And you can see here in blue that Carthage had an extensive empire that controlled most of the western Mediterranean. And so you can imagine it was only a matter of time before they come into conflict with each other. And it turns out they are actually going to have three significant wars. Some historians view it as the most significant and largest scale wars up to that point in history. And the first of these happens in 264 BCE. And it goes on for 23 years to 241 BCE. This is known as the First Punic War.