Hannibal

by Lancel, Serge

• ISBN13: 9780631206316
• ISBN10: 0631206310
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-05-08
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This is an historical biography of Hannibal, the military leader of Carthage responsible for waging a dramatic onslaught on Rome during the Punic Wars. One of the few generals of history to be famous for the war he lost, Hannibal's attack in 218BC - which included his renowned march of elephants across the Alps - ranks amongst the most courageous and ill-fated enterprises in the history of the ancient world. This definitive biography of one of the most fascinating figures of ancient history offers a fresh perspective on the demise of the Hellenistic world and the rise of Rome.

Author Biography

Serge Lancel is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Grenoble. For the past 30 years he has excavated and published on excavations in and around Carthage. He has been the director, since its foundation, of the crucial excavation at Byrsa, an important sector of Carthage for most of its existence. He is author of Carthage (Blackwell, 1995).

Antonia Nevill has an honors degree in Italian and French. A committed European and a lifelong francophile, she has spent over thirty years teaching in Further Education. Retirement has at last enabled her to devote more time to her favorite occupation, translating.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	viii	(1)
Foreword	ix	(2)
Glossary	xi
1 Hamilcar Barca	1	(24)
The loss of Sicily and the rise of Hamilcar Barca	1	(5)
Hamilcar Barca and the Barcid family	6	(4)
The Mercenaries' War	10	(2)
The `inexpiable' war and the Africans' rebellion	12	(4)
Hamilcar's victory on the Macar	16	(3)
Hanno is ejected	19	(1)
The `Gorge of the Saw'	20	(1)
The outcome	21	(1)
The loss of Sardinia	22	(3)
2 Time for Spain	25	(32)
Polybius, Livy, Fabius Pictor and others	25	(3)
The Situation in Carthage in 237 and Hamilcar's departure for Spain	28	(3)
The Iberian world in the Hellenistic period	31	(3)
Hamilcar in Spain	34	(1)
From Cadiz to Alicante	35	(2)
Hasdrubal the Fair	37	(6)
Hannibal	43	(2)
Hannibal's campaigns in Spain	45	(1)
Saguntum	46	(5)
War is declared	51	(3)
Hannibal's final arrangements in Spain	54	(3)
3 From Cartagena to the Po Valley	57	(24)
Hannibal's plan and the opposing forces	57	(2)
The Punic army's departure from Cartagena	59	(3)
Hannibal's elephants	62	(2)
The other side of the Ebro	64	(3)
Crossing the Rhone	67	(3)
Crossing the Alps	70	(2)
Ascending the Rhone Valley and the road through the Alpine foothills	72	(4)
Storming the Great Alps	76	(5)
4 `Blitzkrieg' -- from the Trebia to Cannae	81	(29)
The first encounter near the Ticinus (late November 218)	82	(3)
The Battle of the Trebia (late December 218)	85	(3)
Overwintering in the Cisalpine region (January-April 217) and the first formulations of an Italian policy	88	(2)
Between Emilia and Tuscany (spring 217)	90	(2)
Trasimene (21 June 217)	92	(4)
A summer on the Adriatic	96	(1)
Q. Fabius Maximus, the general who bided his time	97	(5)
Operations outside Italy	102	(1)
Cannae (2 August 216)	103	(7)
5 Declining Fortunes	110	(23)
In the Carthaginian senate	112	(1)
Capua	113	(3)
The great hopes of 215	116	(4)
Between Capua and Tarentum (autumn 215-autumn 214)	120	(1)
The first political and economic changes in Rome	121	(3)
The siege of Syracuse: Archimedes versus Marcellus (214-212)	124	(3)
From the capture of Tarentum to the loss of Capua (212-211)	127	(3)
At the walls of Rome	130	(3)
6 Setbacks	133	(25)
Operations in Spain up to the death of P. and Cn. Scipio (216-211)	133	(3)
The young Scipio is appointed to head the army of Spain	136	(2)
The capture of Cartagena (210)	138	(2)
From Scipio's victory at Baecula (Bailen) to Hasdrubal Barca's arrival in Italy (209-early 207)	140	(2)
The death of Marcellus (summer 208)	142	(2)
The battle of the Metaurus (summer 207), or the end of the illusion	144	(5)
The end of the war in Spain	149	(2)
Hannibal at Cape Lacinium	151	(7)
7 Zama	158	(28)
The view of the Numidian princes	159	(1)
Scipio's consulship (205)	160	(2)
The Africa landing	162	(3)
The battle of the Great Plains	165	(3)
Sophonisba	168	(1)
Hannibal's return to Africa	169	(3)
The battle of Zama	172	(4)
The peace of 201 and Hannibal's laughter	176	(4)
Hannibal's suffetate	180	(2)
The paradox of Carthage's prosperity after Zama	182	(4)
8 Exile	186	(25)
Rome's entry into war with Philip	187	(1)
Flamininus and the `liberty of Greece'	188	(1)
Antiochus' exploits and Hannibal's departure into exile	189	(3)
Hannibal with Antiochus during the `cold war' with Rome (195-192)	192	(5)
The torment of Antiochus' failure (192-189)	197	(4)
The war in the Aegean and in Asia: Hannibal in command at sea	201	(3)
Between history and legend: Hannibal's last years	204	(4)
Donec Bithynio libeat vigilare tyranno	208	(3)
9 Heritage, Legend and Image	211	(14)
Hannibal's `heritage'	211	(5)
The legend and the image	216	(5)
Hannibal in our own times	221	(4)
Chronological highlights	225	(3)
Bibliography	228	(8)
Index	236