Battle of the Egadi Islands Archaeological Site

The Project Area
Since 2002, the Soprintendenza del Mare of Sicily has conducted a survey of coastal waters around the islands of Levanzo and Favignana, two of the Egadi Islands off Trapani. The Egadi Islands are situated along trade routes which have connected North Africa, Sicily and Italy for millennia. Ancient settlements along the west coast of Sicily, such as Eryx, Drepanum, Motya, and Lil

ybaeum served as trading centres within these regional networks. The three small Egadi Islands, which rise to over 150 m at their peaks, lie along the route between North African port cities such as Carthage, and Rome, as well as the coasts of Campania, Basilicata and Calabria, on the Italian mainland. Key historical events also make the seas around the Egadi Islands an important research area. In 241 BCE Roman and Carthaginian fleets clashed here in the final battle of the First Punic war (the Battle of the Egadi Islands). The ancient historian Polybius tells us that the Carthaginian fleet left the westernmost island, ancient Hera Maritima (Maretimmo Island), en route for the coast held by the Carthaginians, north of Eryx (Erice), but was surprised by a Roman fleet anchored on the eastern side of Levanzo Island. Considering the west-to-north wind directions noted, the battle probably took place near the island of Levanzo. An Ancient Naval Battle
The finds from the Egadi Islands provide archaeological evidence for the naval battle described by Polybius that ended the First Punic War in 241 B.C.; a critical discovery in that it offers the sought after convergence of the archaeological and historical records for ancient naval engagements. Warship rams, helmets, and amphoras discovered in situ in a concentrated area attest to the position of ship-to-ship conflict. This key battle was a crushing defeat for the Carthaginians, which ended the First Punic War in favor of the Romans and launched Rome on its path of expansion and empire. The ram finds expand the single best data set available to date for assessing historic naval battle sites, techniques of ram manufacture, aspects of warship construction, and the depositional fates of warships. Helmets form the battle landscape provide some of the earliest contextually-dated evidence for our understanding of naval warfare in the Mediterranean during the 3rd-c. BCE Additional helmets still to be collected and other expected armor finds will create an excellent dataset for this period. The amphora finds attest to the particular mission of the warships in this battle, and the particular fates of warships sinking during this historic battle. Finds from this remarkable historical event are held within the Favignana Maritime Museum.