𐤌𐤄𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤋
Maharbal
· Carthage
Name
- Punic
- Maharbaʿl 𐤌𐤄𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤋
- Greek
- Μαάρβας
- Latin
- Maharbal
Maharbaʿl combines mhr ("swift, skilled") with the divine name Baʿal, yielding something like "swift one of Baʿal." His patronymic in the Roman tradition is "son of Himilco."
Carthaginian cavalry commander, identified by Livy as a son of Himilco. Commanded the Numidian cavalry under Hannibal throughout the Italian campaign, including at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae. Famous in the later Latin tradition for an exchange that probably never happened: Livy reports that immediately after Cannae, Maharbal urged Hannibal to march directly on Rome and, when Hannibal demurred, replied "you know how to win a victory, Hannibal, but you do not know how to use one" (vincere scis, Hannibal; victoria uti nescis). The line appears in no earlier source, Polybius, who was closer to the events, does not preserve it, and is generally treated by modern scholarship as Livian invention or later tradition shaped to dramatize Roman survival. Whether Maharbal said it or not, his command of Hannibal's Numidian horse was central to every major Carthaginian victory in Italy through 216 BCE.