Mathos
Mathos was a Berber. He served with distinction as an officer and military leader in the army of Carthage during the First Punic War in Sicily, but his fame rests on his part in the Mercenary War.
The Carthaginian army was largely mercenary. At the conclusion of the First Punic War, when because of the terms of the settlement with Rome the Carthaginian government was unable to pay the agreed dues of its mercenaries, Mathos and Spendius, an escaped Roman slave, led their revolt against it. Hamilcar Barca suppressed the revolt with the help of the Berber leader Naravas and crucified Mathos around 237 BC.
Mathos is featured as a main character in Gustave Flaubert's 1862 historical novel Salammbô.Citations
