Hamilcar

Hamilcar (c.270-228 bc). Known as Hamilcar Barca (‘Lightning’), he commanded Carthaginian forces in Sicily during the first Punic war. He was undefeated, though compelled to negotiate peace in 241 by the naval defeat off the Aegates Islands. Returning to Africa, he crushed a mutiny among the mercenaries and was then sent to Spain, where after conquering much of the south-east, he was drowned retreating from Helice in 229. He was succeeded in command of Carthaginian forces in Spain first by his son-in-law Hasdrubal and then, in 221, by his son Hannibal.

His name was given to a WW II British glider, appropriately first used during the invasion of Sicily.

— John Lazenby

Hamilcar 1. Carthaginian general at the battle of Himera (480 BC) in which he was defeated and killed by Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse. He was the first to organize the Carthaginian army.

2. Hamilcar Barca (d. 229 BC), general appointed at a young age to command the Carthaginian forces in Sicily during the First Punic War against Rome in 247 BC. He seized Herctē on the north coast of Sicily in the midst of enemy territory and held it for three years while raiding the Italian coast as far as Cumae. In 244 he abruptly left and took the town at the foot of Mount Eryx, where he defied the Romans for another two years. After the Carthaginian naval defeat at Aegates Insulae in 241 he negotiated the terms of peace and resigned his command. In 237 he went to Spain, perhaps intending to form there a new empire for Carthage, to compensate for the loss of Sicily and Sardinia, and to provide wealth and manpower for a new onslaught against the hated Romans. He was drowned during the siege of a Spanish town, leaving three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, all of whom distinguished themselves in the Second Punic War.