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Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus was a Roman general and statesman, who served as consul of the Roman Republic in 256 and 250 BC. He is remembered for his military successes; his military achievements, especially the Battle of Cape Ecnomus, which significantly contributed to the victory of the Romans in the First Punic War.
During Lucius’ mature life, he ran for the consulate several times, succeeding twice. On both occasions he ended up leading military expeditions. The term for being consul was one year. Two consuls ruled at a time and one could serve up to two terms. It was the consuls’ job to govern provinces, lead armies in major wars, and run the Senate and assemblies.
He ran in 259 BC, but lost to Lucius Cornelius Scipio. After this, he successfully ran in 256 and 250 BC. In 256, he ruled with Marcus Atilius Regulus and in 250 with Gaius Atilius Regulus. In 256, Lucius and Marcus Atilius Regulus sailed to Africa during the First Punic War to fight Carthage—see Battle of Cape Ecnomus. Rome had prepared a large fleet of 330 ships and 140,000 men (100,000 crew and 40,000 soldiers), Carthage had a slightly larger fleet of 350 ships and 150,000 men. [1] The Romans sailed in battle formation with three squadrons. Two of the squadrons, commanded by the consuls Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus, led the way. The other squadron was in the back protecting the horse-transport ships that were between them. They sailed in a triangular shape because of the strong base that was easy to support during battle and also difficult to break up.
The Carthaginians were positioned in a long horizontal line with Hamilcar in the center and two slightly advanced sides. The two Carthaginian flanks advanced, which left the main line alone. This line was immediately targeted because of its vulnerability. The first two squadrons were the main ships to fight the center of the Carthaginian fleet. Since the soldiers were fighting under both consuls, who were taking part in the battle in person, they felt even more encouraged to fight with their entire strength and defeated the Carthaginians after an extensive fight. After, the squadrons went to relieve the back of the fleet. Vulso's squadron went after the Carthaginian left wing that was attacking the transport ships, while Regulus attacked Hanno. Saving these transport ships was essential to the Romans' later victories at Aspis because these ships contained horses for the cavalry and extra food and supplies which were necessary for fighting on land. After the battle, about half of Carthage's fleet had been captured or sunk. Both consuls then landed in Africa to quickly regroup and then sailed to Cape Bon, where they landed near Aspis. Here, they surrounded the city and set up a garrison. Then the consuls sent the troops to plunder the area, which was very plentiful. They herded cattle, burned houses of the rich, captured slaves, and destroyed the city's defenses. In the meantime, the Senate instructed one consul to come back to Rome with the navy and the other to stay with the army in Africa. Manlius ended up returning with most of the fleet and prisoners.
During his second term in 250 BC, with Gaius Atilius Regulus, Lucius faced some tough times. In the previous years, Rome had many unsuccessful military ventures. After losing 150 ships during a storm in open sea, they had almost entirely withdrawn from naval warfare. Now, limited to combat by foot, the Romans received news of losing over half of their troops in Africa after an elephant stampede. This created a great fear of elephants and the Romans would not come within 3/4 of a mile of them. After these events, the army had a general lack of spirit, which Lucius’ second term would help to raise. With Gaius Atilius, he built 50 ships, and had a huge campaign to collect sailors and organize a fleet. In the meantime, Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian, brought his troops from Lilybaeum and set up camp near Panormus in June 250 BC, where Caecilius’ army got the Carthaginians’ elephants to stampede their own army, leading to improved morale and confidence among the army. With this, the consuls were encouraged to finish the war. They sailed to Sicily with about 120 ships in the fleet. They stopped and anchored off Lilybaeum, and besieged the city. The Romans thought that if they controlled this port it would be easy to manipulate the war. The Carthaginians also understood the obvious importance of this port and put their whole force together to save the city. The Carthaginians had a force of about 10,000 mercenaries (Celts and Greeks) to protect the people from the Romans.
