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Hannibal has always been the most famous
member of the Barcid dynasty, which dominated Chartage and its empire in Africa and Spain in the latter half of the third
century B.C. However, Dexter Hoyos' revealing study makes it clear that
Chartaginian success was founded on the military and political skills of more
than one member of this remarkable family.
It was Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, who relaunched
Chartage as an imperial power after disastrous wars; Hamilcar's son-in-law
Hasdrubal further developed the new imperium in the face of Roman
suspicion and opportunism. Only then was Chartage's historical zenith reached
by Hannibal and his two remarkable brothers in the war with Rome from 218-201
B.C.
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Hoyos investigates the means by which
the Barcids won and kept their extraordinary
dominance, asking how far we can unravel the truth from ancient sources which
both romanticized and reviled these fascinating figures. Issues of politics
and power, and other much-debated problems of leadership, diplomacy and war
during Chartage's greatest era, are all freshly
interpreted in this accessible and enlightening book.
Dexter Hoyos
researches and teaches
Roman history and historians, and Latin, at Sydney University. He is also the author of Unplanned
Wars: The Origins of the First and Second Punic Wars (1998)
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