Hasdrubal the Boeotarch
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Hasdrubal the Boeotarch was a Carthaginian general involved in the Punic Wars.
[edit] Biography
Little is known about Hasdrubal the Boeotarch, the general who lost the Third Punic War to Scipio Aemilianus, Consul of the Roman Republic at the Siege of Carthage in 146 BC. His only other significant role in Carthaginian history was his defeat near the town of Tunes (now Tunis) by the Numidian king, Masinissa, just after war was declared (149 BC). His military skill was not to be doubted, as his army had been well trained and equipped and his work at defending Carthage cost the Romans a difficult campaign to suppress the defenders, but his tactical skills were dwarfed by his contempories, Masinissa and Scipio. He also had a wife and two sons, who, according to an account by Polybius, threw themselves into a burning temple when they saw Hasdrubal's army defeated by the Roman attackers. Hasdrubal surrendered himself to the Romans after his family's unfortunate deaths, but what happened to him after that is not known.
[edit] References
- Ancient Rome The Republic by H.L. Havell
- Book XXXVIII of Polybius' Histories, English Translation.
