Hamilcar, also called Barca, Hebrew Barak('Lightning') c.270-228BC
Carthaginian soldier

He and his son Hannibal were the greatest of the Carthaginians. From 247BC he fought in the First Punic War, seizing the Sicilian stronghold of Ercte with a small band of mercenaries, from which he waged war for three years against Rome. He occupied Mount Eryx (244-242) and defended it against a Roman army. At the end of the First Punic War (241) Sicily was surrendered to Rome and the Carthaginian mercenaries revolted; Hamilcar crushed the rebellion after a terrible struggle in 238. He aimed to compensate for the loss of Sicily by creating in Spain an infantry capable of coping with Roman legionaries. He entered Spain in 237, and conquered most of the south and east of the peninsula before his death.