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Carthage was the major power in the western Mediterranean. When Carthage began to expand in Sicily, Rome decided in 264 to send troops to the island, which started the first Punic Wars. After Rome built a fleet to match that of the Carthaginians, finally victory came in 241, at the high prize of 200,000 men and 500 ships lost. Rome’s Italian allies and colonists had supplied the needed reserves of manpower and material. The fruits of the hard-earned triumph were sweet. Carthage paid an indemnity of 3,200 talents of silver over the next ten years and ceded its territory in Sicily and, eventually, in Corsica and Sardinia. Rome had acquired its first overseas possessions, and the long process of adopting their government to the requirements of a far-fling empire began in earnest. Initial hostilities in the second Punic War were ignited by friction in Spain, where members of the Barca family, Hamilcar and later his son Hannibal (247-183), had been directing the creation of Carthaginian colonies. In 219 Hannibal took by siege the Spanish town of Saguntum, which had contracted an alliance with Rome. War broke out the following year. Also, during the early part of the second Punic War, the Roman government passed a special measure to restrict women’s possession or display of such luxury items as gold jewelry and expensive clothing. Hannibal defeated Roman troops sent to stop him, but could not take Rome itself. The tide turned in Rome’s favor with the appointment of a brilliant general, Publius Cornelius Scipio (236-183).
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