Hannibal

Hannibal was probably born in Carthage in 247 BCE, the son of Hamilcar Barca. His mother is unknown; he had two brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, and several sisters. After Carthage's defeat in the First Punic War (264–241 BCE), his father expanded Carthaginian power in Iberia, and Hannibal grew up in that army.

According to Polybius, who attributes the story to Hannibal himself, his father made him swear as a boy never to be a friend of Rome. That story is hard to verify. When Hasdrubal the Fair, his father's successor, was murdered in 221 BCE, the army proclaimed the 26-year-old Hannibal its commander; the Carthaginian government confirmed the choice.

After two years of campaigning in Iberia, Hannibal besieged Saguntum in 219 BCE, a city Rome regarded as its protégé. After about eight months the city fell. A Roman embassy made Carthage choose between peace and war; the answer was that Rome could choose, and Rome chose war. This is how the Second Punic War began.

In 218 BCE he marched with an army and elephants through Iberia and Gaul, crossed the Rhône and in the autumn crossed the Alps. Which pass he took is disputed; candidates include the Col de la Traversette, the Col du Clapier and Mont Cenis. The army arrived greatly reduced in northern Italy, where Gauls joined him.

In Italy he won at the Ticinus and the Trebia in 218 BCE, at Lake Trasimene in 217 BCE, where he ambushed a Roman army, and at Cannae in 216 BCE. There his army encircled a larger Roman force; ancient sources speak of tens of thousands of Roman dead and prisoners. It was one of the heaviest defeats in Roman history.

After Cannae, Rome refused to negotiate and chose attrition over pitched battle. Hannibal remained in southern Italy for about fifteen years, with Capua as his main ally, but received too little reinforcement and could not take Rome itself. In 203 BCE he was recalled to defend Carthage against the Roman invasion under Scipio Africanus.

After the First Punic War, Carthage had lost Sicily and had to pay a heavy indemnity to Rome. The Barcids, Hannibal's family, therefore built a new power base in Iberia. Within Carthage there was a war party around the Barcids and a peace party around Hanno the Great; their rivalry limited the support given to Hannibal.

Hannibal's army consisted of Libyans, Iberians, Numidian horsemen and later Gauls; many soldiers were mercenaries or allies. Rome relied on citizen soldiers and a system of allies in Italy. What we know comes mainly from Greek and Roman writers such as Polybius and Livy; Carthaginian sources are almost entirely lost, so the story is told from their perspective.

The war in Italy devastated large parts of the countryside and cost countless lives on both sides. After Cannae some Italian cities, including Capua, went over to Hannibal, but most of Rome's allies remained loyal. Rome sustained the conflict through attrition and through counter-offensives in Iberia and Africa.

After Zama (202 BCE) Carthage lost its overseas possessions, had to pay a large indemnity and limit its fleet, and became politically subordinate to Rome. Hannibal then became suffete and reformed finances and administration, which made him enemies. His opponents in Carthage and Rome eventually forced him into exile.

After his flight (195 BCE) Hannibal served as adviser and commander to Antiochus III and later to Prusias I of Bithynia. When Rome demanded his surrender, he took poison according to Livy, Nepos and Plutarch. Pausanias tells a different story and Appian names Prusias as the culprit. The year of death is given variously (183, 182 or 181 BCE); his tomb is said to lie at Libyssa.

In antiquity the Romans feared him ('Hannibal ad portas' became an expression for imminent danger) and admired him reluctantly. The Roman emphasis on Punic faithlessness colours the picture. In modern times he is regarded as one of the greatest tacticians of antiquity; his encirclement at Cannae is often cited as an example.

The bust from Capua shown with this dossier has traditionally been linked to Hannibal, but that identification is not certain; no portraits of him are known to be authentic. Many stories about his person, such as the oath he is said to have sworn as a boy, rest on later and possibly coloured tradition.