ROME, ITALY—Reuters reports that a bronze ram has been recovered from some 260 feet of water off the coast of western Sicily, near the Aegates Islands, by divers from the Society for the Documentation of Underwater Sites. The front of the ram is decorated with a helmet topped with three feathers, but deposits of shells and seaweed currently cover any other possible marks or inscriptions. Such a ram would have been placed on the bow of a warship and used to attack enemy vessels. This ram, and 26 others recovered from the area, have been assigned to the Battle of the Aegates Islands, fought in 241 B.C., and the victory of the Roman Republic over Carthage in the First Punic War. To read about an ancient city that was the site of a land battle during the First Punic War, go to "Sicily's Lost Theater."
