Titus Otacilius Crassus was a Roman statesman and general during the middle era of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

. He was one of the two

consuls A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

of 261 BCE, serving with

Lucius Valerius Flaccus Lucius Valerius Flaccus may refer to: * Lucius Valerius Flaccus (consul 261 BC) * Lucius Valerius Flaccus (consul 195 BC) * Lucius Valerius Flaccus (consul 131 BC), Flamen Martialis * Lucius Valerius Flaccus (consul 100 BC) * Lucius Valerius Flacc ...

. During his consulship, he and his consular colleague Flaccus fought against the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

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

as part of the ongoing

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and grea ...

. Before sailing to Sicily they strengthened the coastal defences of Italy against attacks by

Hannibal Gisco Hannibal Gisco ( xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋 , ; –258BC) was a Carthaginian military commander in charge of both land armies and naval fleets during the First Punic War against Rome. His efforts proved ultimately unsuccessful and his eventua ...

, a Carthaginian admiral sent to raid the Tyrrhenian coast. The consuls besieged Mytistraton, but were eventually driven off by

Hamilcar __NOTOC__ Hamilcar ( xpu, 𐤇𐤌𐤋𐤊 , ,. or , , " Melqart is Gracious"; grc-gre, Ἁμίλκας, ''Hamílkas'';) was a common Carthaginian masculine given name. The name was particularly common among the ruling families of ancient Carthage ...

, the new commander of Carthage's Sicilian army, who defeated them at

Thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

near

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. They returned to Italy were they started building Rome's first warfleet, created after Carthaginian example. In 260, the fleet was ready and would be used by

Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina (lived 3rd century BC) was a Roman general and statesman involved in the First Punic War. Scipio Asina belonged to the patrician family of the Cornelii Scipiones. He was son of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus and ...

, one of the two consuls of that year.

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

, ''The Histories'', 1.20-21.

References

Modern Sources

Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, FBA (; 17 February 1900 – 17 September 1993) was a Canadian classical scholar and leading Latin prosopographer of the twentieth century. He is especially noted for his definitive three-volume work, ''Magistra ...

: ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic''. Vol. 1, New York 1951, p. 204. *

Adrian Goldsworthy Adrian Keith Goldsworthy (; born 1969) is a British historian and novelist who specialises in ancient Roman history. Education Adrian Goldsworthy attended Westbourne School, Penarth. He then read Ancient and Modern History at St John's College, ...

: ''The Fall of Carthage'', 2000. 3rd-century BC Roman consuls Roman commanders of the First Punic War Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown

Crassus Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...

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