Who were the greatest commanders of Carthage?

In our ranking: Hannibal, Hamilcar Barca, Hasdrubal Barca, the Spartan mercenary Xanthippus, Mago Barca, Maharbal, Hasdrubal the Fair and Hannibal son of Gisco, who took Selinus and Himera in 409 BC. Four of the eight are Barcids.

Was Hamilcar Barca ever defeated?

Not in Sicily, where Polybius calls his six-year war with Rome a draw, and he won the Mercenary War for Carthage. But in Spain, while besieging Helike, he was routed by the king of the Orissi and died in the retreat; the ancient accounts of his death disagree.

Did Mago Barca lose New Carthage?

No. When Scipio stormed New Carthage in 209 BC, the city was held by a garrison commander also called Mago, who surrendered; Mago Barca was then near the Strait of Gibraltar. He did fail to retake the city in a night attack in 206 BC.

Did Carthage win the wars with Rome?

No. Despite Hannibal's victories, Rome won all three Punic Wars; the second was decided at Zama in 202 BC and the third with the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC.

The Roman general Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, ending the Second Punic War. He is not on this list because he fought against Carthage; he ranks in our guide to the commanders of ancient Rome.

The Greatest Commanders of Carthage

Q: Who was Carthage's greatest general?

Hannibal, first in our ranking with 43 points, for the crossing of the Alps and his victories at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae in 216 BC. He lost Zama in 202 BC, and with it the war, but no other Carthaginian comes close on recognition or legacy.

At a glance
Rank	Commander	Lived	Greatest victory	Record
1	Hannibal	247 to 183 BC	Cannae, 216 BC	Won Trebia, Trasimene, Cannae; lost Zama
2	Hamilcar Barca	c. 285 to 228 BC	The Saw, Mercenary War	Won the Mercenary War; routed at Helike
3	Hasdrubal Barca	c. 245 to 207 BC	Upper Baetis, 211 BC (shared)	Lost off the Ebro, Dertosa, Baecula, the Metaurus
4	Xanthippus	active 255 BC	Near Tunis, 255 BC	One battle, one victory; Regulus captured
5	Mago Barca	c. 243 to 203 BC	The Trebia ambush, 218 BC	Beaten at Ilipa and among the Insubres
6	Maharbal	active 219 to 216 BC	Pursuit after Trasimene, 217 BC	Cavalry commander; no battle of his own
7	Hasdrubal the Fair	c. 270 to 221 BC	Revenge on the Orissi (Diodorus)	Won Spain more by diplomacy than war
8	Hannibal Mago	active 410 to 406 BC	Selinus, 409 BC	Took Selinus and Himera; no defeat

Quick answer

Who was Carthage's greatest general?

Hannibal is Carthage's greatest commander in our ranking, for the crossing of the Alps and his victories at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae, even though he lost the war at Zama in 202 BC. His father Hamilcar Barca, who saved Carthage in the Mercenary War and won it southern Spain, is second, and Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal third.

Carthage fought the Greeks of Sicily for two centuries and Rome for more than one, and its generals are known to us almost entirely through their enemies' histories. This list ranks the eight who led its armies or fleets with most effect, from Hannibal son of Gisco, who stormed Selinus in 409 BC, to the Barcid family that fought Rome. They are ranked by score on five weighted criteria, set out in how we chose and ranked them, not by date. Foreign mercenaries who commanded Carthage's army count; Carthage's enemies, such as Scipio Africanus, do not, and the battles have their own guide, the greatest battles of Carthage.¹

1 Hannibal, 247 to 183 BC

Lived: 247 to 183 BC
Served: Carthage: commander in Spain from 221 BC; the Second Punic War, 218 to 202 BC
Greatest victory: Cannae, 216 BC: about 40,000 foot and 10,000 horse against about 80,000 Roman foot and more than 6,000 horse, by Polybius's figures
Record: Won the Trebia (218 BC), Lake Trasimene (217) and Cannae (216); lost Zama (202)
Legacy: Cannae is still studied as the model battle of encirclement

