Battle of the Lipari Islands
{'<entity_0>': 'Battle of the Lipari Islands', '<entity_1>': 'Battle of Lipara', '<entity_2>': 'First Punic War', '<entity_3>': 'Aeolian Islands', '<entity_4>': 'Carthage', '<entity_5>': 'Lipari', '<entity_6>': 'Sicily', '<entity_7>': 'Roman Republic'}
[['Battle of the Lipari Islands', 'part of', 'First Punic War'], ['Battle of the Lipari Islands', 'location', 'Lipari'], ['Battle of the Lipari Islands', 'alternative', 'Battle of Lipara'], ['Battle of the Lipari Islands', 'location', 'Aeolian Islands'], ['Battle of the Lipari Islands', 'location', 'Sicily'], ['Battle of the Lipari Islands', 'location', 'Roman Republic'], ['Battle of the Lipari Islands', 'location', 'Carthage']]
The <entity_0> or <entity_1> was a naval encounter fought in 260 BC during the <entity_2>. A squadron of 20 Carthaginian ships commanded by Boödes surprised 17 <entity_7> ships under the senior consul for the year Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio in <entity_5> Harbour. The main source for almost every aspect of the <entity_2> is the historian Polybius (c. 200 – c. 118 BC), a Greek sent to <entity_7> in 167 BC as a hostage. Carthaginian written records were destroyed along with their capital, <entity_4>, in 146 BC and so Polybius's account of the <entity_2> is based on several, now-lost, Greek and Latin sources. The <entity_2> between <entity_4> and <entity_7> broke out in 264 BC. <entity_4> was a well-established maritime power in the western Mediterranean; <entity_7> had recently unified mainland Italy south of the River Arno under its control. There they prepared for the main fleet's arrival and supported the logistics of the <entity_7> army at the sea crossing to <entity_6>. While Scipio was at the Strait of Messina he received information that the garrison of the city of <entity_5> was willing to defect to the <entity_7> side. <entity_5> was the main port of the <entity_3> and was a constant threat to <entity_7> communications across the Strait. It has been suggested by some ancient sources that the offer to surrender <entity_5> was a ruse inspired by <entity_4> to encourage the Romans to commit their ships where they could be ambushed, but the sources do not give much detail and are usually pro-<entity_7>. Shortly after the <entity_5> victory, Hannibal Gisco was scouting with 50 Carthaginian ships when he encountered the full <entity_7> fleet.
['naval battle']