in 274 bc, hiero ii of syracuse ended the traditional mercenary presence in sicily in order to prevent more mutinies. he pitted them against the mamertines, a body of italian marauders, in the river cyamosorus near the city of centuripa, and then left them to their fate. withholding his own citizen troops in order to stack the odds against the mercenaries, hiero saw them being defeated and decimated. iberian peninsular mercenaries did not return to sicily until the first punic war in 264, this time for the carthaginian army commanded by hanno. when carthage lost the war, unable to pay their emolument due to the economic sanctions imposed by rome, the fighters returned to africa and rebelled against them as part of the mercenary war, being exterminated by hamilcar barca. it would be in the second punic war, though, that iberian peninsulars become a factor again, given that hispania was the main front of the war.