The siege of Lilybaeum was a military operation of the Pyrrhic War in 278 BC, when an Epirote-Syracusian army led by Pyrrhus of Epirus attempted to capture the strategically important port city of Lilybaeum held by the Carthaginian Empire.
Postponing his Italian campaign, Pyrrhus sailed for Sicily to fight the Carthaginians who were besieging Syracuse.
[1] He evaded the Carthaginian fleet, landed in Catana, and entered Syracuse where he was proclaimed commander-in-chief.
The city of Lilybaeum (modern Marsala), lying on the western end of Sicily, connected the island with Africa and provided Carthage with an advanced harbor on the route to Sardinia.
[2] After failing to take Lilybaeum, Pyrrhus decided to take the war on Carthage's own soil in Africa for which he built a fleet,[3] but his preparations were frustrated by Greek resistance to the heavy demands the expedition exacted on the Sicilians.