Two Annually Elected
"Shofetim" or "Suffetes" ("judges")
Judicial Responsibilities:
104 Judges from
Ruling Families
Military Responsibilities:
Oversight:
Citizen Assembly
(with property requirements for membership) (Polyb. Histories 6.51-52:
"the people were supreme in matters appropriate to them")
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| 509-279 B.C.E.:
Carthage-Rome
Treaties (L&R 13, from Polybius): protection of economic spheres of
influence |
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284-272 (L&R
18):
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Rome, after Samnite
War, extends presence in s. Italy
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Campanian mercenaries
(the Mamertini or "sons of Mars") attack Italian Greeks
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Greeks appeal to Pyrrhus
of Epirus
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Pyrrhus defeats Carthage
and Mamertini but expelled by Greeks
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265: Mamertini's
political vacillations:
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Take Messana, threaten
Syracuse (King Hiero)
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Appeal to Carthage,
Carthage seizes Messana
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Appeal to Rome
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| 264:
Carthage allies with King Hiero; Rome declares war |
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First
Punic War, 263--241 B.C.E.
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Where: Sicily
and N. Africa
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Naval technology:
Punic quinquereme (50 oars) captured;
invention of corvus
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Epic battles:
50,000 infantry, 70,000 sailors on each side
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Terms:
Carthage loses Sicily, pays indemnity of 160 Talents (10,000 pounds) of
silver/year for 20 years
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Losses for Rome:
thousands of men, 500 ships
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Carthage's goals
in 1st Punic War: attrition
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Rome's goals in
1st Punic War: expansion
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Success:
manpower,
bold action, initiative, inventiveness
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Skidmore
Classics Homepage HI
202 Roman History: October
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