Editing Punic Wars (section)

====Iberia, 218–209 BC====
The Roman fleet continued on from Massala in the autumn of 218{{spaces}}BC, landing the army it was transporting in north-east Iberia, where it won support among the local tribes.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=291}} A rushed Carthaginian attack in late 218{{spaces}}BC was beaten back at the [[battle of Cissa]].{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=291}}{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=321}} In 217{{spaces}}BC 40 Carthaginian warships were defeated by 55 Roman and Massalian vessels at the [[battle of Ebro River|battle of the Ebro River]], with 29 Carthaginian ships lost. The Romans' [[lodgement]] between the Ebro and the [[Pyrenees]] blocked the route from Iberia to Italy and greatly hindered the despatch of reinforcements from Iberia to Hannibal.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=321}} The Carthaginian commander in Iberia, Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal, marched into this area in 215{{spaces}}BC, offered battle and was [[Battle of Ibera|defeated at Dertosa]], although both sides suffered heavy casualties.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=322}}

The Carthaginians suffered a wave of defections of local [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] tribes to Rome.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=291}} The Roman commanders captured Saguntum in 212{{spaces}}BC and in 211{{spaces}}BC hired 20,000 Celtiberian mercenaries to reinforce their army. Observing that the three Carthaginian armies were deployed apart from each other, the Romans split their forces.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=322}} This strategy resulted in two separate battles in 211{{spaces}}BC, usually referred to jointly as the [[battle of the Upper Baetis]]. Both battles ended in complete defeat for the Romans, as Hasdrubal had bribed the Romans' mercenaries to desert. The Romans pulled back to their coastal stronghold north of the Ebro, from which the Carthaginians again failed to expel them.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=291}}{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=322}} Reinforcements arrived in 210{{spaces}}BC and stabilised the situation.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=322}}
[[File:Bust of Sulla (loan from Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek) - Glyptothek - Munich - Germany 2017.jpg|alt=a black and white photograph of a marble bust of a man, with the nose broken off|thumb|upright=0.7|left|{{center|2nd century&nbsp;BC marble bust, identified as Scipio Africanus{{sfn|Coarelli|2002|pp= 73–74}}{{sfn|Etcheto|2012|pp= 274–278}}}}]]

In 210{{spaces}}BC [[Scipio Africanus|Publius Cornelius Scipio]] arrived in Iberia with further Roman reinforcements.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=323}} In a carefully planned assault in 209{{spaces}}BC [[Battle of Cartagena (209 BC)|he captured New Carthage]], the lightly-defended centre of Carthaginian power in Iberia.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=323}}{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=292}} Scipio seized a vast booty of gold, silver and siege artillery, but released the captured population. He also liberated the Iberian hostages, who had been held there by the Carthaginians to ensure the loyalty of their tribes.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=323}}{{sfn|Barceló|2015|p=362}} Even so, many of them later fought against the Romans.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=323}}