Hamilcar Barca

Hamilcar Barca (c. 270-228 bc), Carthaginian general, appointed commander of the Carthaginian forces in Sicily during the first of the Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome. In 247 bc, after establishing himself in the mountains near Panormus (now Palermo), Hamilcar made frequent raids on the south-west Italian coast. His actions forced the Romans to withdraw many of their troops from the port city of Lilybaeum (now Marsala), thereby freeing an important Carthaginian supply route. The defeat of the Carthaginian fleet in 241 bc, however, ended the war, and in the peace negotiations that followed Carthage was forced to cede Sicily and pay heavy financial indemnities. When the Carthaginian government refused to pay the mercenaries that Hamilcar had engaged for the Sicilian campaign, his troops, joined by a number of Libyan slaves, revolted. Hamilcar was summoned to suppress the uprising, and succeeded in defeating the rebels in 238 bc. Appointed commander in chief of the army in 237 bc, he began the reconquest of Spain, from where he planned to launch a major attack on Rome. He spent nine years organizing the conquered tribes of eastern and southern Spain into an army that was eventually to prove of great help to his son, Hannibal, during the Second Punic War.