Punic Wars

The Punic Wars were three conflicts between Rome and Carthage from 264 to 146 BCE that turned Rome into the dominant naval and territorial power of the western Mediterranean. The First War, 264 to 241 BCE, was decided largely at sea, as Rome built a fleet, adopted the boarding bridge called the corvus, and broke Carthaginian sea power. Naval warfare in the period centered on the quinquereme. The wars ended with the destruction of Carthage and shaped the study of ancient seapower.