What contemporary evidence do we have of Hannibal?

[JohnLoveHistory]

Whilst archaeological discoveries will, of course, turn up from time to time to help us understand more of Hannibal and of Carthage , it is rare indeed, and perhaps the rarest of all things for an historian to discover a whole Hannibal battlefield. Yet, this is what Ricky D Phillips, an Edinburgh-based military historian, has just done. And it isn’t just any Hannibal battlefield which he has uncovered either, but the site of Hannibal’s first ever battle: the battle of the Tagus.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

Is this a question, ad or heads-up?

 

[Sarmatia1871]

Is this a question, ad or heads-up?

I have no idea, but I do find the accompanying picture hilariously silly.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

I have no idea, but I do find the accompanying picture hilariously silly.

It's also totally wrong IIRC, as per near-contemporary account.

Edit: Or nevermind, Polybius does describe the Gauls whatever unwashed barbarians making attempted crossing in front of Hannibal.

 

[Fluffy_Fishy]

I think there are at least 3 movies about him.

 

[Graf Zeppelin]

This dude sucks anyway, he didnt even had dinosaurs. Attacking the Romans without dinosaurs is futile.

 

[Henry IX]

The claim 'discovered the battlefield' is a little strong based on the evidence presented in the article. Closer to; identified one of the suspected sites of the battle as being more likely than the other suspected sites. There is no archaeological evidence that this is indeed the site, simply some careful study of the relevant texts and the geography of the area. If some good archaeology turns up solid evidence then we can decisively identify this as the site of the battle, but until then I would call this a well constructed piece of historical research with a reasonable conclusion based on the evidence rather than a discovery.

 

[Pyoro]

I expected the thread to hypothesize that Hannibal never existed at all.

Sites of battles are constantly "discovered" and then changed to somewhere vaguely different a decade later. Maybe he's got it right, maybe he didn't.

 

[Geriander]

I expected the thread to hypothesize that Hannibal never existed at all.
.

The Romans invented him to excuse their horrible treatment of the Punics. The story is impossible anyways, crossing the Alps with elephants! Lol!
Prove me wrong!
/s

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

The story is impossible anyways, crossing the Alps with elephants!

Well, it wasn't very successful. All but one of them died of exposure shortly after Trebia.

He should have used feathered T-Rexes as Graf recommended, since the feathers act as insulation.

(Edit) Wait, that's not T-Rex. It has three fingers.

 

[Kgw]

I asked the locals if it had a name: they told me ‘Camino de la Barca’ – Barca’s path.”

*facepalm*

Road of the boat, lad. Because it is near a river.

So, he's really close to find Hannibal long-lost-greatgreatgreat... cousin, Calderón de la Barca.
And quite a few places named... whatever "de la barca"-