MAMERTINI

English Mamertines band of mercenaries from Campania, in Italy, who, by a shift in alliances, touched off the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage (264241 BC). Their name was derived from Mamers, the Sabellian war god. Originally hired by Syracuse, in Sicily, they deserted, seized the Greek colony of Messana (Messina) c. 288, and plundered the surrounding territory. When Hieron II of Syracuse blockaded Messana c. 265, the band appealed for and received troop support from the Carthaginians. In a sudden reversal the Mamertini spurned Carthage and accepted forces from Rome. The gathering of the two rival intervening armies precipitated the general war. The inhabitants of Messana were still called Mamertines at least as late as the 1st century BC.