The raid of the Po Valley in 203 BC was the culmination of a major war, carried out by the Carthaginian commander Mago, son of Hamilcar Barca, at the end of the Second Punic war between Rome and which location, that was a Phoenician city-state, during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC?
Po Valley raid The raid of the Po Valley in 203 BC was the culmination of a major war, carried out by the Carthaginian commander Mago, son of Hamilcar Barca, at the end of the Second Punic war between Rome and Carthage in what is now northwestern Italy. Mago had landed at Genoa, Liguria, two years before, in an effort to keep the Romans busy to the North and thus hamper indirectly their plans to invade Carthage’s hinterland in Africa (modern Tunisia). He was quite successful in reigniting the unrest among various peoples (Ligurians, Gauls, Etruscans) against the Roman dominance. Rome was forced to concentrate large forces against him which finally resulted in a battle fought in the land of the Insubres (Lombardy). Mago suffered defeat and had to retreat. The strategy to divert the enemy’s forces failed as the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio laid waste to Africa and wiped out the Carthaginian armies that were sent to destroy the invader. To counter Scipio the Carthaginian government recalled Mago from Italy (along with his brother Hannibal, who had been in Bruttium until then). However, the remnants of the Carthaginian forces in Cisalpine Gaul continued to harass the Romans for several years after the end of the war.
Adherbal (governor of Gades) Adherbal was a Carthaginian noble who served as the governor of Gades during the Second Punic War. He was also a Carthaginian military commander in this war under the command of Mago Barca. He is perhaps best known for his defeat at the Battle of Carteia which was a naval battle that occurred in 206 BC as Adherbal was attempting to flee Carthaginian Hispania. His fleet was defeated near the ancient city of Carteia by Gaius Laelius.