Papias was a Roman admiral in the 1st century BC. During the

Roman civil wars This is a list of civil wars and organized civil disorder, revolts and rebellions in ancient Rome (Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire) until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (753 BCE – 476 CE). For the Eastern Roman Empire or ...

he participated in

Sicilian revolt Sicilian revolt can refer to a number of military conflicts involving Sicily, including: *First Servile War (135–132 BC) against Roman rule. *Second Servile War (104-100 BC) against Roman rule. *Sicilian Vespers (1282) against Angevin rule and the ...

under the command of

Sextus Pompeius Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius ( 67 – 35 BC), also known in English as Sextus Pompey, was a Roman military leader who, throughout his life, upheld the cause of his father, Pompey the Great, against Julius Caesar and his supporters during the last ...

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...

mentions Papias several times in his work ''The Civil Wars'' (''Emphylia'', Ἐμφύλια), when he describes the fight over

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. In the summer of 36 BC Papias attacked the fleet of Lepidus transporting his invasion army from Africa to Lilybaeum (

Marsala Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily. The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...

) in the southwest of Sicily. Though he managed to inflict heavy losses on the fleet of Lepidus, he ultimately failed to prevent his army from landing. Later on August 11 of the same year he led the fleet of Sextus Pompeius into the

battle of Mylae The Battle of Mylae took place in 260 BC during the First Punic War and was the first real naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Republic. This battle was key in the Roman victory of Mylae (present-day Milazzo) as well as Sicily itself. ...

against

Agrippa Agrippa may refer to: People Antiquity * Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa * Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century * Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century * Agri ...

. During course of the battle Papias' own ship was sunk, but he managed to swim to another ship of his fleet being nearby and continued the battle. However Pompeius, who observed the battle from the shore, ordered a withdrawal after he recognized that the battle seemed to tilt in Agrippa's favour and that he had reinforcements arriving as well. Papias managed an orderly retreat of the fleet into the shoals, where the larger and heavier ships of Agrippa's fleet didn't dare to follow them. Later Papias' ships slipped away and sailed eastward.

References

: ''The Civil Wars''. Book 5, paragraph 104-108
online copy
Ancient Roman admirals 1st-century BC Romans {{AncientRome-mil-bio-stub