Arif Hodzic

For the Romans, Miley was a morale-boosting victory.

But while they had won the battle, they were a long way from winning the war, which would drag on for another 19 years.

Rome and Carthage were in a kind of stalemate once again.

But now that Rome had built up a fleet and gained some experience of naval warfare, they were ready to take the conflict to the next level.

Now, they planned to invade Carthaginian territory in North Africa,

In 256 BCE, the Roman fleet set sail, but as they passed by the south coast of Sicily, on their way to Africa, they were intercepted by Carthage.

What followed was the Battle of Cape Echnemus, possibly the largest naval battle in history.

Each side had about 330 ships and 140,000 men.

The Carthaginian crews were far more experienced, and yet, after a chaotic series of clashes and many deaths on both sides, Rome was victorious.

After the battle, the Romans stopped in Sicily to prepare their ships before sailing on to North Africa.

We can imagine that they must have been feeling pretty confident, and even more so after their capture of Aspis in modern-day Tunisia.

But over the following year, the Romans' efforts in Africa had mixed results.

After the Romans captured another town, Carthage sued for peace.

But the peace terms offered by the Roman commander, Regulus, were seen as excessively harsh.

While we don't know exactly what the terms were, it's possible that Regulus wanted Carthage to give up the whole of Sardinia, Sicily, and more besides.

In any case, the Carthaginians decided that it wasn't worth it.

They would keep fighting.

At the beginning of our story, we mentioned the bloody battle fought near Carthage itself, the Battle of the Bagradas River, also known as the Battle of Tunis.

The Carthaginian army was now commanded by a skilled general from Sparta, Xanthippus

Under his command, with a strong cavalry and a hundred elephants, Carthage annihilated Rome.