Hannibal

About Hannibal

Hannibal (Pronounced in Phoenician: Hanniba'al, means: "Ba'al is my grace" or "Ba'al has given me grace"; 247 BC – ca. 183 BC), son of Hamilcar Barca, was a Carthaginian military commander and tactician, later also working in other professions, who is popularly credited as one of the most talented commanders in history. He was also brother to Mago and Hasdrubal and brother-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair. He lived during a period of tension in the Mediterranean, when Rome (then the Roman Republic) established its supremacy over other great powers such as Carthage, and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of Macedon, Syracuse, and the Seleucid empire. His most famous achievement was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.

During his invasion of Italy, he defeated the Romans in a series of battles, including those at Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae. He won over several Roman allies and maintained an army in Italy for more than a decade afterwards, never personally losing on the battlefield, but losing in decisive sieges and lifting the siege of Capua. Despite his success against the Roman confederation, he could not force the Romans to accept his terms for peace. A Roman counter-invasion of North Africa forced him to return to Carthage, where he was defeated by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama.

After the war he successfully ran for the office of shofet. He enacted political and financial reforms to enable the payment of the war indemnity imposed by Rome. However, Hannibal's reforms were unpopular with members of the Carthaginian aristocracy and Rome, and he fled into voluntary exile. During his exile, he lived at the Seleucid court, where he acted as military advisor to Antiochus III in his war against Rome. After Antiochus met defeat and was forced to accept Rome's terms, Hannibal fled again, making a stop in Armenia, where he worked as a planner for the new capital. His flight ended in the court of Bithynia where he achieved an outstanding naval victory against a fleet from Pergamum. He was afterwards betrayed to the Romans.