Siege of Drepana

Location of Drepana (today Trapani) and the Aegadian Islands

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.^[1] 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.

References

↑ 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.

Punic Wars

First Punic War	Messana Agrigentum Lipari Islands Mylae Sulci Tyndaris Cape Ecnomus Aspis Adys Tunis Cape Hermaeum Panormus 1st Drepana 1st Lilybaeum 2nd Drepana Mount Ercte 1st Mt. Eryx 2nd Mt. Eryx Aegates/Egadi Islands

Mercenary War	Utica Bagradas River Hamilcar's victory with Naravas Carthage "The Saw" Tunis

Second Punic War	Saguntum Crossing of the Alps Lilybaeum Rhone Ticinus Trebia Cissa Lake Trasimene Ebro River Ager Falernus Geronium Cannae 1st Nola Dertosa 2nd Nola Cornus 3rd Nola 1st Beneventum Syracuse 1st Tarentum 1st Capua 2nd Beneventum Silarus 1st Herdonia Upper Baetis 2nd Capua 2nd Herdonia Numistro Asculum 2nd Tarentum Baecula Grumentum Metaurus New Carthage Ilipa Guadalquivir Carteia Crotona Utica Great Plains Cirta Po Valley Zama

Third Punic War	Lake Tunis 1st Nepheris Port of Carthage 2nd Nepheris Carthage

Military history

Coordinates: 38°01′00″N 12°31′00″E / 38.0167°N 12.5167°E / 38.0167; 12.5167

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