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Battle of Drepana Cont.
Later Weapons of Rome
Being resourceful, the Romans created a weapon near the end of the First Punic War in which they could utilize their infamous army at sea. This was known as the corvus. “In the Book III of his History, Polybius describes the corvus like a bridge 1.2 m (4 ft) wide and 10.9 m (36 ft) long, with a small parapet on both sides” (Ancient Roman Navy). The blade at the end of this plank also gave the Corvus the nickname of Crow or Raven because it looked like a beak. This weapon allowed the Roman ships to grapple enemy ships and allow their ground troops to transport to the other and fight land battles at sea. The corvus would later be abandoned due to the fact that it hindered the navigaiton of ships. The Carthaginian victory at Drepana was probably because of the newly formed navy of the Romans and the fact that they had not designed their main weapon: the Corvus.
Carthage Specifics and Strategies
Carthage was powerful city that contributed greatly to the Phoenician Empire. The city of Carthage was the one of the greatest cities of the Phoenician Empire and became the leader of the fallen empire and most of the colonies then joined Carthage. They had a prosperous trade center on the Mediterranean Sea and traded with cities and colonies from the far reaches of the Mediterranean by using their experience at sea, and this experience would expect to give them a great advantage over Rome. During the battle of Drepana, this was the case. Carthage was led by General Ad Herbal Amilcar. The Carthaginian force went into this battle having about 120 ships, but lost no ships compared to the Romans loss of 93. Once Herbal had regrouped in the open ocean and saw the weakness in Rome's fleet, “he saw a chance for victory and ordered the attack. He ordered his right flank to attack the rear-most Roman ships. The result was an utter Roman defeat, with almost all ships commanded by Pulcher sunk“ (“The Battle of Drepana“).
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