Trace how Carthage became almost the equal of Rome

Introduction
In the light of the history of great Ancient empires, we should consider the rise of conflict between two prominent powers of the Ancient World. On the one side stood the powerful force of western Mediterranean lead by Carthage, while on the other one was the ruler of Italian Peninsula - the Rome. In following discussion, we are going to overview prerequisites of Carthage development as a rival of Rome. Next we need to compare strengths of both. Finally, we will trace down reasons behind Rome becoming a naval power in early stages of First Punic War (264 to 241 BC).

Discussion
The Carthage City was established in 814 BCE and is believed to be originally the dwelling of Phoenician inhabitants from the town of Tyre (present day Sur, Lebanon.) (“Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War Heaven.”, n.d.). As time has passed, territories were expanding. Later the Carthage united provinces of North Africa to the scale large enough to compare to modern day Morocco of the Egyptian regions. Moreover, influence has extended to the lands Sardinia, Malta, the Balearic Islands and the western part of Sicily, which later was the reason of First Punic War rise between Rome and Carthage. As a matter of fact, we have the Carthage as one of the most powerful trade regions of the Ancient world. The Carthage extended their business paths even as far as Cornwall in England (Miles, 2010). Many historians believed that trade paths together with growing maritime forces were reasons to form significant economic and political organization of the Carthage. The growing trade-net was vast enough to bring gold from all across Spain and the silver of the Balearic Isles (Carthage, n.d.). According to Morey, among other products of trade were “the purple of Tyre, the frankincense of Arabia and the linen of Egypt” (2003). The scale of