Book Log: Hannibal
May. 23rd, 2025 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scaramoucheMy first time reading about Hannibal of Carthage! Ernle Bradford's Hannibal is a decent intro and well-written, though after reading stuff by Mary Beard and others, it makes the lack of visible scholarship within Bradford's book stand out a bit. He does occasionally mention when Livy and Polybius' takes of Hannibal contradict each other, and does do some speculation on which route Hannibal and his brother may have taken into Italy, but otherwise it mostly presents things to be fact, right down to quotes that Hannibal was reported to have said. (By whom!) Which makes it good for an intro reader like me, but doesn't get into the nitty gritty or discuss other causes and effects of Hannibal's campaign except the overarching consequence that in the aftermath, Rome's influence in the Mediterranean increased and grew out into an empire.
Something like 90% of the book's content covers Hannibal's decade-and-half campaign in Italy, with particular focus on battle tactics. It's generalizing to say that male historians enjoy focusing a great deal on the minutiae of battle tactics in the biographies they write, yet that is a pattern I'm seeing. I would like to know more about the Hannibal's world and the political machinations of Rome in resisting and eventually repelling him. Because Bradford does present the opinion that Hannibal's wartime strategy in Italy was sound for invasion but not for consolidation, and it's the strength of Rome's political institutions that allowed them to resist Hannibal for over a decade of warfare without capitulation or destruction, but those processes are what I would liked to know more about. I would also love to know more about how fear of Hannibal impacted Roman society! But that's a minor thing, and not necessary for an intro read of the topic.
Edited to add: I just remembered! For a book that is so interested in battle tactics and logistical movements, it's surprising that it doesn't have a map. I could've REALLY used one to follow what the heck was going on through those portions.
On a very basic note, the times being what they are, whenever Hannibal's father gets mentioned I have to forcibly read Hamilcar as a name instead of a Pixar AU of Hamilton.
Something like 90% of the book's content covers Hannibal's decade-and-half campaign in Italy, with particular focus on battle tactics. It's generalizing to say that male historians enjoy focusing a great deal on the minutiae of battle tactics in the biographies they write, yet that is a pattern I'm seeing. I would like to know more about the Hannibal's world and the political machinations of Rome in resisting and eventually repelling him. Because Bradford does present the opinion that Hannibal's wartime strategy in Italy was sound for invasion but not for consolidation, and it's the strength of Rome's political institutions that allowed them to resist Hannibal for over a decade of warfare without capitulation or destruction, but those processes are what I would liked to know more about. I would also love to know more about how fear of Hannibal impacted Roman society! But that's a minor thing, and not necessary for an intro read of the topic.
Edited to add: I just remembered! For a book that is so interested in battle tactics and logistical movements, it's surprising that it doesn't have a map. I could've REALLY used one to follow what the heck was going on through those portions.
On a very basic note, the times being what they are, whenever Hannibal's father gets mentioned I have to forcibly read Hamilcar as a name instead of a Pixar AU of Hamilton.
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