Diodorus says that Xanthippus was the leader of a small band of Spartan mercenaries drafted by Carthage during the war.
[2][3] Polybius tells us that he first came to the attention of the Carthaginian leaders when he criticized the behaviour of Carthage's generals, arguing that it was they, and not the Romans, who were causing setbacks.
Having been summoned to explain himself to Carthage's elite, he successfully argued his case and was placed in command of the Carthaginian army.
Jealous of Xanthippus's success, the city betrayed him by giving him a leaky ship, and he supposedly sank in the Adriatic Sea on his voyage home.
[8] Scholar John Lazenby argues that this story is completely implausible, a claim supported by a report of a Xanthippus being made governor of a newly acquired province by Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt in 245 BC.