Battle of Tyndaris
| date | 257 BC Chr. |
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| place | Tyndaris near Sicily |
| output | Victory of the Romans, tie |
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Agrigento - Mylae - Aeolian Islands - Sulci - Tyndaris - Cape Ecnomus - Aspis - Adys - Tunes - Cape Bon - Panormus - Drepana I - Drepana II - Aegatic Islands
The Battle of Tyndaris was a naval battle of the First Punic War that took place in 257 BC. BC before Tyndaris, today's Tindari , in the Golfo di Patti off the north coast of Sicily between the Roman and the Carthaginian fleet.
prehistory
Since after the first successes of the Roman army in Sicily no major land successes could be achieved - the Carthaginians entrenched themselves in the larger Sicilian seaports Drepanum , Panormus and Tyndaris, which were supplied by their fleet - the Romans increasingly relied on the strategy of these bases to weaken and gradually conquer by defeating the Carthaginian fleet in naval battles. The Roman fleet was only 260 BC. It was put into service by equipping it with a boarding bridge (" Corvus "), which quickly gave rise to a tactical advantage that paid off in the naval battle of Mylae, for example .
In 257 BC The Roman fleet was led by Marcus Atilius Regulus . When she was anchored in the Golfo di Patti and the Carthaginian fleet passed under Hamilcar, Regulus decided to battle.
The battle
According to Polybius , the Romans succeeded in capturing ten enemy ships and sinking eight. However, a number of Carthaginian ships managed to escape towards the Aeolian Islands . The battle is usually rated as a Roman victory; but it cannot be ruled out that Polybios overestimated the Roman success and that the battle actually ended in a draw. In any case, it was of little importance in the course of the war and is completely overshadowed by the battle of Cape Ecnomus in the following year , which ended with a clear Roman victory and enabled a first landing in Africa .