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Drepana Drepana, a harbour-town on the west-coast of Sicily, was the site of a crushing Roman defeat by the Carthaginians. In 249 BC the Romans tried to take the town from the sea. Before the battle, the auspices ex tripudiis (chicken oracle) was performed. When the chicken would not feed a bad omen -, the general Publius Claudius Pulcher had them thrown overboard saying if they won't eat, perhaps they will drink ("ut biberent, quoniam esse nollent", Cic. nat. 2,7). He promptly lost the battle against the Carthaginians, 93 Roman ships were sunk. Back in Rome he was tried for impiety, heavily fined and died soon afterwards. (See Battle of Drepana.) The town, twenty-five miles north of Lilybaeum had been fortified by the Carthaginians, who resettled part of the population to Eryx. In 242 it was taken by C. Lutatius Catulus and used as a naval base. It never achieved the status of a civitas in Roman times. Today, the town is called Trapani.
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