# Messana an earlier name of the current Messina, a seaport in northeast Sicily. It was the site of the First Punic War (the first of three wars between Carthago, an ancient city in North Africa, and Rome during the third and second centuries B.C.). The war was fought for the possession of Sicily. Carthago was finally defeated after twenty-three years of warfare and Sicily became the first of the Roman provinces. See also Punic Wars in this glossary.