Latest / The Story of Italy: Rome, Renaissance, and the Birth of Modern Europe — Fexingo History
The Punic Ships: How Rome Stole a Fleet and Won a War
In 264 BC, Rome was a land power with no navy. Carthage ruled the Mediterranean. But when war broke out over Sicily, the Romans did something audacious: they built a fleet from scratch, copying a wrecked Carthaginian ship. This episode follows the birth of Rome's navy — the quinqueremes, the corvus boarding bridge, the Battle of Mylae (260 BC), and the decisive victory at the Aegates Islands (241 BC). We discuss the consul Gaius Duilius, the naval contractor (not a senator but a carpenter), the logistical chaos of a first-time fleet, and how Rome's willingness to innovate turned the…
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