Arif Hodzic

About 13,000 Romans were killed and hundreds captured.

The Roman commander, Regulus, was taken prisoner.

The story goes that he was sent back to Rome to negotiate, but refused to agree to any peace terms or prisoner exchange.

So Regulus voluntarily went back to Carthage, where he was tortured to death.

At least, that's the story.

And it was a popular one, turning Regulus into a hero, a noble, patriotic Roman.

But this version of events is most likely a myth.

Regulus probably had a much more ordinary fate, wasting away in captivity, like so many other Roman soldiers.

By 255 BCE, just a year after their arrival, it was clear that the Roman invasion of Africa had been a failure.

They had no choice but to retreat.

However, the Carthaginians weren't going to let the Romans simply sail away.

They tried to block the Roman evacuation, intercepting their ships off Cape Hermium on the Northeast tip of modern day Tunisia.

But the Roman fleet didn't just consist of the escaping ships.

They were supported by a substantial new fleet, which had been sent to rescue the survivors.

The Battle of Cape Hermium ended in a defeat for Carthage.

This meant that the Roman ships could continue their withdrawal from Africa.

On the way back to Italy, however, disaster struck.

While sailing along the south coast of Sicily, the Roman ships were caught up in a sudden storm.

According to ancient sources, as many as 100,000 men lost their lives.

If accurate, this would make the incident the worst maritime disaster in history.