Hannibal was Hamilcar Barca's eldest son; Polybius has him recall swearing at nine never to be a friend of the Romans, and in 221 BC the army in Spain chose him as its commander. In 218 BC he took 50,000 foot and 9,000 horse to the Alps and came down into Italy 17 days later with about 26,000 men, by World History Encyclopedia's figures.²

He won at the Trebia in 218 BC, Lake Trasimene in 217 and Cannae in 216. At Cannae about 80,000 Roman foot and more than 6,000 horse, by Polybius's count, met some 40,000 Carthaginian foot and 10,000 horse. Hannibal let the Roman center push in, closed both flanks with his African infantry and sent his cavalry into the rear. Polybius puts the Roman dead at about 70,000, World History Encyclopedia at 44,000, against 6,000 of Hannibal's men. Myth vs fact: no elephants fought at Cannae. Polybius says all but one had died after the Trebia, and Hannibal rode the last one through Etruria.³

In 202 BC Scipio Africanus beat him at Zama, where about 20,000 of his men were killed, and Hannibal told the Carthaginian senate that the war was lost; he died by poison in exile in 183 BC. Cannae outlived him: Alfred von Schlieffen built his “Cannae concept” on it, and in 1914 the younger Moltke told his son to “Study Cannae”.⁴

Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition and legacy; record 4 because he lost Zama and with it the war, and consequence 3 because Rome survived to destroy Carthage. His 43 points are eight more than anyone else's, which makes him No. 1.

Read the full story of Hannibal ›

Swirling storm clouds over a mountain valley with tiny figures of an army below — Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps, painted by J. M. W. Turner and exhibited in 1812, now in Tate Britain. Public domain

2 Hamilcar Barca, c. 285 to 228 BC

Lived: Birth year unknown (World History Encyclopedia estimates about 285 BC); died in Spain in 229 or 228 BC
Served: Carthage: Sicily, 247 to 241 BC; the Mercenary War in Africa, 241 to 237 BC; Spain, 237 to 229 BC
Greatest victory: The Saw, Mercenary War: more than 40,000 rebels cut down, by Polybius's count
Record: Held Hercte and Eryx against Rome, 247 to 241 BC; won at the Bagradas and the Saw; routed at Helike in Spain, where he died
Legacy: Founder of Carthage's empire in Spain and father of Hannibal

Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, Punic for “lightning” according to Livius.org, took command in Sicily in 247 BC, late in the First Punic War. From Hercte near Palermo and, from 244 BC, Mount Eryx, he raided and skirmished for six years without losing ground. Nepos claims he never gave way to the enemy there; the earlier Polybius says that the two sides left the contest drawn, “like two uninjured and invincible champions”, though he gives Hamilcar the palm of the war for daring and genius.⁵

After the defeat at sea in 241 BC the unpaid mercenaries from Sicily rose against Carthage itself. With about 10,000 men and 70 elephants Hamilcar beat the rebels at the Bagradas river, and later trapped their main army at a ridge called the Saw, where more than 40,000 were cut down.⁶

In 237 BC Hamilcar crossed to Spain and spent about nine years subduing its tribes “by force of arms or by diplomacy”. In 229 BC, by Livius.org's date, he was besieging Helike when the king of the Orissi, feigning friendship, came to its aid and routed him, Diodorus says. Myth vs fact: nobody knows how he died. Polybius says he fell in battle, Nepos fighting the Vettones, Diodorus that he drowned in a river.⁷

Why it ranks here: He saved Carthage in the Mercenary War and built the Spanish base whose men and silver paid for Hannibal's war, consequence 4, but he won no decisive battle in Sicily and was routed at Helike, record 3, the point Zama costs Hannibal; he is remembered mainly as Hannibal's father, legacy 3, and Polybius tells his Spanish years only in outline, certainty 3.

