Istolacio

Istolatios or Istolatius was a warlord and military chief of the Turdetani, he lived in the 3rd century BC. Endowed with great prestige, he organized a large army with Turdetans and Celtiberian and Iberian troops to oppose the Carthaginian invasion of Hamilcar Barca.

Biography Diodorus Siculus describes Istolatios as a Celtic strategist in the service of the Turdetani, and states him as accompanied by a brother who acted as his lieutenant. This brother has been popularly identified as Indortes, successor to Istolatius, but Diodorus's text does not seem to treat the brother and Indortes as the same person.

When Hamilcar and his mercenary contingent invaded the Guadalquivir valley in 237 BC, Istolatios went to meet him with an army collected from the Turdetani and Iberian peoples of the region. However, being unprepared for the variety and strategy of the Carthaginian forces, which included war elephants, they were defeated. Istolatios himself was tortured and crucified.