HOME



picture info

Hannibal's Crossing Of The Alps
Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 BC was one of the major events of the Second Punic War, and one of the most celebrated achievements of any military force in ancient warfare.Lancel, Serge, ''Hannibal'', p71/ref> Hannibal led his Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian army over the Alps and into Italy to take the war directly to the Roman Republic, bypassing Roman army, Roman and allied land garrisons, and Roman naval dominance. The two primary sources for the event are Polybius and Livy, who were born 20 years and 160 years after the event, respectively. The Alps were not well-documented at the time, and no archaeological evidence is available, so all modern theories depend on interpreting the three place names used by Polybius (Island, Skaras, and Allobroges) and Livy's wider range of tribe and place names, and comparing them with modern geographical knowledge. The 2022 book 'Hannibal in the Alps' by Dutch historian and publicist Jona Lendering concludes that the two primary ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Ancient Carthage, Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Roman Italy, Italy and Iberia, but also on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and, towards the end of the war, in North Africa. After immense materiel and human losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were once again defeated. Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia, Kingdom of Syracuse, Syracuse and several Numidians, Numidian kingdoms were drawn into the fighting, and Celtiberians, Iberian and Gauls, Gallic forces fought on both sides. There were three main Theater (military), military theatres during the war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly, with occasional subsidiary campaigns in Sicily, Sardinia and Greece; Iberia, where Hasdrubal (Barcid), Hasdru ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Tiberius Sempronius Longus (consul 219 BC)
Tiberius Sempronius Longus (c. 260 BC – unknown) was a Roman consul during the Second Punic War and a contemporary of Publius Cornelius Scipio (father of Scipio Africanus). In 219 BC, Sempronius and the elder Scipio were elected as consuls for 218 BC. At the outbreak of the war in 218 BC, he was ordered to conduct the war effort in Sicily and Africa, while Scipio was sent to the Iberian Peninsula to attack Hannibal himself. Sempronius was allocated two Roman legions, 16,000 allied infantry, 1,800 allied cavalry, 160 quinqueremes and 20 lighter vessels. As soon as his army was assembled he moved his forces to Sicily. Striking from Lilybaeum Sempronius captured Malta from the Carthaginians. Shortly thereafter, with Scipio wounded and pursued by Hannibal's forces after the Battle of Ticinus, the Senate sent for Tiberius Sempronius Longus. Upon his arrival in December, and reportedly against Scipio's advice, Sempronius Longus led an ambitious attack at the Battle of the Trebia. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprising most of the region, as well as the tiny adjuncts of Andorra, Gibraltar, and, pursuant to the traditional definition of the Pyrenees as the peninsula's northeastern boundary, a small part of France. With an area of approximately , and a population of roughly 53 million, it is the second-largest European peninsula by area, after the Scandinavian Peninsula. Etymology The Iberian Peninsula has always been associated with the River Ebro (Ibēros in ancient Greek and Ibērus or Hibērus in Latin). The association was so well known it was hardly necessary to state; for example, Ibēria was the country "this side of the Ibērus" in Strabo. Pliny goes so far as to assert that the Greeks had called "the whole of the peninsula" Hiberia beca ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Barcine Party
The Barcid () family was a notable Punic ( Phoenician) family in the ancient city of Carthage; many of its members were fierce enemies of the Roman Republic. "Barcid" is an adjectival form coined by historians (''cf.'' " Ramesside" and "Abbasid"); the actual byname was the Northwest Semitic Barca or Barcas, which means ''lightning'' (He ברק). See , ''barq'' in Arabic, ''berqa'' in Maltese, Akkadian (aka Assyrian, Babylonian, ''Barku'') and Neo-Assyrian Syriac (''Barkho''). Background During the 3rd century BC, the Barcids comprised one of the leading Phoenician families in the ruling oligarchy of Carthage. Realizing that the expansion of the Roman Republic into the Mediterranean Sea threatened the mercantile power of Carthage, they fought in the First Punic War (264–241 BC) and prepared themselves for the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). The Barcids founded several Carthaginian cities in the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal), some of which still exist today. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Hamilcar Barca
Hamilcar Barca or Barcas (; – 228BC) was a Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal Barca, Hasdrubal and Mago Barca, Mago. He was also father-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair. Hamilcar commanded the Carthaginian land forces in Sicily from 247BC to 241BC, during the latter stages of the First Punic War. He kept his army intact and led a successful guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war against the Romans in Sicily. Hamilcar retired to Carthage after the peace treaty in 241BC, following the defeat of Carthage. When the Mercenary War broke out in 239BC, Hamilcar was recalled to command and was instrumental in concluding that conflict successfully. Hamilcar commanded the Carthaginian expedition to Spain in 237BC, and for eight years expanded the territory of Carthage in Spain before dying in battle in 228 BC. He may have been responsible for creating the strategy which his son Hannibal implemented in the Second Punic ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

