Jumping
...BC, Carthage was engaged in a series of wars with Rome. These wars, known as the Punic Wars, ended in the complete defeat of Carthage by Rome. The most prominent figure of the Punic war s was General Hannibal of Pheonician Carhtage. During these wars, it is likely that the colonizing expeditions of the Carthaginians were supported by many emigrants from the Phoenician homeland.
Hannibal
(b. 247 BC, North Africa--d. c. 183-181, Libyssa, Bithynia), Phoenician Carthaginian general, one of the great military leaders of antiquity, who commanded the Carthaginian forces against Rome in the Second Punic War (218-201 BC).
Early life
Hannibal was the son of the great Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca. According to Polybius and Livy, the main Latin sources for his life, Hannibal was taken to Spain by his father and at an early age was made to swear eternal hostility to Rome. From the death of his father in 229/228 until his own death c. 183, Hannibal's life was one of constant struggle against the Roman republic.
His earliest commands were given to him in the Carthaginian province of Spain by Hasdrubal, son-in-law and successor of Hamilcar; and it is clear that he emerged as a successful officer, for, on the assassination of Hasdrubal in 221 BC, the army proclaimed him, at the age of 26, its commander in chief, and the Carthaginian government quickly ratified his field appointment.
Hannibal immediately turned himself to the consolidation of the Punic hold on Spain. He married a Spanish princess, Imilce, then began to conquer various Spanish tribes. He fought against the Olcades and captured their capital, Althaea; quelled the Vaccaei in the northwest; and in 221, making the seaport Cartagena (Carthage Nova, the capital of Carthaginian Spain) his base, won a resounding victory over the Carpetani in the region of the Tagus River.
In 219 BC Hannibal made...
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