Read the full story of Hamilcar Barca ›

3 Hasdrubal Barca, c. 245 to 207 BC

Lived: Born about 244 BC, by World History Encyclopedia's estimate; killed at the Metaurus, 207 BC
Served: Carthage: commander in Spain from 218 BC; invaded Italy over the Alps in 207 BC
Greatest victory: The Upper Baetis, 211 BC, with his brother Mago and Hasdrubal son of Gisco: both Scipio brothers killed
Record: Won the Upper Baetis (211 BC, shared); lost a sea fight off the Ebro (217), Dertosa (215), Baecula (208) and the Metaurus (207)
Legacy: His death ended Hannibal's last real hope of help in Italy

Hamilcar's second son was left in charge of Spain when Hannibal marched for Italy in 218 BC. The Roman brothers Gnaeus and Publius Scipio made his task hard: in 217 BC Gnaeus beat his fleet off the mouth of the Ebro, and in 215 BC both routed him at Dertosa; Livy says he escaped from the slaughter with a few followers.⁸

In 211 BC, joined by his brother Mago and by Hasdrubal son of Gisco, he caught the Scipios marching apart. He paid Gnaeus' Celtiberian mercenaries to go home, and both Roman armies were destroyed and both brothers killed; World History Encyclopedia calls it the only Carthaginian land victory of the war not led by Hannibal. The younger Scipio beat him at Baecula in 208 BC, but Hasdrubal got away with his money and elephants toward the Pyrenees.⁹

In 207 BC he crossed the Alps. The Romans caught the messengers carrying his letter to Hannibal, the consul Nero hurried north to join his colleague, and at the Metaurus Hasdrubal rode into the fight and died. Polybius counts not fewer than 10,000 Carthaginians and Gauls dead, Livy 56,000. Livy says Nero had the head thrown in front of Hannibal's outposts and that Hannibal, stunned, saw in it the doom awaiting Carthage.¹⁰

Why it ranks here: He held Spain for years and destroyed two Roman armies in 211 BC, but he lost at sea off the Ebro and on land at Dertosa, Baecula and the Metaurus, record 3, and his march to Italy ended in the defeat that cost his brother the war there, consequence 2; the story of his head keeps him in memory, legacy 3.

Read the full story of Hasdrubal Barca ›

Tall painting of a helmeted commander recoiling from a severed head held up to him — Hannibal recognizes the head of his brother Hasdrubal, killed at the Metaurus, in a painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo of about 1728 to 1730 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Public domain

4 Xanthippus, active 255 BC

Lived: Dates of birth and death unknown; in Carthage's service in 255 BC
Served: Carthage, as a Spartan mercenary commander, First Punic War
Greatest victory: Near Tunis, 255 BC: 12,000 foot, 4,000 horse and nearly 100 elephants against the Roman army of Regulus
Record: Won his one recorded battle and captured the consul Regulus; then sailed home
Legacy: Ended Rome's first invasion of Africa

In 256 BC Rome carried the First Punic War to Africa. The consul Marcus Atilius Regulus beat a Carthaginian army, took Tunis and offered peace on terms so harsh that the Carthaginian senate refused them. Among the soldiers newly hired in Greece was a Spartan, Xanthippus, who said that Carthage had been beaten not by the Romans but by its own generals. The government handed him the army, and when he drilled it before the city, Polybius says, the soldiers cheered and called for him by name.¹¹

In 255 BC he took the field with 12,000 foot, 4,000 horse and nearly 100 elephants, kept to level ground, set the elephants in one line before the infantry and put the cavalry on both wings. The Roman horse was driven off, the elephants trampled the front ranks and the Carthaginian cavalry closed round the rear. Polybius says only about 2,000 Romans escaped, Regulus was taken with some 500 men, and Carthage lost about 800 mercenaries; the much later Appian gives Regulus 30,000 men.¹²

Myth vs fact: Appian tells that the jealous Carthaginians sent Xanthippus home with honors and ordered the ship captains to throw him overboard. Polybius says only that he wisely sailed home soon after, and that another account of his departure existed.¹³

Why it ranks here: One hired Spartan destroyed the first Roman invasion of Africa and captured its consul, consequence 3, but it was a single victory before he left, record 3, and outside Polybius' story he is little known, recognition 2; that one battle, which saved the city, puts him a point ahead of Mago Barca, who won no battle as sole commander.

