After its defeat in the First Punic War (264-241 BC), Carthage had to pay 3200 talents of silver as reparations to the Roman Republic; this amounted to about 86,400 kilograms of silver. Rome used it to mint didrachms, which for the first time directly identified the Roman state as issuer by showing the inscription ROMA.
The more Rome established itself als great power on the Italian peninsula, the more unavoidable became its clash with the Carthage, the other great power in the Mediterranean. In 264 BC, the two powers collided for the first time. Two more wars followed (until 146 BC), which eventually ended with Carthage's total defeat.