Battle of Drepana

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Drepana
partof=the First Punic War
date=249 BC
place=Off Drepana, Sicily
result=Carthaginian victory
combatant1=Carthage
combatant2=Roman Republic
commander1=Ad Herbal
Hamilcar
commander2=Publius Claudius Pulcher
strength1=About 120 ships
strength2=About 120 ships
casualties1=None
casualties2=93 ships captured or sunk

The naval Battle of Drepana (or Drepanum) took place in 249 BC during the First Punic War near modern Trapani, western Sicily between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman Republic.

Prelude

The string of Roman naval victories, such as Mylae and Ecnomus, gave them the confidence to make a direct attack on the Carthaginian stronghold of Lilybaeum governed by Himilco. The city was blockaded by a fleet commanded by the year's consuls Publius Claudius Pulcher and Lucius Junius Paullus. However, despite the acquired Roman naval experience, the Carthaginians were still superior in open sea manoeuvring. A small squadron led by a commander named Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, managed to break the siege in broad daylight and deliver supplies to the garrison of Lilybaeum. In the night, Hannibal left the city carrying the useless cavalry horses and sailed to the harbour of Drepana, before the Romans knew what was happening.

The success of the enterprise was so stunning that the Carthaginians repeated it several times. For the Romans, this was more than a humiliation: it was annulling the whole effect of the siege, since the garrison was being fed and kept in contact with Carthage. Something had to be done.

Shortly after, a brave sailor, identified as Hannibal the Rhodian openly defied the Roman fleet by sailing around the fleet in order to spy on the town and relay the news of the goings on inside of Lilybaeum to the Carthaginian Senate and the Carthaginian commander at the battle, Ad Herbal.

Actions and consequences

Pulcher, the senior consul then decided to launch a surprise attack on the harbour of Drepana, where the defiant ships were garrisoned. The fleet sailed north from Lilybaeum in a moonless night. Carthaginian scouts did not spot the Roman ships but low visibility conditions compromised the battle formation. When they reached Drepana at sunrise, the fleet was scattered in a long, disorganised line with Pulcher's ship in the rear. Punic scouts saw the clumsy approach and the advantage of surprise was lost.

Meanwhile in the flagship, Pulcher performed the inspection of the omens for the battle, according to Roman religious tradition. The method ascribed for the situation was investigating the feeding behaviour of the sacred chickens, on board for that purpose. If the chickens accepted the offered grain, then the Gods would be favourable to the battle. However, in that particular morning of 249 BC, the chickens refused to eat – a terrible omen. Confronted with the unexpected and having to deal with the superstitious and now terrified crews, Pulcher quickly figured an alternative interpretation. He threw the sacred chickens overboard, directly onto the Mediterranean, proclaiming: "They don't eat, so let them drink!" ("Bibant, quoniam esse nolunt)(Cicero, De Natura Deorum, where it is reported in "indirect discourse." The Latin here reflects what Pulcher's actual words would have been).

In the harbour, the Carthaginians did not wait to see what the Romans intended. Admiral Ad Herbal had similar, though less controversial, quick thinking and ordered the evacuation of Drepana before the blockade was unavoidable. Carthage's ships thus sailed out of Drepana, passing south of the city and around two small islands in the coast to open ocean. Seeing the plan of a surprise attack fail, Pulcher ordered his fleet to regroup into battle formation. However, by then, everything was against him. The coast of Sicily was at his back and the Punic fleet ready for battle at his front.

Herbal saw a chance for victory and ordered the attack. He ordered his right flank to attack the rear-most Roman ships. The result was an utter Roman defeat, with almost all ships commanded by Pulcher sunk.

Aftermath

Publius Claudius Pulcher managed to escape and returned to Rome in shame, where he faced charges of treason. Unlike the Carthaginians, Romans did not execute generals for incompetence (cf. Hannibal Gisco), what brought Pulcher to the court was an accusation of sacrilege due to the chicken incident. He was convicted and sentenced to exile, with his political career finished.

In the same year, Hamilcar Barca (general Hannibal's father) led a successful campaign in Sicily and a storm destroyed the other half of the Roman fleet, commanded by consul Junius Paullus. The situation was so desperate that Aulus Atilius Calatinus was appointed "dictator" and sent to the island to control the land warfare. The Drepana defeat so demoralized the Romans that they waited seven years before building another fleet.

References

*"The Fall of Carthage", by Adrian Goldsworthy, Cassel
*"The Rise of the Roman Empire", by Polybius