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| rdfs:comment | - The Greek-Punic Wars or, less properly, the Sicilian Wars, were a series of conflicts fought between the Carthaginians and the Greeks, led by Syracusans, over control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean between 600 BC and 265 BC. They were the longest lasting wars of classical antiquity.[citation needed]
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| Territory | - Carthage retains Western Sicily and the Greeks the Eastern until Punic Wars
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| Result | - Stalemate: Carthage gains 1/3 of Sicily, Greeks and Sicels retain the rest
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| combatant | - Carthage
- Greek city-states of Magna Graecia, led by Syracuse
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| Place | - Sicily, North Africa, Sardinia, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ionian Sea, Strait of Sicily, southern Italy
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| Conflict | |
| abstract | - The Greek-Punic Wars or, less properly, the Sicilian Wars, were a series of conflicts fought between the Carthaginians and the Greeks, led by Syracusans, over control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean between 600 BC and 265 BC. They were the longest lasting wars of classical antiquity.[citation needed] Carthage's economic success, and its dependence on shipping to conduct most of its trade (for the empire's southern border was surrounded by desert), led to the creation of a powerful navy to discourage both pirates and rival nations. They had inherited their naval strength and experience from their forebears, the Phoenicians, but had increased it because, unlike the Phoenicians, the Punics did not want to rely on a foreign nation's aid. This, coupled with its success and growing hegemony, brought Carthage into increasing conflict with the Greeks, the other major power contending for control of the central Mediterranean. The Greeks, like the Phoenicians, were expert sailors who had established thriving colonies throughout the Mediterranean. These two rivals fought their wars on the island of Sicily, which lay close to Carthage. From their earliest days, both the Greeks and Phoenicians had been attracted to the large island, establishing a large number of colonies and trading posts along its coasts. Small battles had been fought between these settlements for centuries. No Carthaginian records of the war exist today, because when the city was destroyed in 146 BC by the Romans, the books from Carthage's library were distributed among the nearby African tribes, and none remain on the topic of Carthaginian history. As a result most of what we know about the Sicilian Wars comes from Greek historians.
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