5 Mago Barca, c. 243 to 203 BC

Lived: About 243 to 203 BC; some ancient writers had him survive the war (Livius.org)
Served: Carthage, Second Punic War: Italy 218 to 216 BC, Spain 215 to 206 BC, Liguria 205 to 203 BC
Greatest victory: The Trebia, 218 BC: led the hidden ambush of 1,000 horse and 1,000 foot, under Hannibal's command
Record: Shared the victory over the Scipios (211 BC); beaten by Silanus (207), at Ilipa (206) and among the Insubres (203)
Legacy: Livy's story of the gold rings poured out at Carthage's senate house

Mago, Hamilcar's youngest son, crossed the Alps with Hannibal. Before the Trebia in 218 BC Hannibal sent him to hide by the river with 1,000 horse and 1,000 foot, and when the Romans had waded across to fight, Mago's men fell on their rear. At Cannae he stood beside Hannibal in the center, and Livy says he then carried the news to Carthage and had a heap of gold rings from the Roman dead piled up at the entrance of the senate house.¹⁴

From 215 BC he fought in Spain. With his brother Hasdrubal and Hasdrubal son of Gisco he destroyed the armies of the two Scipios in 211 BC; after that, Livy has him beaten by Silanus in 207, he shared the great defeat at Ilipa in 206, and his night attack on New Carthage was thrown back the same year. Myth vs fact: he did not lose New Carthage itself. The Mago who surrendered it in 209 BC was the garrison commander; Mago Barca was near the Pillars of Hercules.¹⁵

In 205 BC he landed at Genua with 12,000 foot and 2,000 horse. Two years later Roman legions beat him in the land of the Insubres. Livy says Mago's wound decided the battle and that he died of it at sea off Sardinia; other writers, Livius.org notes, had him survive the war.¹⁶

Why it ranks here: Every account of the war names the three sons of Hamilcar, recognition 3, but his famous ambush was part of Hannibal's battle, and on his own he lost in Spain and Italy, record 2, and nothing he won lasted, consequence 2; he ends one point behind Xanthippus.

Read the full story of Mago Barca ›

6 Maharbal, active 219 to 216 BC

Lived: Dates of birth and death unknown; son of Himilco, active 219 to 216 BC
Served: Carthage, under Hannibal: Spain, 219 BC; Italy, 218 to 216 BC
Greatest victory: After Lake Trasimene, 217 BC: took the surrender of the escaped Romans and destroyed the 4,000 horse of Gaius Centenius
Record: Pressed the siege of Saguntum in Hannibal's absence (219 BC); otherwise fought as one of Hannibal's commanders
Legacy: The line, in Livy, that Hannibal knew how to win a victory but not how to use it

Maharbal, son of Himilco, was one of Hannibal's senior officers; Livy says that when Hannibal was called away from the siege of Saguntum in 219 BC, Maharbal pressed it so hard that the general's absence was not felt, and in 218 BC Hannibal sent him with 500 Numidian horse to raid the lands of Rome's allies.¹⁷

His best days came after Lake Trasimene in 217 BC. Some 6,000 Romans had cut their way out of the trap; Maharbal rode after them through the night, and next morning, starving, they surrendered to him on a promise of their lives, which Hannibal would not keep because, Polybius says, Maharbal had no authority to give it. Soon after, he caught the 4,000 horsemen of Gaius Centenius, killed about half and took the rest prisoner.¹⁸

After Cannae in 216 BC, in Livy's account, he urged Hannibal to send him ahead with the cavalry, promising that in five days Hannibal would feast on the Capitol, and when Hannibal hesitated told him that he knew how to win a victory but not how to use it. Myth vs fact: the words are not securely his. Aulus Gellius quotes the oldest version, from Cato, in which an unnamed master of horse makes the promise of dinner on the Capitol, and Plutarch gives the rebuke to a Carthaginian called Barca.¹⁹

Why it ranks here: That one remark keeps him remembered, legacy 3, and both Polybius and Livy tell his part, certainty 3, but he served as Hannibal's cavalry commander and led only detachments on his own, never an army in a pitched battle, record 2, and nothing he did changed the war, consequence 2.

