battle

The Punic Wars | Part I

The Punic wars were a series of conflicts encompassing 43 years of war over more than a century, from 265 BCE to 146 BCE. They led to the Roman Republic controlling much of the Mediterranean world, to the ruin of a great North African civilization, and to many modern people speaking a Latin-based or Latin-influenced language. Our main source for information about the Punic Wars is the historian Polybius Read more

The Classic Ship | Part 3: The Battle of Salamis

"Each captain drove his ship straight against some other ship... When ... our ships had been crowded in the narrows, ... and each crashed its bronze prow against each of its own line, they splintered their whole bank of oars." In 480 BCE, King Xerxes proceeded to Athens, after his victory at Thermopylae, and his naval forces moved southward for the final stroke. Athens, a young but powerful democracy, and… Read more