Mathos the Libyan

Mathos was a freeborn indigenous Libyan who served with distinction as a mercenary infantry officer under Hamilcar Barca in Sicily. Returning to Africa, he recognized that the mercenaries' grievances over pay could be merged with the deep-seated hatred of the native Libyan population against Carthaginian taxation and grain requisitions.

Rallying over 70,000 Libyan men and women, Mathos laid siege to Utica and Hippo Diarrhytus (Bizerte). For three bloody years, he fought Hamilcar Barca with savage determination before being captured at the Battle of Leptis Parva. Paraded through the streets of Carthage, he was publicly tortured to death by the citizen population.