Ancient Phoenicia & Carthage: Political History

Hannibal Mago (All Facts)

• Sacked the city of Silenus, a long-standing enemy of Segesta in northwest Sicily, during the Second Sicilian War, in 409 BCE

247 BCE - 228 BCE - Hamilcar Barca (All Facts)

• Carthaginian statesman and general during the First Punic War

• Father of Hannibal

• Suppressed a revolt caused by mercenaries led by Matho and Spendius

  • Was aided by Hanno the Great

• Made Spain become a province of the Carthaginian Empire in 236 BCE

  • Had the Carthaginians exploit Spain’s economic resources and swelled the ranks of their army there with local recruits

• Was defeated by Rome in Sicily

228 BCE - 221 BCE - Hasdrubal the Fair (All Facts)

• Carthaginian statesman

• Signed the Treaty of Ebro with the Roman Republic

221 BCE - 202 BCE - Hannibal (All Facts)

• Carthaginian statesman and general during the Second Punic War

• In a brilliant and daring maneuver, he led an army of 25K men with war-elephants and horses across the snow-covered Alps to invade Italy from the north, taking the Romans by surprise

  • He led his mercenary army, accompanied by 17 war elephants, out of Spain, through the Alps, and into Cisalpine Gaul coming in from the North of Italy with the tactic of trying to catch the Romans off-guard

  • Incurred considerable losses during this journey, in which thousands of his men were killed by hostile Gauls as well as the ice-covered passes

• His army linked up with Gallic allies in the Po Valley

• His move made the Second Punic War a much more evenly matched encounter, given that the Greeks had mobilized 600K men for it

• He constantly moved at a speed in which he outpaced the Romans

• Fought against the Romans and won in

  • The Battle of Trebia River in 218 BCE

  • The Battle of Lake Trasimene in 217 BCE

  • The Battle of Cannae in 216 BCE

    • Considered Hannibal’s greatest victory against Rome ever, this battle

      • Featured some of his most famous deceptive tactics including

        • His having tied torches to the horns of a herd of cattle at night to simulate his army on the move, while he and his army moved from camp in the opposite direction, successfully fooling the Romans into pursuing his simulated army of cattle and thus reversing direction and pursuing the Romans from behind

        • His having his infantry deliberately retreat in the center to allow the cavalry on the flanks to encircle the Romans

        • His having used the dust of the battle to his advantage in which it blinded the Romans, which he proceeded to outmaneuver and outgeneral

      • Featured his

        • Gauls fighting naked from the waist up with long spears

        • Spanish mercenaries, who were dressed in red and white

• When he and the Carthaginians were defeated by the Romans in the Second Punic War, he said he took personal responsibility for the Carthaginian defeat

  • Additionally, he acknowledged the generosity of the Roman terms of the Treaty of the Second Punic War