7 Hasdrubal the Fair, c. 270 to 221 BC

Lived: About 270 to 221 BC, by World History Encyclopedia's dates
Served: Carthage: the Numidian war under Hamilcar; commander in Spain, 229 to 221 BC
Greatest victory: Revenge on the Orissi after Hamilcar's death: their twelve cities taken, by Diodorus' account
Record: Diodorus credits him with crushing a Numidian revolt and the Orissi; Polybius says he won more by diplomacy than by war
Legacy: Founded New Carthage (Cartagena) and made the Ebro treaty with Rome

Hasdrubal, called the Fair, was Hamilcar's son-in-law and, in Polybius' words, his chief naval officer; Livy repeats the gossip that he first won Hamilcar's favor with his good looks as a boy. Diodorus says Hamilcar sent him back to Africa to put down a Numidian revolt, and that he killed 8,000 men and took 2,000 prisoner.²⁰

When Hamilcar died in Spain the army acclaimed Hasdrubal in his place. By Diodorus' account he first took revenge on the Orissi, whose king had routed Hamilcar, seized their twelve cities, then married the daughter of an Iberian prince and was proclaimed general by the Iberians themselves. Polybius and Livy agree that he extended Carthage's power more by winning over the chiefs than by war. From about 228 BC he built a new capital on one of the best harbors in the Mediterranean, near silver mines: Carthago Nova, today's Cartagena.²¹

Rome, seeing him build a larger empire than Carthage had ever held, made a treaty with him by which the Carthaginians would not cross the Ebro in arms. In Livy's version the treaty also left Saguntum free, and Hannibal's siege of it began the next war. In 221 BC he was murdered after eight years in command, by a Celt with a private grudge in Polybius, by a slave after nine years in Diodorus.²²

Why it ranks here: He turned Carthaginian Spain into a state with a capital and a frontier, consequence 3, but more by treaty and marriage than by battle, record 2; he is known only to readers of the Punic Wars, recognition 2, and his eight years survive in a few lines of Polybius, Livy and Diodorus, certainty 2.

Historical map of the western Mediterranean with Roman and Carthaginian territories — Rome and Carthage at the start of the Second Punic War in 218 BC, a map from William R. Shepherd's Historical Atlas (1926 edition), with the Carthaginian Spain that Hasdrubal the Fair built and Hannibal enlarged. Public domain

8 Hannibal Mago, active 410 to 406 BC

Lived: Birth year unknown; died of plague at the siege of Akragas, 406 BC
Served: Carthage, war in Sicily against Selinus and Syracuse, 410 to 406 BC
Greatest victory: Selinus, 409 BC: stormed after nine days; Diodorus counts 16,000 dead and more than 5,000 captives
Record: Stormed Selinus and Himera (409 BC); no recorded defeat; died before Akragas (406)
Legacy: Began the Carthaginian province in western Sicily that lasted until Rome took the island

Hannibal, son of Gisco, was the grandson of the Hamilcar who died at Himera in 480 BC; his father had ended his life in exile at Selinus because of that defeat. Diodorus says he then held the highest power in Carthage and was by nature a hater of the Greeks, and in 410 BC, when Segesta asked Carthage for help against Selinus, he was chosen to lead the war.²³

He landed near Lilybaeum with an army that Ephorus put at 200,000 foot and 4,000 horse and Timaeus at not many more than 100,000; Diodorus gives both. His siege towers overtopped the neglected walls of Selinus, and after nine days of assaults his Iberians broke in. Diodorus counts 16,000 dead and more than 5,000 captives, a toll World History Encyclopedia repeats. He then took Himera by storm and razed it, and, Diodorus says, led some 3,000 men taken prisoner to the spot where his grandfather had fallen, tortured them and put them all to death.²⁴

In 406 BC he was sent back with his kinsman Himilco to take Akragas, but plague broke out in the camp and he was among the dead. Himilco finished the war, and the peace of 405 BC left Selinus, Akragas and Himera paying tribute to Carthage; Livius.org credits Hannibal with first organizing the Carthaginian province that lasted until the Romans took Sicily.²⁵

Why it ranks here: Two cities stormed in one campaign and no recorded defeat give him the best battlefield record of any Carthaginian before the Barcids, record 4, and his war made western Sicily Carthaginian, consequence 3, but only Diodorus tells it, certainty 2, and outside specialist books the name is unknown, recognition 1.

