He was the commander of the Carthaginian supplies which were voted to Hannibal after the Battle of Cannae (216 BC) and with which he arrived in Italy in the ensuing year.
Finding himself unable to cope with the superior fleet of the enemy, he withdrew to North Africa.
[3] In 212 BC, he escaped the harbour at Syracuse and carried to Carthage the news of the perilous state of the city, all of which—except Achradina—was in the possession of Marcellus.
[4] In the same year, following the destruction by pestilence of the Carthaginian land-forces under Hippocrates and Himilco, Bomilcar again sailed to Carthage with the news and returned with 130 ships, but was prevented by Marcellus from reaching Syracuse.
He then proceeded to Tarentum, apparently with the view to cutting off the supplies of the Roman garrison in that town.