Arif Hodzic

The following year, the Battle of Drepina, modern-day Trapani, was fought off the west coast of Sicily.

Before the Romans launched their surprise attack, it's said that they carried out a divination ritual involving sacred chickens.

If the chickens ate the food, it boded well.

But on this occasion, the chickens refused to eat.

The Roman commander was apparently enraged by this bad omen.

If the chickens were not hungry, he said, perhaps they were thirsty.

He promptly threw them overboard.

This story is most likely a myth, but what happened next is well documented.

The Romans attacked, but were soon outmaneuvered by the Carthaginians, who still had the upper hand in terms of naval experience.

Most of the Roman ships were sunk or captured, a clear defeat.

And not long afterwards, there was another disaster off the coast of Sicily.

When news arrived of impending storms, the Carthaginian commander ordered his fleet to leave the area.

The Romans, on the other hand, didn't get out in time.

They lost 120 ships.

It's no wonder that after all the storms and losses at sea, the Romans were demoralized.

Seven years passed before they built another fleet.

Despite some successes, Carthage was also demoralized.

By 248 BCE, it only had two major strongholds left in Sicily, Drepina and the city of Lilibium, modern-day Marsala,

In addition to having lost significant amounts of territory and manpower, Carthage was running out of money.

War was expensive.