Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Volume/Issue:
Volume 63: Issue 2-3
Hannibal's hard ‘homecoming’ after 203 BCE
Author:
Patrick Hunt Stanford University, California, USA

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Pages:
417–425
Online Publication Date:
20 Mar 2024
Publication Date:
16 May 2024
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00117
Keywords:
Hannibal; Carthage; Iberia; silver; espionage; stratagem; weaponizing nature; Scipio
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Abstract

“Hannibal's War” was what Carthage called the Second Punic War from 218–202 BCE because it was clear from the outset Carthaginian leadership was not fully participatory or even much engaged with him and his long Italian campaign. The signs of estrangement were seen at least as early as Hannibal's siege of Saguntum in 219 BCE when Carthage's Gerousia or Council of Elders took no responsibility with the envoy from Rome complaining about his “brutal” taking of Saguntum. But perhaps it is more important to examine exactly where – and when – Hannibal's real home might have been, since he could hardly call Carthage his true home, as this brief paper proposes. Discussion follows what Hannibal learned in Iberia and how important Iberia as his adopted homeland and its abundant silver meant to him instead – not Carthage – and how Iberia under his father Hamilcar prepared his lifelong stratagems for war, with Scipio as his eventual young rival student from Rome leading to Zama, which brought Hannibal back to Carthage under the worst circumstances and a periphery of his prior successes. Whether or not Hannibal's return to Carthage in 203–202 BCE can be called a “homecoming” is certainly moot in many ways, especially given that it was not his home for most of his life. Decades later, given his estrangement from Carthage, Scipio's famous epitaph could just as well be Hannibal's.

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Cover Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Print ISSN:
0044-5975
Online ISSN:
1588-2543

Senior editors

Editor(s)-in-Chief: Takács, László

Managing Editor(s): Kisdi, Klára

Editorial Board

  • Tamás DEZSŐ (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
  • Miklós MARÓTH (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies)
  • Gyula MAYER (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Classical Philology Research Group)
  • János NAGYILLÉS (University of Szeged)
  • Lajos Zoltán SIMON (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
  • Csilla SZEKERES (University of Debrecen)
  • Kornél SZOVÁK (Pázmány Péter Catholic University)
  • Zsolt VISY (University of Pécs)

 

Advisory Board

  • Michael CRAWFORD (University College London, prof. em.)
  • Patricia EASTERLING (Newnham College, University of Cambridge, prof. em.)
  • László HORVÁTH (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
  • Patricia JOHNSTON (Brandeis University Boston, prof. em.)
  • Csaba LÁDA (University of Kent)
  • Herwig MAEHLER
  • Attilio MASTROCINQUE (University of Verona)
  • Zsigmond RITOÓK (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, prof. em.)

László Takács
Acta Antiqua
Mikszáth tér 1.
H-1088 Budapest
E-mail: acta.antiqua.hung@gmail.com

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Current Contents - Arts and Humanities

2024  
Scopus  
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SJR index 0.184
SJR Q rank Q1

2023  
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CiteScore 0.2
CiteScore rank Q3 (Classics)
SNIP 0.532
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SJR index 0.111
SJR Q rank Q3

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Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Language English
French
(Latin)
German
Italian
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Size B5
Year of
Foundation		 1951
Volumes
per Year		 1
Issues
per Year		 4
Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia   
Founder's
Address		 H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
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ISSN 0044-5975 (Print)
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