The Romans lost to the Carthaginians' unexpected attacks. The Carthaginians sailed 50 ships from Africa under the command of Hannibal to try to save the city by charging towards the center of the harbor. The Romans did not attempt to stop the entry of the fleet because of their sudden appearance and unfavorable winds in a foreign port. Soon after, battles between the armies broke out and eventually the Carthaginians retreated and the Romans maintained their blockade. Later, the Carthaginians defeated the Romans for good when they set fire to the locations where the Romans had taken over. Even after the great losses that the Romans suffered at Lilybaeum, back in Rome, Lucius Manlius was quickly able to recruit about 10,000 sailors and sent them to Sicily, where they planned to attack Drepana, which was a port town about 24 miles north of Lilybaeum. The Roman attempt during the second consulship of Lucius Manlius Vulso ultimately failed, but it shows his leadership abilities through his capacity to keep recruiting sailors, even after a serious loss. With these abilities, he was able to help Rome stay on the path to winning the First Punic War.
Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus died in 216 BC. Nothing is known about how he died. Since he died in 216 BC, this means that he lived for around 83 years, since one had to be around 40 years old to run for consul and the first time he ran was in 259 BC. It is probable that he died from natural causes, since he was around 83 years old, which was very old for someone living in Ancient Rome. Assuming this is correct, his birth would be somewhere around 300 BC.
Throughout the years, Lucius Manlius has generally been accepted as yet another consul who helped in military victories. In the Battle of Cape Ecnomus, his command skills were essential in saving the transport ships, which allowed the Romans to pursue a follow-up attack at Aspis. In his second term, he brought the army into an improved and positive state of mind through building a new fleet and recruiting many sailors, even after the losses at Lilybaeum.
The First Punic War 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 greatest naval war of antiquity, the two powers struggled for supremacy. The war was fought primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa. After immense losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were defeated and Rome gained territory from Carthage.
Year 256 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Longus and Caedicius/Regulus. The denomination 256 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
This article concerns the period 259 BC – 250 BC.
Year 250 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Regulus and Longus. The denomination 250 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The gens Atilia, sometimes written Atillia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which rose to prominence at the beginning of the fourth century BC. The first member of this gens to attain the consulship was Marcus Atilius Regulus, in 335 BC. The Atilii continued to hold the highest offices of the state throughout the history of the Republic, and well into imperial times.
The Battle of Cape Ecnomus or Eknomos was a naval battle, fought off southern Sicily, in 256 BC, between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman Republic, during the First Punic War. The Carthaginian fleet was commanded by Hanno and Hamilcar; the Roman fleet jointly by the consuls for the year, Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus. It resulted in a clear victory for the Romans.
The Battle of the Bagradas River, also known as the Battle of Tunis, was a victory by a Carthaginian army led by Xanthippus over a Roman army led by Marcus Atilius Regulus in the spring of 255 BC, nine years into the First Punic War. The previous year, the newly constructed Roman navy established naval superiority over Carthage. The Romans used this advantage to invade Carthage's homeland, which roughly aligned with modern-day Tunisia in North Africa. After landing on the Cape Bon Peninsula and conducting a successful campaign, the fleet returned to Sicily, leaving Regulus with 15,500 men to hold the lodgement in Africa over the winter.
The Battle of Tyndaris was a naval battle of the First Punic War that took place off Tyndaris in 257 BC. Tyndaris was a Sicilian town founded as a Greek colony in 396 BC located on the high ground overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea in the Gulf of Patti. Hiero II, the tyrant of Syracuse, allowed Tyndaris to become a base for the Carthaginians. The battle took place in the waters between Tyndaris and the Aeolian Islands, with Gaius Atilius Regulus in command of the Roman fleet. Subsequently, the town fell to Rome.
The battle of Adys took place in late 256 BC during the First Punic War between a Carthaginian army jointly commanded by Bostar, Hamilcar and Hasdrubal and a Roman army led by Marcus Atilius Regulus. Earlier in the year, the new Roman navy had established naval superiority and used this advantage to invade the Carthaginian homeland, which roughly aligned with modern Tunisia in North Africa. After landing on the Cape Bon Peninsula and conducting a successful campaign, the fleet returned to Sicily, leaving Regulus with 15,500 men to hold the lodgement in Africa over the winter.