How we chose and ranked these Carthaginian commanders

We counted a Carthaginian commander as a general who led Carthage's armies or fleets, from its wars with the Greeks of Sicily in the fifth century BC to the fall of the city in 146 BC. Foreign mercenaries count when they commanded Carthage's army, which is why the Spartan Xanthippus is here; Carthage's enemies do not, so Scipio Africanus, who beat Hannibal, is in our guide to the greatest commanders of ancient Rome and the Greek generals of Sicily in the greatest commanders of ancient Greece. The battles themselves are ranked in the greatest battles of Carthage, and Hannibal is measured against the world's best in the greatest military commanders.²⁶

We considered 21 candidates and scored each one from 1 to 5 on five criteria. Recognition counts three times, because this page answers the question of who Carthage's greatest commanders were; battlefield record, consequence and legacy count twice, and certainty once:

Recognition (×3). 5 if the commander is known far beyond the history of Carthage and appears on most published lists of great Carthaginian generals, 1 if only specialists know the name.
Battlefield record (×2). 5 if he won several decisive victories in person, against strong odds and with few defeats, 1 if he won no battle of note himself.
Consequence (×2). 5 if his victories saved Carthage or changed its borders for generations, 1 if they changed nothing lasting.
Legacy (×2). 5 if he is still studied, imitated and remembered in culture, 1 if he is forgotten.
Certainty (×1). 5 if his campaigns are documented by independent and contemporary sources, 1 if they rest on one late or partisan account.

The list is ranked by total score, not by date. Ties go to the better known commander, then to the one whose victories changed more, then to the older one. The scores are our editorial judgment, made on the evidence in the sources below, and the table shows every one of them. No Carthaginian account of any of these wars survives, and most Carthaginian generals are names in Polybius, Livy or Diodorus, so the list stops at eight entries, not fifteen. The Spartan Xanthippus, for example, ranks above Mago Barca, Hannibal's brother: his one victory near Tunis saved Carthage in 255 BC, while Mago, famous for the ambush at the Trebia, won no battle as sole commander.²⁷

The scores behind the ranking
Rank	Name	Recognition ×3	Battlefield record ×2	Consequence ×2	Legacy ×2	Certainty ×1	Total
1	Hannibal	5	4	3	5	4	43
2	Hamilcar Barca	4	3	4	3	3	35
3	Hasdrubal Barca	3	3	2	3	3	28
4	Xanthippus	2	3	3	2	3	25
5	Mago Barca	3	2	2	2	3	24
6	Maharbal	2	2	2	3	3	23
7	Hasdrubal the Fair	2	2	3	2	2	22
8	Hannibal Mago	1	4	3	1	2	21

Close calls

Four commanders came close and did not make the eight:

Hanno the Great, active 247 to 200 BC. Polybius says Carthage gave him the war against its rebel mercenaries because he had earlier settled its affairs at Hecatompylus in Libya, but near Utica he went into the town while the rebels he thought beaten stormed his camp and took his baggage and artillery, and the command passed to Hamilcar. Livy has Hannibal, ordered home from Italy, blame Hanno, the Barcids' political enemy, for ruining his house. He ties Adherbal on 20 and goes ahead of him on recognition.²⁸

Adherbal, active 250 to 249 BC. At Drepana in 249 BC he caught the Roman fleet of Publius Claudius Pulcher against the shore and took 93 of its ships, while Claudius escaped with about 30: Carthage's greatest sea victory of the war. Rome built new fleets and won the war at sea in 241 BC, and this one battle is nearly all that is known of him, so he misses the eight by a point.²⁹

Hasdrubal the Boetharch, active 149 to 146 BC. When Carthage chose to fight Rome in 149 BC it gave him its army in the field, about 30,000 men by Appian's count; from Nepheris he twice got the better of the consul Manilius and then took the command inside the city. When Scipio Aemilianus stormed Carthage in 146 BC he came out to beg for his life, and Appian says his wife killed their children and leapt after them into the burning temple. His war ended Carthage, so consequence 1.³⁰

Himilco, active 406 to 396 BC. He finished Hannibal Mago's war, taking Akragas after an eight-month siege and then Gela; in 396 BC he razed Messana, and his fleet under Mago destroyed more than a hundred Syracusan ships off Catana. Before Syracuse plague and a Syracusan attack broke his army, and, Diodorus says, he paid Dionysius 300 talents to let him slip away by night with the Carthaginian citizens alone. Only Diodorus tells it; he ties the Boetharch on 19 and goes below him on recognition.³¹

Why does the list stop at eight, and why is Scipio Africanus not on it?

