Hasdrubal ( Barcid ) Hasdrubal II ( 245 – 207 BC ) was Hamilcar Barca ' s second son and a Carthaginian general in the Second Punic War . He was the brother of the much more famous Hannibal . Youth and Iberian leadership . Little is known of Hasdrubal ' s early life . He was present , along with his brother Hannibal , when his father , Hamilcar , besieged the city of Helice . Hamilcar was forced to flee and died drowning in the Jucar River . Little is known about his activities during the time Hasdrubal the Fair led the Punic forces in Spain , or during the campagins of Hannibal Barca in Spain and his Siege of Saguntum . Hannibal , when he set out for Italy in 218 BC , left a force of 13 , 000 infantry , 2 , 550 cavalry and 21 war elephant s in Iberia . The Punic navy had a fleet of 50 Quinqueremes and 5 Triremes stationed there . However , only 32 Quinqueremes were manned at the start of the Second Punic War . Hasdrubal commanded this force and was to set out for Italy in 217 BC to reinforce Hannibal . Hannibal left another army under Hanno in Catalonia , consisting of 10 , 000 foot and 1 , 000 horse on his way to Italy in 218 BC . Left in command of Hispania when Hannibal departed to Italy in 218 BC , Hasdrubal was destined to fight for six years against the brothers Gnaeus and Publius Cornelius Scipio . The expedition led by Gnaeus Scipio in 218 BC had caught the Carthaginians by surprise , and before Hasdrubal could join Hanno , the Carthaginian commander on the North of Ebro River , the Romans had fought and won the Battle of Cissa and established their army at Tarraco and their fleet at Emporiae . Hasdrubal , commanding only 8 , 000 troops and outnumbered by the Romans , raided the Romans with a flying column of light infantry and cavalry , which inflicted severe losses and on their naval crews and reduced the fighting strength to 35 ships . This loss was offset by the arrival of an allied Greek contingent from the city of Massilia . In the spring of 217 BC , Hasdrubal led a joint expedition north to fight the Romans . He commanded the army , while his deputy commanded the fleet . The Punic Army and the fleet moved north side by side and encamped on the mouth of the Ebro River . Carelessness of the Carthaginian fleet enabled Gnaeus Scipio to surprise the Carthaginians and crush their naval contingent at the Battle of Ebro River . Hasdrubal retreated without fighting the Roman army . The year 216 was spent quelling an uprising of Iberian tribes , possibility the Trudetanii around the area near Gades . Hasdrubal was reinforced by 4 , 000 infantry and 500 cavalry and was ordered by the Carthaginian senate to march to Italy in the same year . He left Himilco the Navigator in charge at Cartagena and marched for the Ebro river , but was heavily defeated in the Battle of Dertosa in the spring of 215 BC . This defeat prevented reinforcements reaching Hannibal from both Iberia and Africa at a critical moment of the War , when the Carthaginians held the upper hand in Italy . The Carthaginians from now were forced to contest the Romans in the area between the Ebro and Jucor rivers . Joint command . This defeat also led to Mago and Hasdrubal Gisco arriving in Iberia with two armies and ending the undisputed command of the Barcid family in Iberia . The Carthaginains fought the Scipio brothers and had on the whole the worst of the conflict between 215 and 212 BC , but managed to prevent the loss of any territory . At the instigation of the Romans , Syphax , one of the kings of the Numidian tribes , attacked Carthaginian territories in Africa in 213 / 212 BC . The situation in Iberia was sufficiently under control , because Hasdrubal and his Iberian army crossed over to Africa and crushed the threat of Syphax in a battle where 30 , 000 Numidians were killed . With his Roman trained army shattered , Syphax fled to Mauritania . The aid of Masinissa , a Numidian prince , was invaluable during this episode , and he crossed over to Iberia with Hasdrubal after the African expedition ended with 3 , 000 Numidian cavalry . In late 212 BC , Hasdrubal , with timely cooperation from Mago Barca and Hasdrubal Gisco , completely routed his opponents at the Battle of the Upper Baetis , destroying the majority of the Roman army in Iberia and killing both the Scipios . Carthaginians gained control of Iberia up to the Ebro as a result of this victory . However , the lack of cooperation between the Carthginian generals after the battle led the surviving Roman force of 8 , 000 retiring north of the river Ebro safely . These troops somehow managed to keep the Carthaginian armies from gaining a foothold north of the Ebro River . The Romans reinforced this detachment with 10 , 000 troops under Cladius Nero in 211 BC and with another 10 , 000 soldiers under Scipio Africanus Major in 210 BC , who spent the year training his army and improving his diplomatic contacts . The Carthaginian armies had dispersed in the interior of Iberia in 209 BC , possibly to maintain control over the Iberian tribes , on which they were dependent on for soldiers and provisions . The Carthaginian armies were subsequently outgeneralled by Scipio Africanus Major , who , taking advantage of the absence of the three Carthaginian armies being away in 209 BC captured Carthago Nova and gained other advantages . Hasdrubal was defeated by Scipio at the Battle of Baecula , but managed to retreat with 2 / 3 of his army intact . Second Carthaginian expedition to Italy . Later in 209 BC , Hasdrubal was summoned to join his brother in Italy . He eluded Scipio by crossing the Pyrenees at their western extremity and safely made his way into Gaul in the winter of 208 . Hasdrubal had waited until the spring of 207 to make his way through the Alps and into Northern Italy . Hasdrubal made much faster progress than his brother had , partly due to the constructions left behind by Hannibal ' s army when he had passed via the same route a decade earlier , but also due to the removal of the Gallic threat that had plagued Hannibal during said expeditions . The Gauls now feared and respected the Carthaginians , and not only was Hasdrubal allowed to pass through the Alps unmolested , his ranks were bolstered by many enthusiastic Gauls . Hasdrubal , in the same fashion as his brother , succeeded in bringing his war elephant s , raised and trained in Hispania . It was not until Hasdrubal sent messengers to Hannibal that decisive measures were taken . Hasdrubal wished to meet with his brother in South Umbria . However , this was not to be . Hasdrubal ' s messengers were captured and he was ultimately checked by two Roman armies , and being forced to give battle was decisively defeated at the Battle of the Metaurus . Hasdrubal himself died bravely in the fight ; he was beheaded , his head packed in a sack and thrown into his brother Hannibal ' s camp as a sign of his utter defeat , in stark contrast of Hannibal ' s treatment of the bodies of fallen Roman Consuls .