The Battle of Panormus was fought in Sicily in 250 BC during the First Punic War between a Roman army led by Lucius Caecilius Metellus and a Carthaginian force led by Hasdrubal, son of Hanno. The Roman force of two Roman and two allied legions defending the city of Panormus defeated the much larger Carthaginian army of 30,000 men and between 60 and 142 war elephants.
Marcus Atilius Regulus was a Roman statesman and general who was a consul of the Roman Republic in 267 BC and 256 BC. Much of his career was spent fighting the Carthaginians during the first Punic War. In 256 BC, he and Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus defeated the Carthaginians at the naval battle off Cape Ecnomus; afterwards he led the Roman expedition to Africa but was defeated at the Bagradas River in spring of 255 BC. He was captured and then probably died of natural causes, with the story of his death later being much embellished.
The Battle of Lilybaeum was the first clash between the navies of Carthage and Rome in 218 BC during the Second Punic War. The Carthaginians had sent 35 quinqueremes to raid Sicily, starting with Lilybaeum. The Romans, warned by Hiero of Syracuse of the coming raid, had time to intercept the Carthaginian contingent with a fleet of 20 quinqueremes and managed to capture several Carthaginian ships.
Gaius Atilius Regulus was a Roman Republican consul who twice held the consulship in the middle of the 3rd century BC. He seems not to be closely related to M. Atilius M.f L.n. Regulus, for the grandfather of Regulus Serranus was named Marcus. Most likely the grandfathers were brothers and the successive consuls of 257 and 256 were second cousins.
The siege of Aspis or Clupea was fought in 256 BC between Carthage and the Roman Republic. It was the first fighting on African land during the First Punic War.
The siege of Lilybaeum lasted for nine years, from 250 to 241 BC, as the Roman army laid siege to the Carthaginian-held Sicilian city of Lilybaeum during the First Punic War. Rome and Carthage had been at war since 264 BC, fighting mostly on the island of Sicily or in the waters around it, and the Romans were slowly pushing the Carthaginians back. By 250 BC, the Carthaginians held only the cities of Lilybaeum and Drepana; these were well-fortified and situated on the west coast, where they could be supplied and reinforced by sea without the Romans being able to use their superior army to interfere.
The Roman withdrawal from Africa was the attempt by the Roman Republic in 255 BC to rescue the survivors of their defeated expeditionary force to Carthaginian Africa during the First Punic War. A large fleet commanded by Servius Fulvius Paetinus Nobilior and Marcus Aemilius Paullus successfully evacuated the survivors after defeating an intercepting Carthaginian fleet, but was struck by a storm while returning, losing most of its ships.
The naval Battle of Phintias took place in 249 BC during the First Punic War near modern Licata, southern Sicily between the fleets of Carthage under Carthalo and the Roman Republic under Lucius Junius Pullus. The Carthaginian fleet had intercepted the Roman Fleet off Phintias, and had forced it to seek shelter. Carthalo, who heeded the warning of his pilots about impending storms, retired to the east to avoid the coming weather. The Roman fleet did not take any precautions and subsequently was destroyed with the loss of all but two ships. The Carthaginians exploited their victory by raiding the coasts of Roman Italy until 243 BC. The Romans did not mount a major naval effort until 242 BC.
The capture of Malta was the successful invasion of the Carthaginian island of Malta by forces of the Roman Republic led by Tiberius Sempronius Longus in the early stages of the Second Punic War in 218 BC.
Hasdrubal was a Carthaginian general who served during the middle years of the First Punic War, fought between Carthage and Rome, and took a leading part in three of the four major field battles of the war. He was a citizen of the city state of Carthage, which was in what is now Tunisia. His date of birth and age at death are both unknown, as are his activities prior to his coming to prominence in 255 BC. Modern historians distinguish him from other Carthaginians named Hasdrubal by the cognomen "son of Hanno".