How did Hannibal achieve the remarkable feat of crossing the Alps with his army, and elephants? How many of his men survived the treacherous journey? Was it worth sacrificing so much of his army in order to fight the Romans in Italy? And, what unfolded during the first great clash between Hannibal and Rome, at dawn, by the Trebbia River, in 218 BC…? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Hannibal’s extraordinary journey over the Alps, and the early stages of his epic war against Rome. The Rest Is History Club: Become a member for exclusive bonus content, early access to full series and live show tickets, ad-free listening, our exclusive newsletter, discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, and our members’ chatroom on Discord. Just head to therestishistory.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestishistory. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Slowly the soldiers moved with lagging steps, dreading that they had crossed the spreading globe only to pass into forbidden realms in defiance of nature and heaven. But Hannibal was having none of it. Not for him any terror of the Alps, not for him any horror at the snows. "'Shame on you!' he cried, to weary of fame and despair of the favour of the gods.
"'Shall we retreat after all we have won, before snow-capped mountains, cowed and beaten by cliffs?' "'No, comrades, no. Onwards we go. Believe me that soon we shall be scaling the walls of Rome, that mightiest power, and the steep hill of Jupiter.' at which all his men cheered and found their courage restored. So that was Silius Italicus. The Punica is the name of that poem.
He wrote it almost 300 years after Hannibal's invasion of Italy in the reign of the Emperor Domitian. Tom, it's the longest surviving Roman poem. It was beautifully read, I thought. I was magnificent. Thank you. That's kind. Yeah, really good. It's a shame I had to prompt it, but I'll take it all the same. Now, it's proof, isn't it, of just how deeply...
The experience of fighting Hannibal and the personality of Hannibal were seared into the Roman imagination. And actually, you get the sense there of their massive respect for Hannibal. You know, he's not a... We talked last time about whether or not they see him as a supervillain. Maybe they do, but they clearly see him as a serious person, as somebody worthy of admiration as well as fear.
Absolutely. And they always acknowledge his supreme genius as a general. And there's kind of certain...
self-serving quality to that because obviously if he's the world's greatest general and they've beaten him that redounds very well to their credit but i think that what you see there and also what you see in that passage from juvenile that you read again very beautifully in the previous episode so you've got an epic poet in the form of cilius italicus you've got a satirist in the form of juvenile
And what they're both fixing on, in particular, as emblematic of everything that makes Hannibal extraordinary, is this feat in crossing the Alps. And it makes Hannibal seem like Hercules, which is part of Hannibal's plan. That was what he was kind of going for. Makes him seem superhuman.
And to climb the Alps, to fend off all the predatory barbarians that lurk in its snowy wastes, to gaze down from a mountain pass at the fields of Italy, impossible. And yet Hannibal wins. has done it. And we left him at the end of our previous episode. He's climbed all the way up the Alps. He's reached the very summit of the pass that he's been aiming for.
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