𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕

Hamilcar (son of Gisco)

d. 309 BCE · Carthage

Name

Punic: ʿAbd-Melqart 𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕
Greek: Ἀμίλκας
Latin: Hamilcar

Hamilcar is the Greek/Latin rendering of the Punic ʿAbd-Melqart, "servant of Melqart", a common Carthaginian theophoric name honoring the Tyrian patron deity. The patronymic "son of Gisco" distinguishes him from the several other Carthaginian commanders named Hamilcar in the third and fourth centuries BCE, including the more famous father of Hannibal, more than half a century later.

Carthaginian general who commanded the war against Agathocles in Sicily from approximately 311 BCE. Defeated Agathocles at the Battle of the Himera River in 311 BCE, recovering most of Greek Sicily for Carthage and besieging Syracuse itself. The siege was interrupted in 310 BCE by Agathocles's audacious invasion of Africa, which forced Carthage to redirect resources homeward. Hamilcar continued the Sicilian war but was defeated and killed in 309 BCE in a Greek counterattack near Syracuse, Diodorus reports that his head was decapitated and sent to Agathocles in Africa as a trophy of victory. His death effectively ended Carthaginian momentum in Sicily and contributed to the status-quo settlement of 306 BCE.