Hannibal

Also known as: Hannibal the African · Family: Carthaginian · Role: general · First appears: Fabius

Hannibal, also known as Hannibal the African, was a Carthaginian general. During his conflicts with Rome, Gisco told him that the enemy’s numbers were astonishing. He faced Flaminius near Lake Thrasymene, then escaped Fabius after the flaming-oxen stratagem, though Fabius was later worsted by him. Barcas rebuked him for knowing how to win a victory but not how to use it.

At Nola, Marcus Claudius became the first to attack him boldly, defeating Hannibal’s soldiers and restoring Roman confidence. Hannibal feared Fabius as a schoolmaster and Marcus Claudius as an adversary; accounts differ over whether Marcus Claudius ever defeated Hannibal himself, though some say his troops were routed in encounters. Cornelius Scipio later fought Hannibal and utterly defeated him, humbling Carthage, while Scipio Africanus is described as sparing him harsh terms and insults in the peace. Hannibal also honored Bantius, dismissing him without ransom and making him his friend and guest. Artaxas is identified as a mentor to him.

Later, Hannibal was an exile from Carthage at the court of Antiochus, whom he stimulated against Rome, before settling in Bithynia and offering his service to Prusias. When Titus Quintius Flamininus found him there and ordered action against him, Hannibal tried to escape through the mines, but Prusias’s guards had surrounded them; he then “resolved upon making away with himself.”