Battle of the Strait of Messina 276 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 276 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Pyrrhic War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ancient Carthage | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.2458, 15.6325 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Strait of Messina was fought in 276 BC when a Carthaginian fleet attacked the Sicilian fleet of Pyrrhus of Epirus, who was crossing the strait to Italy. Pyrrhus had left Italy for Sicily on the Autumn of 278 BC and scored several major victories against the Carthaginian armies, but Roman successes against Pyrrhus' Italian allies convinced him to return to Italy.
While Pyrrhus was transporting his troops to Rhegium his fleet of 110 decked warships and hundreds of transports was attacked by the Carthaginians. The Carthaginian navy sank 70 of the Greek ships and damaged 28. Pyrrhus' surviving ships, amounting to 12 warships plus the transport ships, docked at Locri where he had left his son Alexander when he opened his Sicilian campaign.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Strait of Messina (revision 1370602419), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Naulochus 36 BC · 2 km
- Battle of Messana 264 BC · 10 km
- Siege of Messina (842–843) 842 · 10 km
- Siege of Messina (1041) 1041 · 10 km
- Battle of Messene 397 BC · 10 km
- Siege of Messina (1848) 1847 · 10 km
Other battles of the Pyrrhic War
- Battle of Heraclea 280 BC
- Battle of Asculum 279 BC
- Siege of Lilybaeum (c. 277 BC) 276 BC
- Battle of Beneventum (275 BC) 275 BC
All 5 battles of the Pyrrhic War →
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