Mago Barca

Magon
-, 243-203 f.Kr.

 

Karthansk general. Søn af Hamilkar Barkas, yngre broder til Hannibal. Dræbt ved skibsforlis på vej fra Italien til Karthago.

Hamilcars tredje søn og broder til Hannibal. Mago ledsagede sin broder Hannibal under invasionen af Italien... and held key commands in the great victories of the first three years of that conflict. After the Carthaginian triumph at the Battle of Cannae (216), he was sent to Spain to fight alongside his other brother, Hasdrubal. He suffered defeat at Ilipa in 206 at the hands of Publius Cornelius Scipio (later Africanus). He stayed for several months in Gades (now Cádiz) and then retreated to the Balearics (where he may have given his name to Port Mahon).

He then led a third Carthaginian invasion of Italy, this time by sea. In spring 205, with 30 ships and 15,000 men he makes the journey directly from Minorca to the Ligurian coast. This is an impressive martime journey for the period. He takes Genoa and Savone, received reinforcements from Carthage and occupies - for nearly 3 years - the north of Italy.

In 203, advancing from his base in Liguria, he fought a drawn battle against four legions in the valley of the Po in Cisalpine Gaul. Mago was seriously wounded there. Scipio's expedition to North Africa forces him to return his troops there. He dies at sea before having been able to reach Carthage.