As we enter into the third century BCE, we see the Roman Republic that was founded in 509 BCE has now exerted control over most of the Italian peninsula. But it's not the only power in the Mediterranean. We have the remnants of Alexander the Great's empire, and we also have the Carthaginians. 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.