Hannibal

247 BCE – 183 BCE

Retrace Hannibal's life across the map — 34 events in chronological order, from a cinematic flythrough to a full timeline.

236 BCE

Barcid conquest of Hispania

chronological order

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Life journey

Barcid conquest of Hispania236 BCE
Under the leadership of the Barcid family, Ancient Carthage expanded its possessions on the Iberian Peninsula from 237 to 218 BC. The First Punic War and the Mercenary War had resulted in an end to Carthage's expansion to the north (Sicily) and in Africa; blocked from their traditional areas of expanse, they now sought to conquer the Iberian Peninsula.
Siege of Saguntum218 BCE
The siege of Saguntum took place in 219 BC between the Carthaginians and the Saguntines at the town of Saguntum, near the modern town of Sagunto in the province of Valencia, Spain. The battle is mainly remembered today because it triggered one of the most important wars of antiquity, the Second Punic War.
Battle of Ticinus217 BCE
The Battle of Ticinus was fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and a Roman army under Publius Cornelius Scipio in late November 218 BC as part of the Second Punic War. It took place in the flat country on the right bank of the river Ticinus, to the west of modern Pavia in northern Italy. Hannibal led 6,000 Libyan and Iberian cavalry, while Scipio led 3,600 Roman, Italian and Gallic cavalry and a large but unknown number of light infantry javelinmen.
Battle of the Trebia217 BCE
The Battle of the Trebia was the first major battle of the Second Punic War, fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and a Roman army under Sempronius Longus on 22 or 23 December 218 BC. Each army had a strength of about 40,000 men; the Carthaginians were stronger in cavalry, the Romans in infantry. The battle took place on the flood plain of the west bank of the lower Trebia River, not far from the settlement of Placentia, and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.
Second Punic War217 BCE
The Second Punic War was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Italy and Iberia, but also on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and, towards the end of the war, in North Africa. After immense materiel and human losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were once again defeated. Macedonia, Syracuse and several Numidian kingdoms were drawn into the fighting, and Iberian and Gallic forces fought on both sides. There were three main military theatres during the war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly, with occasional subsidiary campaigns in Sicily, Sardinia and Greece; Iberia, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success before moving into Italy; and Africa, where Rome finally won the war.
Hannibal's crossing of the Alps217 BCE
Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 BC was one of the major events of the Second Punic War, and one of the most celebrated achievements of any military force in ancient warfare.
Battle of Rhone Crossing217 BCE
The Battle of the Rhône Crossing was a battle during the Second Punic War in September of 218 BC. Hannibal marched on the Italian Alps, and an army of Gallic Volcae attacked the Carthaginian army on the east bank of the Rhône. The Roman army camped near Massalia. The Volcae tried to prevent the Carthaginians from crossing the Alps and invading Italy.
Battle of Geronium216 BCE
The Battle of Geronium was a significant engagement fought between the forces of Carthage and the Roman Republic during the summer and autumn of 217 BC, amid the broader context of the Second Punic War. The confrontation resulted in a tactical victory for the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca, consolidating his position in southern Italy and further undermining Roman morale.
Hannibal's crossing of the Apennines216 BCE
Hannibal's crossing of the Apennines in the spring of 217 BC was a major military campaign in the Second Punic War. The campaign was directly proceeded by Hannibal's crossing of the Alps the year earlier.
Battle of Ager Falernus216 BCE
The Battle of Ager Falernus was a skirmish during the Second Punic War between the armies of Rome and Carthage. After winning the Battle of Lake Trasimene in Italy in 217 BC, the army commanded by Hannibal marched south and reached Campania. The Carthaginians ultimately moved into the district of Falernum, a fertile river valley surrounded by mountains.
Battle of Placentia216 BCE
217 BC battle of the Second Punic War
Battle of Lake Trasimene216 BCE
The Battle of Lake Trasimene was fought when a Carthaginian force under Hannibal ambushed a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius on 21 June 217 BC, during the Second Punic War. The battle took place on the north shore of Lake Trasimene, to the south of Cortona, and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.
Battle of Plaisance216 BCE
The Battle of Placentia which took place in January of 217 BC during the Second Punic War, represented a double clash of secondary importance, engaged between the army of the consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus and the Carthaginian army of Hannibal, after the latter's victories at the Ticinus and at the Trebbia.
Battle of Nola215 BCE
The First Battle of Nola was fought in 216 BC between the forces of Hannibal and a Roman force led by Marcus Claudius Marcellus. Hannibal was attempting to seize the town of Nola: He failed to do so, and would make two more unsuccessful attempts on the city over the next two years.
