Hamilcar

(Ἁμίλκας and Ἀμίλχαρ, the latter form occurs in Appian only). The two last syllables of this name are considered by (Gesenius Linguae Phoeniciae Monumenta, pp. 399, 407) to be the same with Melcarth, the tutelary deity of the Tyrians, called by the Greeks Hercules, and that the signification of the name is "the gift of Melcarth." The name appears to have been one of common occurrence at Carthage, but, front the absence of family names, and even in most cases of patronymies, among the Carthaginians, it is often impossible to discriminate or identify with certainty the different persons that bore it, many of whom are only incidentally mentioned by the Greek or Roman historians.