The Siege of Lilybaeum lasted from 250 to 241 BC, as the Roman army laid siege to the Carthaginian-held Sicilian city of Lilybaeum (modern Marsala; reconstruction pictured) during the First Punic War. Lilybaeum was well-fortified and situated on the coast, where it could be supplied and reinforced by sea. In mid–250 BC the Romans besieged the city with more than 100,000 men. They made a concerted effort to take it by assault, but were unsuccessful. The Romans then attacked the Carthaginian fleet, but their fleet was itself destroyed in the naval battles of Drepana and Phintias. In 242 BC, the Romans built a new fleet and cut off supplies. The Carthaginians reconstituted their fleet and despatched it to Sicily loaded with provisions. The Romans met it not far from Lilybaeum and defeated it at the Battle of the Aegates in 241 BC. The Carthaginians sued for peace and the war ended after 23 years with a Roman victory; by the terms of the Treaty of Lutatius Carthage evacuated the city.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Lilybaeum_%28250%E2%80%93241_BC%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1744:

War of the Austrian Succession: British ships began attacking the rear of a combined Franco-Spanish fleet in the Mediterranean Sea off the French coast near Toulon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Toulon_%281744%29

1921:

The Bogd Khan was reinstalled as emperor after White Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drove the Chinese out of Mongolia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_von_Ungern-Sternberg

2006:

At least six men staged the largest cash robbery in Britain at a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitas_depot_robbery

2011:

An earthquake registering 6.3 ML struck Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 185 people and causing around NZ$40 billion in damage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

vamp: 1. (transitive) To patch, repair, or refurbish. 2. (transitive) Often as vamp up: to fabricate or put together (something) from existing material, or by adding new material to something existing. 3. (transitive) To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise. 4. (transitive, intransitive, music, specifically) To perform a vamp (“a repeated, often improvised accompaniment, for example, under dialogue or while waiting for a soloist to be ready”). 5. (transitive, shoemaking) To attach a vamp (to footwear). 6. (transitive, intransitive, now dialectal) To travel by foot; to walk. 7. (intransitive) To delay or stall for time, as for an audience. […] 8. (transitive) To seduce or exploit someone. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vamp

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Democratical States must always feel before they can see: it is this that makes their Governments slow, but the people will be right at last.   --George Washington https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington