SAGA: Hannibal Barca & Standard Bearer

"Hannibal ad portas!" Hannibal Barca, son of Hamilcar Barca, was a general and statesman of Carthage who lead a distinguished military campaign against the Roman Republic between 218 - 201 BCE. Hannibal's campaign during the Second Punic War saw him accomplish a number of well-recorded feats such as crossing the Alps with war elephants, annihilating the largest Roman army ever assembled at Cannae and waging war across the Italian peninsula for over a decade. Hannibal was finally defeated by an army led by the Roman general Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE, which alongside other losses inflicted upon Carthage by the Romans at the Battle of Utica and the Battle of the Great Plains led to the defeat of Carthage and the confirmation of Roman supremacy in the Mediterranian. Despite his defeat, Hannibal is widely considered to be one of the greatest military strategists in history and one of the greatest generals of Mediterranean antiquity, together with Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Scipio Africanus.