Siege of Syracuse (278 BC)

[1] When the two factions in Syracuse were exhausted by their war, the Carthaginians exploited the situation and besieged the city by land and sea.

They blockaded the Great Harbour with a hundred ships and besieged the walls with 50,000 men, while they looted the territory around the city.

[2] Pyrrhus, who was waging war on the Roman Republic in Southern Italy at the time, accepted.

The reputation of Pyrrhus as liberator of the Greeks from barbarian threats would have been damaged if Syracuse were to be conquered by Carthage.

While he moved his army and fleet to Syracuse, the Carthaginians had sent thirty of their ships away on other missions.

Pyrrhus laid siege to Lilybaeum, but was not able to take it because Carthage still controlled the sea and supplied the city well.

At this point he decided to return to Southern Italy to support the Samnites and Tarentines, who were losing the war with the Roman Republic.