The New Student's Reference Work/Hamilcar

Hamilcar (hȧ-mĭl′kär), a Carthaginian general, the father of Hannibal and one of the greatest generals of ancient times. He was surnamed Barca or Lightning. While still a young man, he was placed in command of the Carthaginian forces in Sicily (247 B. C.), when almost all the island had been taken by the Romans. He seized Ercte, a hill 2,000 feet high, and from this stronghold as a base he ravaged the coast of Italy and for three years, with a small force, defied every effort of the Romans to dislodge him. In 244 B. C. he occupied Mt. Eryx, two miles from the coast, and for two years, with his handful of men, held his own against the Roman army, "fighting," says Polybius, "like a royal eagle, which stops only to gather strength for the next attack." The Carthaginian navy being defeated, 241 B. C., Sicily yielded to Rome, but Hamilcar marched out with all the honors of war. Immediately after peace had been made with Rome, a revolt of the mercenaries and African tribes threatened the overthrow of the state. Hanno, a personal enemy of Hamilcar, undertook to suppress it and failed. Hamilcar was then placed in command and crushed the revolt in 238 B. C. In the same year Rome again made war on Carthage, and Hamilcar was placed in command of the Carthaginian army. He now crossed into Spain, determined there to gather and drill an army capable of meeting the Roman legions, and then wage war on Roman soil. He entered Spain in 237 B. C., and in nine years built up a new empire; but in 228 B. C. he fell fighting the Vetones, leaving the plans of the great Hamilcar to be carried out by his greater son, Hannibal. See Carthage and the Carthaginians by Bosworth Smith.