Mago

Mago Barca (c. 243–203/202 BCE) was a Carthaginian general and the youngest of the three Barcid brothers who held major commands during the Second Punic War. He served with Hannibal in the early Italian campaigns, including Cannae, and was then sent to Carthage to report the victory and seek reinforcements. Mago subsequently held commands in Iberia, where he fought alongside other Carthaginian armies against the expanding Roman offensive.

After Carthaginian power in Iberia collapsed, Mago sailed to the western Mediterranean and opened a new front in Liguria and Cisalpine Gaul, hoping to draw Roman forces north and rebuild pressure on Italy. He remained active there until a hard-fought battle in which he was seriously wounded. Recalled to Africa as the war turned against Carthage, he died from his wounds during the return voyage, probably in 203 or 202 BCE. The exact chronology of his final months varies between reconstructions, so a single precise death year is misleading.

David Anthony Durham’s Hannibal, also published as Pride of Carthage, presents the Second Punic War through the wider Barcid family and the people drawn into Hannibal’s campaign. Mago appears as Hannibal’s younger brother and a commander within that distributed Carthaginian war effort. His military service is historical, while dialogue, private motives and family interactions are necessarily reconstructed for the novel.