
Himilco II of Carthage (died 396 BC) was the Shophet of Carthage from 406 to 396 BC, succeeding Hannibal Mago and preceding Mago II.
Biography[]
Himilco was born in Carthage to the powerful Magonid family; he was the cousin of Hannibal Mago. In 406 BC, his cousin appointed him as deputy commander of the Carthaginian expedition to Sicily, and he took command of the expedition after Hannibal's death and sacked Acragas, Gela, and Camarina while fighting off determined Greek resistance from Syracuse. In 405 BC, he made peace with Dionysius I of Syracuse, expanding Carthaginian holdings in Sicily to their maximum extent. In 398 BC, Himilco was elected King of Carthage, and he went on to lead the Carthaginian efforts against Dionysius during the Sicilian Wars. In 396 BC, his army besieged Syracuse, only to be decimated by the plague and then defeated by Dionysius. He bribed Dionysius to allow him to return to North Africa, while abandoning many of his troops in Sicily. He publicly accepted responsibility for the debacle on his return to Africa, and he visited all of the temples of Carthage while dressed as a slave to offer penance, before committing suicide by starving himself to death.