Hannibal: References & Edit History
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Assorted References
- affected by guerrilla warfare
- contribution to military strategy and tactics
- defeat at Battle of Zama
- defeat by Scipio Africanus the Elder
- Punic Wars
- sanctuary with Antiochus III
opposition by
- Fabius Maximus Cunctator
- Flaminius
- Scipio
relationship to
- Hamilcar
- Maharbal
- In Maharbal
role in history of
Spain
- Sagunto
- In Sagunto
use of
- elephants
- logistics
victory at
- Cannae
- Lake Trasimeno
Additional Reading
Ernle Bradford, Hannibal (1981), is a popular account of his life and generalship. Another useful biography is Serge Lancel, Hannibal (1998; originally published in French, 1995). Barry Strauss, Masters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and the Genius of Leadership (2012), examines Hannibal’s strategies and accomplishments through the lens of modern leadership techniques. H.H. Scullard, A History of the Roman World: 753 to 146 B.C., 5th ed. (2003), discusses Hannibal’s tactics in Spain and Italy and the opposition by Fabius Cunctator and Scipio Africanus; B.H. Warmington, Carthage, rev. ed., chapters 8–9 (1969), includes a valuable discussion of Hannibal’s relations with the government of Carthage. English reconstructions of the Alpine crossing include Gavin De Beer, Alps and Elephants: Hannibal’s March (1956), a lively and practical approach not only to topography but also to the problems of elephant transport; and Dennis Proctor, Hannibal’s March in History (1971), a scholarly chronology and routing of the march. Gavin De Beer, Hannibal (1969), collects photographs of topography, together with cultural material on Rome and Carthage in Hannibal’s time. Other useful books about the wars include J.F. Lazenby, Hannibal’s War: A Military History of the Second Punic War (1978, reissued 1998); Brian Caven, The Punic Wars (1980, reissued 1992); John Peddie, Hannibal’s War (1997); Gregory Daly, Cannae: The Experience of Battle in the Second Punic War (2002); Robert L. O’Connell, The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic (2010); and Richard Miles, Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization (2011).
William Culican Patrick Hunt The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaResearcher's Note
Hannibal’s ethnicity and physical appearance
In 2014 archaeologist and historian Patrick Hunt revised and updated Britannica’s biography of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, who was born in 247 bce and died c. 183–181 bce. Drawing on years of research, Hunt added vivid details about Hannibal’s life, addressed myths and corrected errors, and provided a gripping account of Hannibal’s exploits. Later in 2014, reacting to a 19th-century engraving that Britannica’s editors had added to the article, a reader raised, in his words, “the issue of whether Hannibal was black or white.” Hunt responded in detail, making clear that Hannibal’s physical appearance is ultimately unknown and that his ethnicity cannot be easily identified or mapped onto modern identities. Hunt’s explanation, published in February 2015 in the comments section following the biography of Hannibal at Britannica.com, is reproduced (with some modifications) below.
The issue of Hannibal’s ethnicity and what he looked like are no doubt vital to many but remain contentious matters even to scholars. Let me try to explain why in the following several points.
First, we have no certain contemporary image from his own time to show us what he looked like. The primary source closest to his time is the Greek historian Polybius who lived almost a century later, and he gives no verbal description. No other ancient sources that have survived do either. We do have the curious information that he was possibly prone to disguising himself at times. There may be a few silver coins from the Punic culture in Spain, most likely minted around the mid-to-late 3rd century bce in what soon became known as Carthago Nova (now Cartagena), but these coin images are arguable because they may depict his father, Hamilcar, or other relatives instead. After Hannibal’s life, the Romans likely recalled every silver Punic coin they could find—including any that might have shown Hannibal—and melted them down to make new Roman coins with their own images. So we are left with mostly modern interpretations from long after the Roman Empire.
