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Thus it might be thought that descriptions of the Alpine passage would be entirely
open to an author‟s imagination, and in fact, certain elements, such as the extremity of
the weather conditions, do vary. Indeed the winter conditions become progressively
worse across time, but overall the presentations by Polybius, Livy and Silius are
surprisingly consistent in a number of features. Livy and Polybius describe an arduous
nine-day climb to the summit of an unidentified pass, at which Hannibal camped for two
nights, waiting for his slower baggage train (and elephants) to catch up, before
descending to the Po valley (Hist. 3.53.9, Livy, 21.34.8-35.5). The variation in the
Punica is that it took twelve days to reach the summit because the whole army stays
together; Hannibal does not camp at the top of a pass for a couple of days waiting for
the rest to catch up (Pun. 3.554-6). Thus the total time length to reach the pass is much
the same across the different representations, and indeed, the tradition in the Punica by
which the army stays together and does not camp overnight at the pass should not be
lightly dismissed. There is safety in keeping together and furthermore, no-one would
camp at the top of an Alpine pass in autumn unless absolutely necessary.
As the scenic backdrop to the crossing is the Alps in late autumn, the texts include
snowfalls, landslides and avalanches. The variation between them lying only in the
increasing severity of the conditions and whether, for example, the snowfall preceded or
followed Hannibal‟s speech (and hence whether or not it was one of the reasons that his
men needed further encouragement).
Polybius indicates a recent snowfall when describing the accumulation of snow
around the summits, and particularly the treacherous effect of new snow on top of old
during the descent as well as the additional problem that the new snow hid the track
(Hist. 3.54.8). Livy describes the snowfall as heavy, creating a new and difficult
experience (for men from Spain and Africa); his description is closer to alpine
conditions normally encountered later in the season than November (Livy, 21.35). Silius
Italicus transforms the snowfall into raging blizzards shrouding the Alpine peaks, as if
in the depths of winter: iam cuncti flatus ventique furentia regna Alpina posuere domo
(Pun. 3.491-2). 182
182 Scholars have used the snowfall and the morning-setting of the Pleiades to argue dates that vary from
late-September to mid-November for Hannibal‟s crossing. The astronomical information appears to offer
a solid basis regarding Hannibal‟s month of travel, but morning-setting of the Pleiades can be anything
from, say, 4.00-7.30 a.m. and the three month difference is well within the margin of error. See also
Walbank, I, 390. De Sanctis, 3.2.79; Dunbabin, 1931, 122; De Beer, 1955, 100.
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