Hannibal

Hunt (When Empires Clash), professor of archeology at Stanford and frequent television host, sketches the great Carthaginian general Hannibal as the consummate warrior, an inspiring leader of his troops, and a tireless plotter constantly seeking an advantage over his Roman counterpart Scipio. In his youth Hannibal swore an eternal “vow to hate Rome,” notes Hunt, and though the specifics here of his numerous battles sometimes fade into one another, Hannibal’s life consisted of little else. The flourishes that make Hunt a popular on-air personality shine through: he describes how Hannibal’s famous war elephants “snorkeled” across the Rhône, only their trunks above water, and how Hannibal may have lobbed baskets of venomous snakes into his adversaries’ ships. The elephants, at least, came back to haunt him in his decisive defeat at Zama, when they were spooked by the Roman cavalry and rampaged through the ranks of his own recruits. After the war was lost, Hannibal found he had more enemies than allies in Carthage. His treatment there reminds us “how threatened lesser minds too often deal with originality and brilliance not so easily controlled or subverted.” Hunt’s story of the doomed general, whose exploits are more celebrated than those of his vanquishers, will appeal to any reader interested in military history or strategy. (July)