Hannibal (person)

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Carthaginian general from 221 BC, son of Hamilcar Barca. His siege of Saguntum (now Sagunto, near Valencia) precipitated the Second Punic War with Rome. Following a campaign in Italy (after crossing the Alps in 218), Hannibal was the victor at Trasimene in 217 and Cannae in 216, but he failed to take Rome. In 203 he returned to Carthage to meet a Roman invasion but was defeated at Zama in 202 and exiled in 196 at Rome's insistence.

Hannibal's invasion of Italy, his seemingly endless string of devastating victories over the Romans, and his inspiring personality earned him immortality as a military genius and iconic hero. Fulfilling an oath sworn at the age of 9 to always hate the Romans, Hannibal ravaged Italy for 16 years. Though defeating the Roman army in almost a dozen battles, relentless Roman resistance and the problems of supplying his invasion army prevented him from achieving a decisive victory. When the Romans finally fielded a general willing to experiment and innovate in battle as much as he had done, Publius Cornelius Scipio, Hannibal had to come to the defence of his own homeland. He was defeated at Zama in 202. He tried a political career, but was forced out of Carthage by opponents in 195 BC and spent the remainder of his life as a curiosity and mercenary among foreign courts, finally committing suicide.

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