Hasdrubal
3 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Hasdrubal. All 3 are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the name of several Carthaginian generals, of whom the most famous was the son-inlaw of Hamilcar Barca. In 237 B. C. he accompanied Hamilcar into Spain, and gave that general most effective aid in the work of building up a Carthaginian dominion in the Peninsula. On the death of Hamilcar in 228 B. C. the task of administering and extending the new empire devolved on Hasdrubal, who advanced the Carthaginian frontier from the Bætis (the Guadalquivir) to the Tagus, and founded a new capital, Nova Carthago (the modern Cartagena), a city with the best harbor on the S. E. coast of Spain, and situated in the vicinity of rich silver mines. Hasdrubal proved himself an admirable administrator. He was remarkably successful in conciliating the Iberian tribes, and extended his rule mainly by peaceful So independent was he of the means. home government that the Romans made a treaty in which the Ebro was fixed on as the frontier line, not with Carthage, but with Hasdrubal. In the eighth year of his command, 221 b. c., he was assassinated by a Celtic slave. Another HAS- DRUBAL was the son of Hamilcar Barca and the brother of Hannibal. He defeated Cneius Scipio in Spain in 212 b. c., and in 208 marched through Gaul, to join his brother Hannibal in Italy. He crossed the Alps in favorable weather, but, instead of pushing S. made a fatal delay at Placentia, and was surprised and slain on the Metaurus in 207 b. c. A third HASDRUBAL was one of Hannibal's principal officers in the Italian campaigns. He made a brilliant charge at the battle of Cannæ, which contributed greatly to decide the fate of the day. A fourth general of the same name defended Carthage against the Romans during the siege ege which ended in the city's destruction in 146 B. C. He is accused of cowardice and cruelty, and of having starved the citizens while himself living in revelry. American
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A son of Hamilcar and brother of Hannibal. He crossed the Alps and entered Italy, where he was defeated by the consuls, M. Livius Salinator and Claudius Nero. He was killed in the battle, B. c. 207, and his head was sent to Hannibal. One of the finest passages in Professor Nichol's tragedy of Hannibal is the invocation over Hasdrubal's head at the close of the play.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
. See Hannibal
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The outline given by Collier's in 1921 still stands: the same four Carthaginians, the same silver-rich capital at Nova Carthago, and the same decisive death on the Metaurus in 207 BC. Details have been tidied since. The defeat of the Scipio brothers in Spain is now dated to 211 rather than 212 BC, and Hasdrubal Barca's crossing of the Alps is placed in the spring of 207, not 208, making his pause at Placentia a matter of weeks rather than the long "fatal delay" Collier's imagined. Modern historians are also warier of the charges of cowardice and revelry against the Hasdrubal who defended Carthage in 146, since they come from Polybius and Appian, writing from the victors' side; and the Roman treaty fixing the Ebro as a frontier is still argued over, some scholars doubting the river named was the modern Ebro at all.
Written for this edition, 2026.