1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hasdrubal

HASDRUBAL, the name of several Carthaginian generals, among whom the following are the most important:—

1. The son-in-law of Hamilcar Barca (q.v.), who followed the latter in his campaign against the governing aristocracy at Carthage at the close of the First Punic War, and in his subsequent career of conquest in Spain. After Hamilcar’s death (228) Hasdrubal, who succeeded him in the command, extended the newly acquired empire by skilful diplomacy, and consolidated it by the foundation of New Carthage (Cartagena) as the capital of the new province, and by a treaty with Rome which fixed the Ebro as the boundary between the two powers. In 221 he was killed by an assassin.

Polybius ii. 1; Livy xxi. 1; Appian, Hispanica, 4-8.

2. The second son of Hamilcar Barca, and younger brother of Hannibal. Left in command of Spain when Hannibal departed to Italy (218), he fought for six years against the brothers Gnaeus and Publius Scipio. He had on the whole the worst of the conflict, and a defeat in 216 prevented him from joining Hannibal in Italy at a critical moment; but in 212 he completely routed his opponents, both the Scipios being killed. He was subsequently outgeneralled by Publius Scipio the Younger, who in 209 captured New Carthage and gained other advantages. In the same year he was summoned to join his brother in Italy. He eluded Scipio by crossing the Pyrenees at their western extremity, and, making his way thence through Gaul and the Alps in safety, penetrated far into Central Italy (207). He was ultimately checked by two Roman armies, and being forced to give battle was decisively defeated on the banks of the Metaurus. Hasdrubal himself fell in the fight; his head was cut off and thrown into Hannibal’s camp as a sign of his utter defeat.

Polybius x. 34-xi. 3; Livy xxvii. 1-51; Appian, Bellum Hannibalicum, ch. lii. sqq.; R. Oehler, Der letzte Feldzug des Barkiden Hasdrubals (Berlin, 1897); C. Lehmann, Die Angriffe der drei Barkiden auf Italien (Leipzig, 1905). See also Punic Wars.