If Romans had discovered how to produce gunpowder during the punic wars (≈240 BC) would they have the metalurgical technology to make use of it?
Just like how gunpowder was discovered in China by alchemists seeking the elixir of life, say it happened centuries earlier in Rome. What I am wondering is if canons were even possible to build with the limited material technology at the time. Would it be seen as useful otherwise?