B
orn around 275 BCE, Hamilcar
Barca grew to manhood in
an expanding Mediterranean
commercial empire centred on
the wealthy North African city of
Carthage. By the middle of the third century
BCE, Carthage controlled almost all of North
Africa, held large swathes of western Sicily
and Sardinia, and had numerous outposts in
Spain and the Balearic Isles.
The expansion of Carthaginian power across
Sicilyin the3rdcenturyBCEbroughtit into
conflictwithRomewhich,bythe270sBCE,had
cometo dominatetheItalianpeninsula.The
Romansfeareda foreignpowercontrollingSicily,
whichlaytoocloseto Italyfortheircomfort,and
wentto warovertheislandin 264BCE.
TheFirstPunicWar,asit becameknown(the
RomanscalledtheCarthaginians‘Punics’on
accountof theirPhoenicianorigin)wasa long
andbitterone.TheRomanstriedeverything
theycouldto dislodgetheCarthaginiansfrom
theisland,butfailed,withtheCarthaginians
stubbornlyclingingto theirlastremaining
fortresscitiesof LilybaeumandDrepana.
In 247BCE,Carthagesenta newgeneral
to takecommandof thestalledwarwiththe
Romans.ThiswasHamilcarBarca,whowould
proveto beoneof Carthage’smosttalented
warlords.Hemadehisfirstbasedeepinside
Romanterritoryat MountHiercte,notfarfrom
Panormus.Thiswasaneminentlydefensible
position,a sheer-sidednaturalfortress
surmountedbya largeplateau.At itsbase
therelayalsoa harbourforhisshipswherehe
couldalsobringin suppliesforhismen.From
Hiercteheconductednavalraidsagainstthe
southItaliancoastwiththeCarthaginianfleet,
andledhiscity’smercenaryarmyin a ferociousHamilcar Barca was Carthage’s finest general of the First Punic War.
His untimely death saw his fame eclipsed by that of his son, Hannibal
struggle on land against the Romans, who
established themselves at the bottom of
his mountain fastness.
In 244 BCE, Hamilcar decided to move
from Hiercte. He chose as his next base of
operations the mountain of Eryx, which lay
close to Carthaginian-held Drepana. This
was an extremely bold and risky move. The
mountain had a Roman garrison at its base,
as well as one in the temple of Venus at its
summit. Hamilcar seized the small town of
Eryxthatlayabouthalfwayupthemountainside. He then engaged the Romans
above and below him in savage clashes,
keeping them off-balance, with his army
sustained by the single route to the sea.
Hamilcar’s efforts in Sicily, first at Hiercte,
and then at Eryx, though conducted with great
energy and unsurpassed tactical acumen, did
not alter the strategic balance on the island
one whit. The fighting was on too small a
scale, the conflict being one of raids,
ambushes, and skirmishes that would in no
way convince the Romans to quit the island.
Worse, Hamilcar, having fought the Romans
to a standstill on land, unwittingly encouraged
them to revisit their earlier policy of trying to
win the war through naval power.
The Carthaginian government was thus
caught flat-footed when the Romans, despairing
of ever seeing an end to a war that had lasted
more than 20 years, constructed a brand-new
fleet to wrest control of the seas around Sicily.
When this fleet put to sea, it became a
mortal threat to Hamilcar and his mercenary
army holed up at Eryx. If the Romans could
deny him access to the sea with their navy,
he would not be able to bring in food, money,
and other supplies, and his army would wither
on the vine. The Carthaginian relief fleet
despatched to his aid in 241 BCE made a
valiant, desperate effort to reach him, but
was defeated in a tremendous naval battle
off the Aegates Islands.
In the wake of this devastating loss, the
Carthaginian government gave Hamilcar the
authority to either continue the war or to seek
peace terms from the Romans as he saw fit.
With his troops having no chance of being
resupplied, Hamilcar accepted reality and sent
envoys to the Gaius Lutatius Catulus, the RomanWORDS WILLIAM E. WELSH
OF CARTHAGE
THE
Heavy chopping swords, known as falcatas, were widely
used by Spanish mercenaries in Carthaginian service