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HAMILCAR BARCA

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 878 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HAMILCAR See also:

BARCA , or BARCns- (Heb. barak " See also:lightning"), Carthaginian See also:general and statesman, See also:father of See also:Hannibal, was See also:born soon after 270 B.C. He distinguished himself during the First Punic See also:War in 247, when he took over the See also:chief command in See also:Sicily, which at this See also:time was almost entirely in the hands of the See also:Romans. Landing suddenly on the See also:north-See also:west of the See also:island with a small See also:mercenary force he seized a strong position on Mt. Ercte (See also:Monte Pellegrino, near See also:Palermo), and not only maintained himself against all attacks, but carried his raids as far as the See also:coast of See also:south See also:Italy. In 244 he transferred his See also:army to a similar position on the slopes of Mt. Eryx (Monte See also:San Giuliano), from which he was able to lend support to the besieged See also:garrison in the neighbouring See also:town of Drepanum (See also:Trapani). By a See also:provision of the See also:peace of 241 Hamilcar's unbeaten force was allowed to depart from Sicily without any token of submission. On returning to See also:Africa his troops, which had been kept together only by his See also:personal authority and by the promise of See also:good pay, See also:broke out into open See also:mutiny when their rewards were withheld by Hamilcar's opponents among the governing See also:aristocracy. The serious danger into which See also:Carthage was brought by the failure of the aristocratic generals was averted by Hamilcar, whom the See also:government in this crisis could not but reinstate. By the See also:power of his personal See also:influence among the mercenaries and the surrounding See also:African peoples, and by See also:superior See also:strategy, he speedily crushed the revolt (237). After this success Hamilcar enjoyed such influence among the popular and patriotic party that his opponents could not prevent him being raised to a virtual dictatorship. After recruiting and training a new army in some Numidian forays he led on his own responsibility an expedition into See also:Spain, where he hoped to gain a new See also:empire to compensate Carthage for the loss of Sicily and See also:Sardinia, and to serve as a basis for a See also:campaign of vengeance against the Romans (236).

In eight years by force of arms and See also:

diplomacy he secured an extensive territory in Spain, but his premature See also:death in See also:battle (228) prevented him from completing the See also:conquest. Hamilcar stood out far above the Carthaginians of his See also:age in military and See also:diplomatic skill and in strength of patriotism; in these qualities he was surpassed only by his son Hannibal, whom he had imbued with his own deep hatred of See also:Rome and trained to be his successor in the conflict. This Hamilcar has been confused with another general who succeeded to the command of the Carthaginians in the First Punic War, and after successes at Therma and Drepanum was defeated at Ecnomus (256 B. C.). Subsequently, apart from unskilful operations against See also:Regulus, nothing is certainly known of him. For others of the name see CARTHAGE, SICILY, See also:Smith's Classical See also:Dictionary. So far as the name itself is concerned, Milcar is perhaps the same as Melkarth, the Tyrian See also:god. See See also:Polybius i.-iii.; See also:Cornelius See also:Nepos, Vita Hamilcaris; See also:Appian, Res His panicae, chs. 4, 5, Diodorus, Excerpta, See also:xxiv., See also:xxv.; O. Meltzer, Geschichte der Karthager (See also:Berlin, 1877), ii. also PUNIC See also:WARS. (M. O.

B.

End of Article: HAMILCAR BARCA

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