The First Punic War Part I | The Origins of the War, Rome Declares War on Carthage and Syracuse

The First Punic War was the longest war Rome had ever fought. What lasted from 264-241 will subsequently change the way Rome will operate in the Mediterranean Sea. While there is no Hannibal Barca or Scipio Africanus, there is the Senate. The Roman Senate is the driving force to victory.

Primary Sources:
Aristotle: Politics
Cassius Dio & Zonaras - Roman History
Cornelius Nepos: Hamilcar
Diodorus Siculus: Library of History
Livy Ab Urb Condita & Periochae
Orosius
Plutarch's The Life of Pyrrhus
Philinos
Polybius, the Histories

Secondary Sources:
A Companion to the Punic Wars
A History of Roman Sea-Power Before the Second Punic War by J. H. Thiel
The First Punic War by J. F. Lazenby
A Companion to the Roman Army
Oxford Classical Dictionary