Dr. Andrew L. Goldman, Professor of History, Gonzaga University

On 10 March, 241 BCE, the final naval battle of the First Punic War was fought off western Sicily, where a large Roman fleet engaged an equally large Carthaginian fleet near the Aegates Islands. Almost 2300 years later, the battle site has been located. Between 2005 and 2024, a wide scatter of artifacts has been raised from the sea floor, relics from the first maritime battlefield of ancient times which has ever been explored. This lecture will discuss briefly the field project and its background, followed by an overview of the major finds, including some of the earliest Latin inscriptions and Roman iconographic representations ever discovered. Among the more important artifacts brought to the surface are the military equipment finds: helmets, swords, and sling bullets.