General hannibal barca biography

Carthaginian general and statesman (247–183/181 BC)

For the comedian, see Hannibal Buress. For other uses, see Hannibal (disambiguation).

Hannibal (; Punic: 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, romanized: Ḥanībaʿl; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.

Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, was a leading Carthaginian general during the First Punic War. His younger brothers were Mago and Hasdrubal; his brother-in-law was Hasdrubal the Fair, who commanded other Carthaginian armies. Hannibal lived during a period of great tension in the Mediterranean Basin, triggered by the emergence of the långnovell Republic as a great power with its defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. Revanchism prevailed in Carthage, symbolized by the pledge that Hannibal made to his father to "never be a friend of Rome".

In 218 BC, Hannibal attacked Saguntum (modern Sagunt

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Hannibal’s Early Life and Attack on Saguntum

Hannibal was born in 247 B.C. in North Africa. Polybius and Livy, whose histories of Rome are the main Latin sources regarding his life, claimed that Hannibal’s father, the great Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, brought his son to Spain (a region he had begun to conquer around 237 B.C.) at a young age. Hamilcar died in 229 B.C. and was succeeded by his son-in-law Hasdrubal, who made the young Hannibal an officer in the Carthaginian army. In 221 B.C., Hasdrubal was assassinated, and the army unanimously chose the 26-year-old Hannibal to command Carthage’s empire in Spain. Hannibal swiftly consolidated control in the region from the seaport base of Cartagena (New Carthage); he also married a Spanish princess.

Did you know? According to Polybius and Livy, Hannibal's father Hamilcar Barca made the 9-year-old Hannibal dip his hand in blood and swear an oath of hatred against Rome.

In 219 B.C., Hannibal led a Carthaginian attack on

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Hannibal (247–183 BC)

Hannibal was born into a prestigious Carthaginian family in 247 BC, as the First Punic War (264–241 BC) was drawing to a close. In the waning years of that war, Hannibal's father, Hamilcar, had waged a brilliant guerilla campaign in Sicily and conducted daring raids against the Italian coast, earning the nickname "Barca" or "Thunderbolt," a name that was adopted by his descendants. After Carthage's calamitous defeat in that war, Hamilcar helped suppress a dangerous rebellion by Carthage's mercenaries and subject allies in North Africa (240–238 BC). After Hamilcar had rescued the Carthaginian state, he forged a new empire for Carthage in the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain). It was during Hamilcar's campaigns in Hispania that Hannibal would learn the military skills that he would turn against Rome.

About Hannibal's mother, nothing is known. It is possible that she was a foreigner, since Carthaginian noblemen routinely practiced exogamy, or marriage to fo