Mago (Barcid) - Third Carthaginian Expedition To Italy

Third Carthaginian Expedition To Italy

Mago then led a campaign to invade Italy (this time by sea) with 15,000 men in early summer of 205 BC. The army sailed from Minorca to Liguria under the escort of 30 Carthaginian quinqueremes. Mago managed to capture Genoa, and he held control of Northern Italy for nearly three years, warring with the mountain tribes and gathering troops. The Romans devoted 7 legions to maintain watch over him and guard Northern Italy, but no general action was fought. In 204 BC Mago was reinforced with 6,000 infantry and some cavalry from Carthage. The Romans refused to give battle and blocked Mago so he couldn't reach Hannibal.

Wounded in a battle in Cisalpine Gaul, Mago was recalled back to Carthage along with Hannibal to aid in its defence, as the future Scipio Africanus major had shattered the armies of Hasdrubal Gisco, Hanno, son of Bomilcar, and had captured Syphax, who was allied to Carthage, in Africa. Mago and his army sailed from Italy in 202 BC under the escort of the Punic fleet, and was unmolested by the Roman navy as he made for Africa. Before arriving in Carthage, however, he died at sea.

The ability of Mago as a field commander can be glimpsed from his actions at the battles of Trebbia and Cannae, where his failure might have doomed the Carthaginian army. He was a capable cavalry leader, as his repeated ambushes of the Romans in Iberia and Italy demonstrate.