The Sicilian Wars are a series of conflicts fought between Carthage and the Greek city-states of Magna Graecia, headed by Syracuse, over control of Sicily between the years 480 to 307 BCE.
Carthage's economic successes, and its dependence on shipping to conduct most of its trade, for the empire's southern border is surrounded by desert, lead to the creation of a powerful Carthaginian navy to discourage both pirates and rival nations.
They have inherited their naval strength and experience from the Phoenicians, but have increased it because, unlike the Phoenicians, the Punics do not want to rely on a foreign nation's aid.
This, coupled with its success and growing hegemony, brings Carthage into increasing conflict with the Greeks, the other major power contending for control of the central Mediterranean.The Greeks, similar to the Phoenicians, are expert sailors who have set up trade posts throughout the Mediterranean.
These two rivals fight their wars on the island of Sicily, which lies at Carthage's doorstep.
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 is destroyed in 146 BCE by the Romans, the books from Carthage's library are 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.
