Barkids

Hamilcar Barka belonged to the highest Carthaginian aristocracy and built his family tree to one of the companions of Elissa , the legendary founder of Carthage. Nothing is known about his parents; there is only the assumption that the eldest of his sons, Hamilcar named Hannibal in honor of his father ^[1] . Bark’s nickname comes from the Phoenician b (a) r (a) q - “lightning”, and, thus, is equivalent to the nickname Keravin common in the Hellenistic world . Perhaps Hamilkar got it for his tactics during the First Punic War ^[2] . According to another version, this nickname was generic ^[3] .

Hamilkar gave education to his sons in the Hellenic spirit, despite the existence of a direct prohibition on this in Carthaginian legislation ^[4] . Together with him they were in Spain and were educated in a military camp, surrounded by soldiers. Hamilcar conveyed to his sons his hatred of Rome and his desire for revenge; all three brothers devoted their lives to this struggle, playing prominent roles in the Second Punic War. According to Roman authors, Hamilcar, at the age of about 9 years old, made his eldest son take a solemn oath of eternal hatred of the Romans ^[5] .

After the defeat in the First Punic War, Carthage was seized by a deep political crisis, one of the aspects of which was the growing role of the people in government and the split in the ranks of the oligarchy, in whose hands all power had previously been concentrated. One group was led by the noble family of the Gannonides, who had been the most influential in Carthage for nearly a hundred years. At the head of another stood Hamilcar Barka, who became famous in the war with Rome. Gannon the Great , who led the "party" of the Gannonids, was a constant and, as far as is known from sources , unfortunate rival of Hamilcar. His supporters even tried to bring Hamilkar to court, but he came into contact with the leader of the “democratic” group, Hasdrubal the Beautiful , who supported Hamilkar. The alliance between the Barkids and the Carthaginian "democracy" was based on a common foreign policy interest. Gannon and his supporters saw the greatness of Carthage primarily in strengthening its position in Africa and therefore sought not to enter into any conflict with Rome, pursuing a cautious and peaceful policy in the Mediterranean . The Barkids, on the contrary, stood for active politics, and their goal was revenge for the defeat, which Carthage could take after careful preparation. But the same goals as the Barkids were also pursued by wide circles of the Carthaginians, who were interested in the inflow of wealth from overseas possessions (African were mainly in the hands of the aristocracy) and in the monopoly of maritime trade. The union was sealed by the marriage of Hasdrubal with the daughter of Hamilkar. Hasdrubal not only achieved the justification of Hamilcar, but also instructed him to crush the rebellion of the Numidians . After his suppression, not receiving any new instructions from the authorities, Hamilkar crossed to Spain ^[6] .

In the VI-V centuries BC. e. the Carthaginians captured the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula , but presumably during the rebellion of the mercenaries, most of these possessions, excluding coastal cities, were lost ^[7] . In 237 BC e. Hamilkar Barka launched a campaign to restore the power of Cafagen, defeating the Tartessians and Iberians . In addition to conquering rich lands and establishing a monopoly in trade, he pursued the goal of creating a bridgehead to resume the fight against Rome after the recently lost war ^[8] .

After the death of Hamilcar in the battle with the Iberians, the Carthaginian government sent a new army to Spain, headed by Hasdrubal the Beautiful. Gasdrubal, combining military and (more often) diplomatic methods, successfully completed the subjugation of Carthage to most of the peninsula and founded New Carthage , which became the main city of Punian Spain. When in 221 BC e. Hasdrubal died at the hands of a slave avenging his executed master, the Spanish army proclaimed his commander the son of Hamilcar Barca Hannibal. Thus, since the landing of Hamilcar in Gadir, the part of Spain belonging to the Carthaginians was controlled by representatives of one family - the Barkids, who acted quite independently of the central government: they minted a coin, entered into agreements, appointed governors of the annexed territories. This is due to their close relationship with the army, the influence of the people and ruling circles of Carthage due to military victories and the influx of wealth from new lands, as well as reliance on the local population ^[9] .

The Barkids preserved the old socio-political structure of the Spanish tribes, limiting themselves to taking hostages ; cities, with rare exceptions, were free from garrisons ; most former rulers retained power, although they paid to serve the Carthaginians. The result was the proclamation by the Spaniards of Hasdrubal the Beautiful, in the words of Diodorus of Sicily , as a strategist - autocrat , that is, the supreme leader (the Carthaginian and Spanish names for this title are unknown).

This created a new relationship between the Carthaginian commander and the Spaniards. In relation to the latter, he now acted not only as a foreigner and magistrate of a hostile state, but also as his own ruler. The establishment of such relations was facilitated by the marriage of Hasdrubal and Hannibal with the Spaniards, who, as it were, introduced the Carthaginians into the local environment, which was important in a tribal society or state with significant tribal remnants ^[10] .

Hamilcar had three sons: Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Magon . The Spanish chronicle Estoria de Espanna, dated 1282 or 1284, reports a fourth son named Gannon ^[11] , but other sources do not mention it. According to the hypothesis of Jacob Seibert , the fourth son of Hamilcar could be sacrificed around 240 BC. e. ^[12]

From the sources two daughters of Hamilkar are known (their names are not mentioned). One of them became the wife of the Numidian aristocrat Naravas , thus securing an alliance against the rebel mercenaries. Another married Hasdrubal the Beautiful, who had previously been called her father’s lover. She probably survived Hamilcar shortly, since Hasdrubal took the daughter of an Iberian leader as his wife ^[13] . In addition, Appian calls Hannibal's nephew one of the Carthaginian military leaders during the Second Punic War of Hannon , son of Bomilcar , ^[14] ; thus, Gannon's mother was apparently another daughter of Hamilcar.

• Tsirkin Yu. B. History of Ancient Spain . - SPb. : Faculty of Philology, St. Petersburg State University; Nestor-Istoriya, 2011 .-- 432 p. - 500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8465-1009-8 .
• Shifman I. Sh . Carthage . - SPb. : Publishing House of St. Petersburg University, 2006. - 518 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-288-03714-0 .

• Barcids Livius.org . Date of treatment February 5, 2018.