First Punic War
The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and greatest naval war of antiquity, the two powers struggled for supremacy. The war was fought primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa. After immense losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were defeated and Rome gained territory from Carthage. The war began in 264 BC with the Romans gaining a foothold on Sicily at Messana (modern Messina). The Romans then pressed Syracuse, the only significant independent power on the island, into allying with them and laid siege to Carthage's main base at Akragas. A large Carthaginian army attempted to lift the siege in 262 BC but was heavily defeated at the Battle of Akragas. The Romans then built a navy to challenge the Carthaginians ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Battle Of The Aegates
The Battle of the Aegates was a naval battle fought on 10 March 241 BC between the fleets of Carthage (state), Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome during the First Punic War. It took place among the Aegates Islands, off the western coast of the island of Sicily. The Carthaginians were commanded by Hanno, and the Romans were under the overall authority of Gaius Lutatius Catulus, but Quintus Valerius Falto commanded during the battle. It was the final and deciding battle of the 23-year-long First Punic War. The Roman army had been blockading the Carthaginians in their last strongholds on the west coast of Sicily for several years. Almost bankrupt, the Romans borrowed money to build a naval fleet, which they used to extend the blockade to the sea. The Carthaginians assembled a larger fleet which they intended to use to run supplies into Sicily. It would then embark much of the Carthaginian army stationed there as marines. It was intercepted by the Roman fleet and in a hard-fought ba ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Jona Lendering
Jona Lendering (born 29 October 1964) is a Dutch historian and the author of books on antiquity, Dutch history and modern management. He has an MA in history from Leiden University and an MA in Mediterranean culture from the Amsterdam Free University, taught history at the Free University, and worked as an archivist employed by the Dutch government, before becoming one of the founders of the history school Livius Onderwijs. Career and works Born on 29 October 1964 in Beneden-Leeuwen, Gelderland, Lendering's biography of Alexander the Great (''Alexander de Grote'') attempted to make greater use than earlier scholars of Persian and Babylonian sources. For example, he argued from Babylonian astronomical diaries that Darius III of Persia was deserted by his troops when he faced Alexander at the Battle of Gaugamela, rather than personally leading the retreat as reported by Greek sources. His work, "Alexander de Grote. De ondergang van het Perzische rijk" was described by ''Bry ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on good terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and was a friend of Augustus. Livy encouraged Augustus’s young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, to take up the writing of history. Life Livy was born in Patavium in northern Italy, now modern Padua, probably in 59 BC. At the time of his birth, his home city of Patavium was the second wealthiest on the Italian peninsula, and the largest in the province of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy). Cisalpine Gaul was merged into Italy proper during his lifetime and its inhabitants were given Roman citizenship by Julius Caesar. In his works, Livy often expressed his deep affection and pride for Patavium, and the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Polybius
Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 BC, recording in detail events in Italy, Iberia, Greece, Macedonia, Syria, Egypt and Africa, and documented the Punic Wars and Macedonian Wars among many others. Polybius' ''Histories'' is important not only for being the only Hellenistic historical work to survive in any substantial form, but also for its analysis of constitutional change and the mixed constitution. Polybius' discussion of the separation of powers in government, of checks and balances to limit power, and his introduction of "the people", all influenced Montesquieu's '' The Spirit of the Laws'', John Locke's '' Two Treatises of Government'', and the framers of the United States Constitution. The leading expert on Polybius for nearly a century was F. W. Walbank (1909 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Primary Sources
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under study. It serves as an original source of information about the topic. Similar definitions can be used in library science and other areas of scholarship, although different fields have somewhat different definitions. In journalism, a primary source can be a person with direct knowledge of a situation, or a document written by such a person. Primary sources are distinguished from ''secondary sources'', which cite, comment on, or build upon primary sources. Generally, accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight are secondary. A secondary source may also be a primary source depending on how it is used. For example, a memoir would be considered a primary source in research concerning its author or about their friends charact ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Roman Army
The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the Western Roman Empire, AD 476/480) and the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of Constantinople, AD 1453). It is thus a term that broadly spans approximately 2,206 years, during which the force underwent numerous permutations in Size of the Roman army, size, Military of ancient Rome, composition, Structural history of the Roman military, organization, Roman military equipment, equipment and Strategy of the Roman military, tactics, while conserving a core of lasting traditions. Early Roman army (c. 550 – c. 300 BC) Until , there was no "national" Roman army, but a series of clan-based war-bands which only coalesced into a united force in periods of serious external threat. Around 550 BC, during the period conventiona ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]