Aegates

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Ae·ga·de·an Isles

(ē-gā′dē′ən) also Ae·ga·tes (-tēz)

Eg·a·di Islands

(ĕg′ə-dē) also Ae·ga·de·an Isles (ē-gā′dē-ən) or Ae·ga·tes (-tēz)

An island group of southwest Italy in the Mediterranean Sea west of Sicily. A Roman naval victory over the Carthaginians, achieved in a battle fought in the waters off the islands in 241 bc, ended the First Punic War.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

E•ga•di

(ˈɛg ə di)

n.pl.

a group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of W Sicily. 15 sq. mi. (39 sq. km). Also called Aegadian Islands. Ancient, Aegates.

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Noun

Aegates - a group of islands off the west coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean

Aegadean Islands, Aegadean Isles, Egadi Islands, Isole Egadi

Sicilia, Sicily - the Italian region on the island of Sicily

Mediterranean, Mediterranean Sea - the largest inland sea; between Europe and Africa and Asia

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Also worthy of mention are the numerous battles fought during the third-century BCE First Punic War between Carthage and Rome, most notably the battle of the Aegates Islands, a naval battle that effectively decided the outcome of the war in Rome's favor, with widespread and long-lasting consequences, especially with regard to the Second Punic War.

SEA POWER IN THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR

In 241 BC, the Roman naval victory in the battle of the Aegates islands put an end to the first Punic war and marked the ultimate banishment of the Carthaginians from Sicily, which became the first official Roman provincia just a few years later.

Tradition and innovation; Sicily between Hellenism and Rome

Elected consul (242) and sent to Sicily with a newly raised fleet to dispute Carthaginian control of the sea (summer 242); occupied Lilybaeum (Marsala) and blockaded Drepanum (Trapani), and readied his 200 ships for battle; his fleet crushed the unprepared Carthaginian fleet at the battle off the Aegates (Egadi) Islands (March 10, 241), destroying many ships and capturing 10,000 men (Catulus, who was wounded, did not command in person); negotiated a treaty with the Carthaginians, but this was later rejected in Rome as too lenient.