MAGO

died c. 203 BC also spelled Magon a leading Carthaginian general during the Second Punic War (218201 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. There, in a battle at Ilipa (206), Mago was defeated by the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio (later known as Scipio Africanus). He stayed for several months in Gades (now Cdiz) before carrying the war into Liguria in Italy. In 203 he was finally defeated in Cisalpine Gaul. He died of wounds on the return voyage to Carthage.