The list stops at eight because the evidence does: no Carthaginian account of these wars survives, and below the eighth entry the candidates are men known from one battle or a few lines in Polybius, Livy or Diodorus, such as Adherbal, the victor at Drepana, or Himilco, so a list of fifteen would have to be padded with names. The four close calls end one or two points short, and the other Carthaginian generals we considered score 18 or less.³²

Scipio Africanus is missing because he fought against Carthage, not for it. He beat Hasdrubal Barca at Baecula in 208 BC, drove Carthage out of Spain at Ilipa in 206 BC and defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC. If he counted, his 44 points would put him above Hannibal; he ranks second in our greatest commanders of ancient Rome. The same rule leaves out the Greek generals of Sicily, such as Dionysius I of Syracuse, who drove Himilco from Syracuse in 396 BC.³³

Were all of Carthage's great commanders Barcids?

No. Four of the eight are Barcids, Hamilcar and his sons Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago, and a fifth, Hasdrubal the Fair, married into the family, but the Spartan mercenary Xanthippus saved Carthage in 255 BC, and Hannibal son of Gisco won it western Sicily almost two centuries before his namesake crossed the Alps.³⁴

The family did dominate the war with Rome. Hamilcar began it in Sicily and Spain; Hannibal won the great victories, Hasdrubal died trying to reinforce him at the Metaurus, and Mago fought on in northern Italy until, badly wounded in 203 BC, he was recalled to Africa. At home their political enemy was Hanno the Great, whom Hannibal, in Livy's account, blamed for the ruin of his house when he was ordered out of Italy.³⁵

Follow the whole struggle in Rome vs Carthage, or measure these generals against the world's best in the greatest military commanders.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

World History Encyclopedia, “Selinus”. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Polybius, Histories; World History Encyclopedia, “Hannibal”. ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “Battle of Cannae”; Polybius, Histories. ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “The Battle of Zama”; World History Encyclopedia, “Hannibal”; HistoryNet, “The Enduring Mystique of Cannae”. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Livius.org, “Hamilcar Barca”; Cornelius Nepos, Lives of Eminent Commanders. ↩
Polybius, Histories. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; Livius.org, “Hamilcar Barca”; Cornelius Nepos, Lives of Eminent Commanders. ↩
Livius.org, “Hasdrubal Barca”; Livy, History of Rome. ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “Hasdrubal Barca”; Livy, History of Rome; Polybius, Histories. ↩
Livy, History of Rome; Polybius, Histories. ↩
Polybius, Histories. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Appian, The Punic Wars. ↩
Appian, The Punic Wars; Polybius, Histories. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome. ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “Hasdrubal Barca”; Livius.org, “Mago Barca”; Livy, History of Rome; Polybius, Histories. ↩
Livy, History of Rome; Livy, History of Rome; Livius.org, “Mago Barca”. ↩
Livy, History of Rome. ↩
Livy, History of Rome; Polybius, Histories. ↩
Livy, History of Rome; Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights; Plutarch, Life of Fabius Maximus. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; Livius.org, “Hamilcar Barca”; Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome; Livius.org, “Carthago Nova (Cartagena)”. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome; Livius.org, “Hasdrubal Barca”; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; Livius.org, “Hannibal (1)”. ↩
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; World History Encyclopedia, “Selinus”; Livius.org, “Hannibal (1)”. ↩
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; Livius.org, “Hannibal (1)”; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “Selinus”; World History Encyclopedia, “Hannibal”; World History Encyclopedia, “First Punic War”. ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “First Punic War”; Polybius, Histories. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome. ↩
Polybius, Histories. ↩
Appian, The Punic Wars; Appian, The Punic Wars; Appian, The Punic Wars. ↩
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome; World History Encyclopedia, “The Battle of Zama”; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
Polybius, Histories; Polybius, Histories; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
Livy, History of Rome; Livy, History of Rome. ↩

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HistoryNet (Douglas Hill, first published in MHQ, 1990), “The Enduring Mystique of Cannae”
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