What is "himilco"

Himilco (fl. 5th century BCE), sometimes referred to as Himilco the Navigator, was a Carthaginian sailor.

Himilco may also refer to:

• Himilco (general) (died c. 396 BCE), Carthaginian soldier at the Battle of Messene
• Himilco (Punic War) (fl. c. 250 BCE), Carthaginian soldier, Alexon's commanding officer during the siege of Lilybaeum

Himilco (Phoenician Chimilkât), a Carthaginian navigator and explorer, lived during the height of Carthaginian power, the 5th century BC.

Himilco is the first known explorer from the Mediterranean Sea to reach the northwestern shores of Europe. His lost account of his adventures is quoted by Roman writers. The oldest reference to Himilco's voyage is a brief mention in Natural History (2.169a) by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder. Himilco was quoted three times by Rufus Festus Avienus, who wrote Ora Maritima, a poetical account of the geography in the 4th century AD.

We know next to nothing of Himilco himself. Himilco sailed north along the Atlantic coast of present-day Spain, Portugal, England and France. He reached northwestern France, as well as the territory of the Oestrimini tribe living in Portugal probably to trade for tin to be used for making bronze and for other precious metals. Records of the voyages of the Carthaginian Himilco take note of the islands of Albion and Ierne. Avienus asserts that the outward journey to the Oestriminis took the Carthaginians four months. Himilco was not (according to Avienus) the first to sail the northern Atlantic ocean; according to Avenius, Himilco followed the trade route used by the Tartessians of southern Iberia.

Himilco described his journeys as quite harrowing, repeatedly reporting sea monsters and seaweed, likely in order to deter Greek rivals from competing on their new trade routes. Carthaginian accounts of monsters became one source of the myths discouraging sailing in the Atlantic.

Himilco (died 396 BC) was a member of the Magonids, a Carthaginian family of hereditary generals, and had command over the Carthaginian forces between 406 BC and 397 BC. He is chiefly known for his war in Sicily against Dionysius I of Syracuse.

Between 550 BC and 375 BC, the Magonid Family of Carthage played a central role in the political and military affairs of the Carthaginian Empire. Himilco came to prominence after being selected as deputy to his cousin Hannibal Mago in 406 BC for the Carthaginian expedition to Sicily. He took command of the expedition after Hannibal’s death and sacked Akragas, Gela and Camarina while fighting off determined Greek opposition led by successive leaders of Syracuse.

The peace treaty Himilco concluded with Dionysius of Syracuse in 405 BC expanded Carthaginian holdings in Sicily to their maximum extent. Elected "king" around 398 BC, Himilco then led the Carthaginian effort against Dionysius from that date. Although initially successful, Himilco suffered a reverse at Syracuse in 396 BC when his forces were decimated by the plague and then defeated by Dionysius. He managed to bring the Carthaginian members of his army home after bribing Dionysius and abandoning his other troops. Himilco publicly assumed full responsibility for the debacle, and after visiting all the temples of the city dressed as a slave to offer penance, he is said to have starved himself to death.