The Famed Oath: Hannibal, Antiochus, Nicander, Polybius...

[Spartan JKM]

Hello everyone. Arbitrarily lain theory upcoming! You all know the outline of this famous tale...

 

At the onset of the first decade of the 2nd century BCE, in the course of the history of the ancient Mediterranean, plenty of intrigue was still rife amid the indefatigable career of Hannibal Barca, one of ancient history's most attractive figures of action, not to mention Rome's most feared enemy ever amid any era of her vast and varied history. Following the final defeat of Hannibal and subsequent dismantling of Carthage's entire realm of power beyond the city-state herself, the great Carthaginian still displayed remarkable poise after of his near single-handed attempt to enervate the power of the Roman Federation, in a grandiose attempt to ensure the commercial prosperity of Carthage in the Mediterranean, came up short after nearly two decades of warfare fought on an unprecedented scope.

 

The Carthaginians represented the apogee of their Phoenician forefathers - the great middlemen of the ancient Mediterranean world. We read little of Carthage from the Greco-Roman literature simply because their ways of life revolved around mass production and frugality, not elegance and artistic merit. The practice of trade may be a boring topic to cover for detailed occurrences, but it has a remained a paramount sinew to daily life. Much of what does come up in connection to the Carthaginians, moreover, is indeed quite positive. The naturalist Pliny the Elder alluded to the Carthaginians as great merchandisers, and Aristotle and Cicero, of all figures, opined that in some respects the Carthaginian constitution was superior to that of the Greeks, and that their mixed policies reflected an enduring balance (respectively). Also, Strabo attributed to Eratosthenes the acknowledgement that the Carthaginians 'carry on their government so admirably' (cf. Ge?graphik

Edited May 18, 2012 by Spartan JKM