Book Review: The Scipios in Spain by Kevin Hardy

  It is said that the historian tells you what happened, and the historical novelist tells you what it felt like. Kevin Hardy, in his book The Scipios in Spain seeks to do both! Several times he asks the reader to imagine what it was like to be a velite or a hastatus in the […]

What Civilizations attempted to Colonize and Rule Spain?

Around 800 B.C. Phoenicians began colonizing Spain, establishing the city of Gades (Cadiz) in the southwest corner of Spain. Greeks also established settlements like Emporion on the east coast of Spain. Carthage, a Phoenician speaking city on the north coast of Africa attempted to colonize and rule Spain during the third century B.C. Hamilcar Barca, […]

How Did Hannibal Lose the Second Punic War When He Was a Military Genius.

When the Second Punic War began, the Romans did not have any generals who were remotely Hannibal’s equal in battlefield tactics. Hannibal demolished the Roman army at the Battles of Ticinus, Trebia, and Trasimene. Then the Romans elected Quintus Fabius Maximus dictator and he promoted a novel idea: Let’s not fight Hannibal on his terms […]

Hasdrubal Barca’s Role in the Second Punic War

Hannibal left his brother Hasdrubal in Spain to deal with the Romans whom he suspected were planning to invade. Southern Spain was the site of vast rich gold and silver mines that the Carthaginians used to finance the war, and they needed to be protected. Upon learning that Hannibal and his army were heading toward […]

Why Didn’t the Carthaginian Senate Support Hannibal?

After the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal collected over two hundred gold signet rings from the bodies of upper-class Romans who had fallen on the battlefield and put them in an urn. He sent his younger brother Mago back to Carthage to persuade the Senate to provide more men and materiel to Hannibal’s cause. Mago poured […]

Quora Question: Did Carthaginian Senators Fell that Hannibal Invited the Wrath of Rome on its People. Were It Not For Hannibal Would Carthage Have Survived?

Carthaginian Senators were very much divided as to whether they should support Hannibal in the war against Rome. Initially the Barca faction was very strong and their adversary, Hanno the Great was very much in the minority. Hanno strongly opposed the war. When a delegation of Romans descended on Carthage to protest the siege of […]

Why the Carthaginian Senate Gave So Little Assistance to Hannibal.

Why didn’t the Carthaginians capitalize on Hannibal’s victories in Italy? Answered March 2, 2021 There were two reasons for this. First, the Carthaginians were divided about Hannibal’s activities and there was a faction in their Senate, led by Hanno the Great, who were not supportive of the war. They were clearly a minority after Cannae. After […]

How Did Rome Acquire Iberia as a Province?

Rome maintained a sphere of influence in Iberia even before the beginning of the Second Punic War. They had an alliance with the city of Saguntum, and they made an agreement with the Carthaginian leader Hasdrubal the Fair (brother in law of Hannibal) that the Carthaginian sphere of influence would extend up to the Iberus […]