Mago | Punic Wars, Mercenary, Strategist | Britannica (original) (raw)

Mago (died c. 203 bc) was a leading Carthaginian general during the Second Punic War (218–201 bc) against Rome. He was the youngest of the three sons of the Carthaginian statesman and general Hamilcar Barca.

In the Second Punic War Mago accompanied his brother Hannibal on the invasion of Italy 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. The brothers eventually succeeded in defeating and killing the two Roman generals Publius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus in 211. They were not so successful in fighting Publius’s son. In a battle at Ilipa (206), Mago was defeated by the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio (son of the general of the same name; later known as Scipio Africanus). Mago failed to conquer Carthago Nova (modern Cartagena) and Gades (now Cádiz) before attacking the Balearic Islands. (Mahón in Minorca bears his name.) He carried the war into Liguria in Italy in 205. In 203 he was finally defeated in the Po valley in Cisalpine Gaul. He died of wounds on the return voyage to Carthage.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.