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ut iste volunt (Livy, 21.10.8). More well-known, perhaps, was Alexander‟s claim of
descent from Zeus, confirmed at the shrine of Zeus-Ammon in Egypt, and the analogy
with Hercules celebrated in a coin series (see Figure 4). For Hannibal, a link to
Alexander through Hercules would be another useful addition to his psychological
armoury. Silius Italicus shows how tenuous the link was, as well as highlighting the
unreliability of oracles from the shrine of Zeus-Ammon. 142 Juvenal, too, compares
Hannibal, Alexander, and indirectly, Caesar, in Satire X; Hannibal‟s life is summarised
and dismissed in twenty lines, 147-167, before the poet moves onto cutting Alexander
down to size. 143
In general terms, any analogy with Hercules or another divinity might be taken
seriously when it is accompanied by success but once the general is defeated or killed, a
problem arises. Comic representations of generals and other figures claiming divine
support in Plautus‟ plays and elsewhere illustrate the long-term risks to such claims and
suggest that, at least in the aftermath of the Second Punic War, they were not taken too
seriously.
Claims to divine favour may be turned to a different kind of military advantage and
in the second half of this chapter it is argued that even in ancient times the route that
Hannibal took through the Alps could not be ascertained with certainty because
Hannibal intended it to be kept secret for both military reasons and promulgation of the
myth that he was divinely favoured. 144
Taking an army through the Alps is an action in common between Hannibal and
Hercules but the various literary presentations of this connection have some unexpected
similarities and differences: Polybius criticizes authors who suggest that Hannibal had a
divine guide and compares their work with productions of Tragedy; Livy, perhaps
drawing from Coelius or Silenus, 145 incorporates a story of Hannibal dreaming that a
divine guide shows him the route while Silius Italicus includes both the dream tradition
and creates a dramatic connection, except that the representation in the Punica is much
closer to Comedy than Tragedy (Hist. 3.47.6-48.8; Livy, 21.22.6-9; Pun. 3.168, 503-4,
512-5). Thus both texts in the historiographic tradition incorporate the notion of divine
intervention although by different methods: criticism of others or the report of a dream.
142 Hannibal‟s seer to interpret the oracle is the aptly named Bogus (Pun. 4.131; 5.402).
143 Green, 1998, n19 notes Juvenal‟s borrowing non sufficit orbis from Lucan 5.356, 10.455 creates the
sting in the tail of his poem. Lucan uses the phrase in reference to Caesar.
144 Billot, 2005b.
145 Cicero wrote that Coelius found the dream version of the story in Silenus (de Div. 1.24.49).
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