Hannibal Barca's Campaign Against Rome Explored in TheCollector Feature

Key facts

• Hannibal Barca swore an oath of eternal hostility toward Rome at age nine in Carthage, at the insistence of his father Hamilcar Barca.
• In 218 BC, Hannibal crossed the Alps with 40,000 infantry, 12,000 horsemen, and 38 war elephants, losing almost all the elephants during the 15-day crossing.
• At the Battle of Cannae on August 2, 216 BC, Hannibal's double envelopment destroyed a Roman army of around 80,000 men, the worst defeat in Roman history.
• Hannibal never marched on Rome after Cannae due to troop exhaustion, lack of siege equipment, and Carthage's refusal to send reinforcements.
• Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama on October 19, 202 BC, ending the Second Punic War.
• After Zama, Carthage was forced to pay huge war reparations, renounce overseas possessions, and obtain Roman approval for military action.
• Hannibal later served as military advisor to Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire and King Prusias I of Bithynia before committing suicide by poison at age 66.
• Rome destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, 35 years after Hannibal's death, becoming master of the Mediterranean.