Second, regarding his DNA, as far as we know, we have no skeleton, fragmentary bones, or physical traces of him, so establishing his ethnicity would be mostly speculative. From what we think we know about his family ancestry, however, his Barcid family (if that’s even the right name) has been generally understood as descending from Phoenician aristocracy. If still the same relative ethnic or DNA group, which is also very difficult to prove since so many different peoples have moved into the region since, including peoples from Arabian homelands, his original ancestry would be located in what is modern Lebanon today. As far as we know, little to no Africanization—if that is an acceptable term—happened there in that region before or during his era. So attempting to say much about his original ancestry from Phoenicia is very difficult. On the other hand, since the Phoenicians arrived and then later settled in what is now Tunisia relatively early, possibly beginning around almost 1,000 years before Hannibal, it is very possible his family had intermixed in DNA with peoples then living in North Africa. But this too seems quite distant from any potential Nilotic DNA stream including via the “superhighway” of the Nile River. The distance between the Nile and Tunis is almost four times as far as the distance between the Nile and Tyre, but that may not be as important as our lack of knowledge about any potential spreading of African DNA overland across North Africa at that time, which is again possible but not known. The barrier of the Sahara would otherwise make any such ancient DNA distribution from south to north difficult but not impossible. New studies suggest that around Hannibal’s time there was likely more trans-Saharan travel via Garamantian oases [i.e., oases controlled by the Garamantes, a Berber people], so we shouldn’t deny any possible Africanization of the region of Carthage.
If Africanization was part of Hannibal’s heritage, I and other scholars would be most interested in seeing the evidence, as we should always be ready to learn and change our perceptions when needed. If our human ancestry derives originally from Africa, it was so long ago, possibly hundreds of thousands of years in the past, who can realistically say what that original DNA was like and what people looked like then? We still must have much more hard science conducted for years into the future to even come close to understanding that prehistory. I must add just as a personal note that my own father had some African ancestry because it appears in our DNA even if it may not show in external phenotypes. Sadly, “race” has too often been a divisive political term.
Ultimately, this is a difficult question that may be even more difficult to answer simply because of lack of information. History is an imperfect record and the further back we go, all too often the less evidence survives. For now, that seems true of Hannibal’s ethnicity.
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
Other Contributors
- Alverna Austin
Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors
Article History
Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
---|---|---|---|
Add new Web site: Saylor Academy - Hannibal. | Jul 23, 2024 | ||
Add new Web site: The Guardian - The truth about Hannibals route across the Alps. | Apr 19, 2024 | ||
First paragraph modernization. | Mar 11, 2024 | ||
Add new Web site: Denison University Libraries - Digital Commons - Hannibal's Importance in the Second Punic War. | Feb 23, 2024 | ||
Add new Web site: La Salle University Digital Commons - Hannibal Barca: For Carthage: The Right Man for the Wrong Time. | Jan 22, 2024 | ||
Links added. | Oct 12, 2023 | ||
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Hannibals OphthalmiaA New Answer to An Ancient Question. | Apr 28, 2023 | ||
Add new Web site: Ancient Origins - Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans. | Jan 05, 2023 | ||
Add new Web site: Dickinson College Commentaries - Hannibal (247183 BC). | Aug 29, 2022 | ||
Removed video. | Apr 06, 2020 | ||
Add new Web site: National Geographic - Hannibal. | Jan 31, 2019 | ||
Corrected display issue. | Jan 24, 2018 | ||
Add new Web site: World History Encyclopedia - Biography of Hannibal. | Dec 21, 2016 | ||
Added video. | Mar 19, 2015 | ||
Added video. | Mar 02, 2015 | ||
Cross-reference to researcher's note on Hannibal's ethnicity and physical appearance added. | Mar 02, 2015 | ||
Revised caption in image of Hannibal. |
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Nov 25, 2014 | |
Added video. | Nov 25, 2014 | ||
Replaced photograph. | Aug 20, 2014 | ||
Article thoroughly revised. | Jul 21, 2014 | ||
Bibliography revised. | Jul 21, 2014 | ||
Add new Web site: HyperHistory - Biography of Hannibal. | Apr 03, 2014 | ||
Add new Web site: LookLex Encyclopaedia - Biography of Hannibal. | Feb 05, 2013 | ||
Add new Web site: Spartacus Educational - Biography of William Dean Howells. | Feb 05, 2013 | ||
Add new Web site: Heritage History - Biography of Hannibal. | Feb 05, 2013 | ||
Add new Web site: Spartacus Educational - Biography of Hannibal. | Feb 05, 2013 | ||
Added photograph. | Nov 06, 2012 | ||
Added Robert L. O'Connell's The Ghosts of Cannae (2010). | Oct 03, 2012 | ||
Added new Web site: How Stuff Works - History - Biography of Hannibal. | Nov 17, 2008 | ||
Bibliography revised and updated. | Jul 20, 2007 | ||
Added new Web site: Livius - Hannibal Barca. | Jul 13, 2007 | ||
Article revised. | Dec 21, 2001 | ||
Article added to new online database. | Jul 20, 1998 |