Barcid

The Barcid family was a notable family in the ancient city of Carthage; many of its members were fierce enemies of the Roman Republic. "Barcid" is an adjectival form coined by historians (cf. "Ramesside" and "Abbasid"); the actual byname was Barca or Barcas, which means lightning. See ברק Baraq in Canaanite and Hebrew, برق, barq in Arabic, and similar words in other Semitic languages.

During the 3rd century BC, the Barcids comprised one of the leading families in the ruling oligarchy of Carthage. Realizing that the expansion of the Roman Republic into the Mediterranean Sea threatened the mercantile power of Carthage, they fought in the First Punic War (264-241 BC) and prepared themselves for the Second Punic War (218-201 BC).

The Barcids founded several Carthaginian cities in the Iberian peninsula, some of which still exist today. Note for example Mahón and Qart Hadast (more famous under the Latin translation of its name: "Carthago Nova" or New Carthage) which currently bears the name of Cartagena in modern-day Spain. The name is also commonly given as an etymology for Barcelona.

The known members of this family included the following.

The patriarch, Hamilcar Barca (275-228 BC), served as a Carthaginian general in the First Punic War (264-241 BC) and in the subsequent Mercenary War (240-238 BC). Reputedly, he made his eldest son Hannibal swear a sacred oath upon an altar of the gods "to never be a friend of Rome". After the Roman victory, he expanded the colonial possessions in Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal), where he drowned crossing a river.

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