Congress has the power to create banks, even if this power is not specifically described in the constitution. maryland cannot tax federal money because federal law and the federal government are superior.

both are true, the congress does have the power to create banks, even if this power is not specifically described in the constitution, since there is nothing restricting it and there is power given to the congress to make "all laws which shall be necessary and proper". maryland was not allowed to tax a branch of the national bank operating there, and the supreme court decided that no state could. both of these topics were discussed in a decision of the mcculloch v. maryland case in 1819.

the romans were initially interested in expansion via sicily (which at that time was a cultural melting pot), part of which lay under carthaginian control. at the start of the first punic war (264-241 bc), carthage was the dominant power of the western mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire