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Hannibal 247-183(?) BC
Hannibal was a
witty Carthaginian general, which means his home town was
 Carthage,
or Carthago, as some people prefer to call it.
Pronounce
CARTHAGINIAN
Pronounce
CARTHAGE
Pronounce
CARTHAGO
MAP OF CARTHAGE
Hannibal's Family
Hannibal's father was
Hamilcar Barca, also a general.
Hannibal's brother-in-law was
Hasdrubal.
Hannibal's family was financially very comfortable, in fact,
they coined their own money.
Hannibal married Imilce, a Spanish princess.
Hannibal's Life
Hannibal started his military
career on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain), in the Carthaginian
prefectures. Hence the wife.
In 221 BC, Hasdrubal was assassinated
and Hannibal obtained the command of the
Carthaginian armies in Spain, being then twenty-six years
old.
In 219 BC, Hannibal attacked the Spanish city of Saguntum,
a city on the Ebro in alliance with Rome, which obviously didn't
sit well with the Romans. They demanded Hannibal to be handed over and
declared war on Carthage.
This war was the
Second Punic War,
and was
fought from 218 until 201 BC.
WHAT
IN THE WORLD IS PUNIC?
The last battle of the Second Punic War was fought in 202 BC. It was
the Battle of Zama in which Hannibal faced
Scipio the Elder.
Map of Hannibal's Invasion Route 218 BC
Second Punic War 218 – 201 BC: Hannibal's
Route of Invasion
Rome and Carthage at the Beginning
of the Second Punic War, 218 B.C.
Click to enlarge
Map of Italy and Vicinity at the
Beginning of the Second Punic War 218 BC
After the Second Punic War and to escape the Romans, Hannibal fled to Ephesus,
hoping for
Antiochus III's protection.
Antiochus sent
Hannibal, a
mountaineer, to fight the Romans at sea. Hannibal was defeated. And
so was Antiochus in 190 BC at the
Battle of Magnesia. Again, the Romans demanded Hannibal
to be handed over. This stipulation was put in writing, see the
Treaty
of Apamea.
Hannibal managed to escape yet again and helped Prusias in his fight
against Roman ally Eumenes II of Pergamum. Hannibal learnt from his naval
experiences and this time he threw buckets full of snakes into the boats of the
enemy and won his battle.
Hannibal's Death
Somehow the Romans had Hannibal finally in a corner.
Rather than getting captured, Hannibal preferred to poison himself. He did so in
Libyssa, close to today's Istanbul in Turkey.
Map of Rome's Expansion 264-180 BC
Click to enlarge
2nd Century Expansion
of the Roman Republic
Hannibal's
Strengths
Adrian
Goldsworthy, author of "The Battle
of Cannae"
Hannibal was an immensely
charismatic leader. Hel could get armies to do things that most
men simply couldn't have dreamed of. Somehow an army with
Hannibal in command could go that little bit further.
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