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to produce a historical study of the Second Punic War, nor is it a biographical study of
Hannibal.
The chapters are generally, but not exclusively, arranged in a chronological sequence
of Hannibal‟s life. It is argued, among other things, that one of the most iconic
representations of Hannibal, his being the sworn enemy of Rome, is presented as
derived from Hannibal himself. It is adapted and retained in the Roman tradition for its
value in presenting Hannibal as an eternal enemy and a foil to Rome‟s imperial status. It
is also argued that the association of Hannibal with Hercules is presented as originating
from Hannibal, and then used against him. Thus the intention in this thesis is to show
that the depiction of Hannibal in the ancient sources is more multifaceted and frequently
far more positive than some recent estimations claim, for instance, Betlyon‟s assertion
that the classical sources paint a picture of Hannibal as „the consummate barbarian –
ruthless, murderous, tyrannical, and without a shred of morality that was so important to
Romans.‟ 4 Overall, it will be shown that, in fact, responses to Hannibal were far from
uniformly negative. Of course he was feared, vilified and satirised but he was also
upheld as an ideal, respected and even admired by the descendants of his former
enemies. Due to the comparative nature of this study, a number of additional arguments
are put forward, some specific to the topic covered in each chapter while others are
more general to an author‟s response to tradition.
While this thesis is not intended to be primarily a comparison of historical events, the
actual history of the Second Punic War and other events from Hannibal‟s later life are,
nevertheless, of considerable relevance because this thesis seeks to illuminate the degree
of displacement in the historical record caused by ideologically loaded distortions as
authors negotiated with, or responded to, existing tradition as well as their contemporary
power structure. 5 Consequently some chapters explore the implications where an
author‟s engagement with a particular theme arguably accounts for significant
differences between that author‟s presentation of a historical event and those of others.
In chapter three, for example, which compares treatments of Hannibal marching on
Rome, Livy‟s development of the theme is argued to account for a number of
4 Betlyon, 1999, 183.
5 For recent work on political discourse in imperial Roman literature, see Dominik, Garthwaite and Roche
(eds), 2009. For similar on Polybius, see Eckstein, 1997; Champion, 2004, with review by Burton,
2004.11.27. On Livy, see Jaeger, 1997, 2000, 232; Rossi, 2004; Miles, 1997; Feldherr, 1998; Roller,
2009, 153-172. On Silius Italicus: McGuire, 1989, 21-45; 1997; Ahl, Davis and Pomeroy, 1986, 2492-
561; Dominik, 2003, 469-497.
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