jul 5, 228 BC - 228 BC - Hamilcar Barca dies

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Orissus, chieftain of the Oretani tribe, came to the assistance of the besieged town. There are several versions to what happened next: Orissus offered to aid Hamilcar, then attacked the Punic army, and Hamilcar drowned during a retreat across the Jucar river;[114] the Oretani sent ox-driven carts to the Carthaginian position, then set them on fire and Hamilcar died in the resulting melee;[115] Hamilcar accepted an offer to parley, then led the enemy in one direction while Hannibal and Hasdrubal Barca fled in the opposite direction. According to Appian, Hamilcar was thrown from his horse and drowned in a river,[116] but Polybius says he fell in battle in an unknown corner of Iberia against an unnamed tribe.[117]

In eight years, Hamilcar had secured an extensive territory in Hispania by force of arms and diplomacy, but his premature death in battle (228 BC) denied Carthage a complete conquest. Legend tells that he founded the port of Barcino (deriving its name from the Barca family), which was later adopted and used by the Roman Empire and is, today, the city of Barcelona.[118] Despite the similarities between the name of the Barcid family and that of the modern city, it is usually accepted that the origin of the name "Barcelona" is the Iberian Barkeno.[119

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