A 2,000-year-old battering ram sunk during the First Punic War has been discovered off the coast of Sicily. The bronze fragment of the ram, called a rostrum, was found 250 feet below sea level between the Aegadian islands Levanzo and Favignana, found in the Mediterranean northwest of Sicily. The region's cultural heritage department said the rostrum was embedded under the nose of an ancient warship. The rams were mounted at the front of Roman warships to collide with enemy ships and cause them to sink. It's believed this rostrum was used during the Battle of the Aegates between Rome and Carthage in 241 BC. Carthage, found in present-day Tunisia, was a civilization that dominated the Mediterranean nearly 2,000 years ago and gained great power through maritime trade. The civilization was at loggerheads with the Roman Republic in the third and second centuries BCE over dominance of the western Mediterranean, and three long periods of war took place between the two powers. Carthage was defeated in all three of these wars, which became known as the Punic Wars, and fell into decline. Experts say the discovered rostrum belonged to a ship in the Battle of the Aegates. This battle signified the end of the First Punic War between the two superpowers, which lasted 23 years and ultimately resulted in the surrender of Carthage to Rome. The researchers' analysis shows that this rostrum has ornamental reliefs and a Roman helmet with three feathers engraved on it. This style of helmet was considered the standard and customary style for Roman soldiers at the time.

Al largo della costa siciliana è stato ritrovato un ariete affondato più di 2.000 anni fa durante la prima guerra punica. Un frammento dell'ariete, chiamato rostrum, fu trovato 250 metri sott'acqua tra le isole Egadi di Levanzo e Favignano, nella Sicilia nord-orientale. Gli esperti siciliani hanno spiegato che il rostrum fu attaccato sotto una nave. Gli arieti furono messi nella parte anteriore delle navi per colludere e creare degli squarci affondando le navi nemiche. Pensano che l'ariete fosse utilizzato durante la battaglia degli Egadi tra Roma e Cartagine nell'anno 241 d.C. Cartagine fu una civiltà che dominò il Mediterraneo e ebbe un grande potere. Quasi 2.000 anni fa, Cartagine e la Repubblica Romana furono in guerra per il controllo del Mediterraneo nel terzo e secondo secoli d.C. Queste battaglie sono conosciute come le guerre puniche e durarono 23 anni in totale. Cartagine perse ognuno di queste tre guerre. Il rostrum ebbe decorazioni romane e anche un casco romano. Il casco fu nello stile tipico dei soldati romani di questi periodi.