History of War – October 2019

Images: Alamy, Getty

Thisperiodof mercilessatrocityand

counter-atrocity, in which no quarter was

given, earned the conflict the title of Truceless

War from the Greek historian Polybius, its

foremost chronicler. It would get worse for

Carthage when the cities of Utica and Hippou

Acra joined the mercenary revolt against

Carthage. Further, Hamilcar and Hanno the

Great proved entirely incapable of acting in

concert, hampering Carthage’s war effort.

Carthage’s mortal peril only increased when

the city itself was besieged by Spendius’s and

Mathos’s army. Fortunately, Hamilcar lifted the

siege by cutting the mercenaries’ supply lines.

Hamilcar later besieged a mercenary army in

their own army camp at the Gorge of the Saw.

These men grew so desperate they resorted to

cannibalism. When the starving mercenaries

sent a deputation including Spendius and

Autaritus, to talk surrender, Hamilcar seized

them, and then attacked the leaderless

mercenaries. Forty thousand were slain.

Rebellious North African towns began to come

back into the Carthaginian fold.

Hamilcar and Hanno the Great were

then reconciled at the insistence of their

government, and together, the two generals

defeated the mercenaries in one final battle

in Byzacium, with Mathos being taken captive

and later executed. Utica and Hippou Acra were

soon retaken. By 238 BCE, the war with the

mercenaries was over.

Hamilcar in Spain

The Romans had refrained from taking

advantage of Carthage’s distraction during its

war with its mercenaries, but then, in 238 BCE,

they compelled the tottering Carthaginians

to relinquish Sardinia altogether and agree

to pay another indemnity of 1,200 talents

on top of the crushing amount they were

already obligated to pay.

The theft of Sardinia enraged all

Carthaginians, including Hamilcar. Deeply

embittered, Hamilcar knew that the next

war with Rome, one in which Carthage might

have its revenge, would require money and

manpower in vast amounts.

Hamilcar’s eyes alighted on Spain. The

Iberian peninsula was filled with warlike tribes

from which Hamilcar could recruit soldiersfor

a new Carthaginian army, and rich in the silver

that could be used to pay them.

With the permission of the Carthaginian

government, Hamilcar was allowed to leadan

expedition to Spain in 237 BCE Hamilcar’s

Spanish venture soon produced vast profits,

some 2,000 to 3,000 silver talents in

annual revenue, but it was not without

troubles. Many Spanish tribes fought h

against the Carthaginians, and those t

were purportedly friendly could not alw

be trusted. In 228 BCE, Hamilcar was

laying siege to an unnamed town. Whe

supposedly friendly chief of the tribe of

Oretani arrived on the scene, Hamilcar

dismissed the bulk of his own troops,

sending them back to their base. Seein

the small numbers of the remaining

Carthaginian troops, the chief of the

Oretani saw his chance to annihilate

the Carthaginian interlopers.

Hamilcar sought to save the lives

of his son, Hannibal, now 18, and his

younger son, Hasdrubal. He directed Hannibal

and Hasdrubal down one road, and then took

the bulk of his troops down another. The Barca

sons were thus saved, but Hamilcar himself

was not so fortunate, perishing while trying to

escape across a river. Hamilcar was only 46

yearsoldat thetimeof hisdeath,hisgrand

Spanishprojectunfinished.Thefuturewarof

vengeanceagainstRomewouldbeleftto his

sonHannibalto conducta decadelater.

Right: After Hamilcar’s death in Spain in 228

BCE, it would fall to his son Hannibal to conduct

the next war against Rome

Hamilcar Barca founded Akra

Keuka (Alicante). Ceramic

tiles, Seville, Spain

the thunderbolt of carthage