The Romans forces in central Sicily take…

Hannibal Gisco had been recalled, but his fall from favor had not lasted not very long.

In 258, he is sent to Sardinia, which he has to defend against the Romans.

However, he is no match for the Roman commander Gaius Sulpicius Paterculus, who defeats him at the small-scale battle of Sulci, in which the Carthaginian loss was negligible.

Having lost the confidence of his peers, however, Hannibal Gisco is subsequently executed for incompetence shortly afterwards, together with other defeated Punic generals.

According to some references, he was crucified by his own men.

The Romans are able to regain the initiative in the next year, 258 BCE, by retaking Enna and …

…Camarina.

The Romans also move in the north by marching across the northern coast toward Panormus, but are not able to take the city.

The Roman Republic, in order to initiate its invasion of Africa, constructs a major fleet, comprising transports for the army and its equipment, and warships for protection.

Carthage attempts to intervene with a fleet of three hundred and fifty ships (according to Polybius), but is defeated in 256 by Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus and Marcus Atilius Regulus in the Battle of Cape Ecnomus off the southern coast of Sicily.

The defeat of the Egyptian fleet at sea by Antigonus II Gonatus of Macedon enables Antiochos to regain control of the Mediterranean ports lost by his father in the First Syrian War.

Antiochus reconquers much of Anatolia, including the cities of Ephesus and …

…Miletus.

Antiochus having overthrown a tyrant of Miletus after he recaptured the city, the citizens worship him in thanksgiving as a god.

He later organizes an empire-wide cult, as suggested by his epithet, Theos (God).

He also establishes the freedom of the other Ionian cities.

Further, he continues his predecessors' policies of encouraging the foundation of cities in his realm.

The unsuccessful course of Egyptian military operations against the coalition forces of Syria and Macedonia is compensated for, to a certain degree, by the diplomatic skill of Ptolemy, who in 255 first manages to lure Gonatus into concluding a separate peace.

Antigonus wins a naval victory over the fleet of Ptolemy II in 258 BCE.

Whether Gonatus' naval victory of Cos, which secures for him the Aegean Sea and the League of the Islanders, belongs to this (255 BCE) or to the Chremonidean War (261 BCE) is uncertain.