MYLAE, BATTLE OF

(260 BC), conflict in the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage, whose navy had been harassing Roman peninsular and Sicilian coastal towns. At Mylae the Romans destroyed 50 Carthaginian ships, and the remainder of the enemy fleet fled. The battle marked Rome's attainment of dominance in Sicilian waters by turning sea skirmishes into land battles through the use of boarding bridges that doubled as grappling irons. With the help of these devices, Roman soldiers could board enemy ships to engage in hand-to-hand fighting.