CLASS 2680 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Italians, Spolia, Castra
19 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Lecture 9 - hannibal and the second punic war (218-201 bc) The romans beat hannibal in a small skirmish - this makes them arrogant. In 216, after hannibal and the romans have skirmished, the romans decide to fight. Saguntum, 219 bc: crossing of the alps, 218. Elephants = terror weapon and propaganda weapon; not that effective in battle. Location of a carthaginian temple to their equivalent of the god hercules: symbol of their prowess, hannibal went to this temple and sacrificed before heading to italy. Hannibal wanted to destroy the roman army in battles. The romans wanted to destroy hannibal"s army by not fighting and harassing him, convincing him he wouldn"t work. Roman manpower: ~1 million roman citizens, ~300,000 citizen troops, ~450,000 allied troops. Hannibal only had ~26,000 troops when he invaded italy. Winning a battle doesn"t win you the war.
