In 240 BCE, during the Mercenary War

Mercenary War

The Mercenary War — also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War by Polybius — was an uprising of mercenary armies formerly employed by Carthage, backed by Libyan settlements revolting against Carthaginian control....

, Hamilcar Barca

Hamilcar Barca

Hamilcar Barca or Barcas was a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago. He was also father-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair....

 found himself outnumbered. However after the defection of the Numidia

Numidia

Numidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in part of present-day Eastern Algeria and Western Tunisia in North Africa. It is known today as the Chawi-land, the land of the Chawi people , the direct descendants of the historical Numidians or the Massyles The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later...

n chief Naravas, he was able to defeat the opposing Libyans and mercenaries.
Its location is unknown.

The Campaign

After the Battle of the Bagradas River

Battle of the Bagradas River (239 BC)

The Battle of the Bagradas River was a battle in 239 BC between Hamilcar Barca of Carthage and rebel mercenaries and Libyans. It marked Carthage's first major victory in the Mercenary War...

, Hamilcar campaigned in the interior winning back many rebel cities.
However Hamilcar found himself surrounded and outnumbered. Hoyos suggests that Hamilcar had between 10,000 and 15,000 men but was facing an enemy of 20,000 plus. Hamilcar's position changed dramatically when one of the Numidian leaders, Naravas, came to Hamilcar's camp offering to come over to him with his 2000 cavalry.

The Battle

After Naravas' defection the Libyans and mercenaries combined to fight Hamilcar under Autaritus

Autaritus

Autaritus was the leader of the Gallic mercenaries in the Carthaginian army in Africa during the First Punic War. He took an active part in the Mercenary War against Carthage at the end of the First Punic War, but at length fell into the power of Hamilcar Barca, and was crucified.-Footnotes:...

 and Spendius. In the ensuring battle both Naravas' and Hamilcar's elephants distinguished themselves. Autaritus and Spendius escaped but according to Polyius 10,000 of the mercenary army were killed and 4000 taken prisoner.

Aftermath

This battle further diluted the proportion of mercenaries in the rebel army. Polybius tells us that Hamilcar was able to recruit a proportion of the prisoners arming them with arms from the dead. From this Hoyos concludes that the prisoners were in the main the more poorly armed Libyan rebels and the equipment was from the better armed dead mercenaries.