Battle of Cannae215 BCE
The Battle of Cannae was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and their allies, led by Hannibal, surrounded and practically annihilated a larger Roman and Italian army under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. It is regarded as one of the greatest tactical feats in military history and one of the worst defeats in Roman history, and it cemented Hannibal's reputation as one of antiquity's greatest tacticians.
Battle of Nola214 BCE
The Second Battle of Nola was fought in 215 BC between Hannibal's army and a Roman force under Marcus Claudius Marcellus. It was Hannibal's second attempt to seize Nola after a failure the year before. He was again repelled and would make one more, also unsuccessful attempt the next year. For the Romans, it was a crucial success against Hannibal's army and gave them hope that they could win the war.
Battle of Nola213 BCE
The Third Battle of Nola was fought in 214 BC between Hannibal and a Roman army led by Marcus Claudius Marcellus. It was Hannibal's third attempt to take the town of Nola. Once again, Marcellus successfully prevented the town's capture.
Siege of Arpi212 BCE
The siege of Arpi took place in 213 BC by the Romans against the inhabitants of Arpi. The Roman forces were commanded by the consul Quintus Fabius Maximus, who managed to convince the inhabitants of the city to go over to the Romans' side, driving out the Carthaginians.
Battle of the Silarus211 BCE
The Battle of the Silarus was fought in 212 BC between Hannibal's army and a Roman force led by centurion Marcus Centenius Penula. The vastly outnumbered Carthaginians were victorious, destroying the entire Roman army and killing 15,000 Roman soldiers in the process.
Battle of Herdonia211 BCE
The first Battle of Herdonia was fought in 212 BC during the Second Punic War between Hannibal's Carthaginian army and Roman forces led by Praetor Gnaeus Fulvius Flaccus, brother of the consul Quintus Fulvius Flaccus. The Roman army was destroyed, leaving Apulia free of Romans for the year.
Battle of Tarentum211 BCE
The Battle of Tarentum in March 212 BC was a military engagement in the Second Punic War.
Battle of Capua211 BCE
The First Battle of Capua was fought in 212 BC between Hannibal and two Roman consular armies. The Roman force was led by two consuls, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Appius Claudius Pulcher. The Roman force was defeated, but managed to escape. Hannibal temporarily managed to raise the siege of Capua. A tactical Carthaginian victory, it ultimately did not help the Capuans.
Battle of Capua210 BCE
The Siege of Capua was fought in 211 BC, when the Romans besieged Capua. It is described by Polybius at 9.4–7, by Livy at 26.4–6, and by Appian at 37–44 of his Hannibalic War.
Battle of Herdonia209 BCE
The second battle of Herdonia took place in 210 BC during the Second Punic War. Hannibal, leader of the Carthaginians, who had invaded Italy eight years earlier, encircled and destroyed a Roman army which was operating against his allies in Apulia. The heavy defeat increased the war's burden on Rome and, piled on previous military disasters, aggravated the relations with her exhausted Italian allies. For Hannibal the battle was a tactical success, but did not halt for long the Roman advance. Within the next three years the Romans reconquered most of the territories and cities lost at the beginning of the war and pushed the Carthaginian general to the southwestern end of the Apennine peninsula.
Battle of Numistro209 BCE
The Battle of Numistro was fought in 210 BC between Hannibal's army and one of the Roman consular armies led by consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus. It was the fourth time they met in a battle. Previous encounters were located around the walls of Nola (Campania) in 216, 215, and 214 and had been favourable for the Roman side.
Battle of Canusium208 BCE
The Battle of Canusium also known as the Battle of Asculum was a three-day engagement between the forces of Rome and Carthage. It took place in Apulia during the spring of 209 BC, the tenth year of the Second Punic War. A larger Roman offensive, of which it was a part, aimed to subjugate and to punish cities and tribes that had abandoned the alliance with Rome after the Battle of Cannae, and to narrow the base of the Carthaginian leader, Hannibal, in southern Italy.
Battle of Petelia207 BCE
The Battle of Petelia was an ambush during the Second Punic War that took place in the summer of 208 BC near Petelia. The Carthaginian general Hannibal surprised and destroyed a large Roman detachment.
Battle of Grumentum206 BCE
The Battle of Grumentum was fought in 207 BC between Romans led by Gaius Claudius Nero, and a part of Hannibal's Carthaginian army. The battle was a minor engagement that Roman sources inflated as a major success. According to Livy, the Romans killed 8,000 Carthaginians and took 700 prisoners for the cost of 500 dead Romans. The Carthaginian loss figures for dead and prisoners appear suspiciously out of proportion to each other. Just north of the battlefield the next day, an irregular clash occurred where allegedly another 2,000 Carthaginians were killed. Afterwards, Nero marched north, where he defeated and killed Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal at Metaurus. The battle is described by Livy at 27.41–42.
Siege of Utica203 BCE
The siege of Utica took place from 204 to 201 BC when a Roman army under Publius Cornelius Scipio attempted to seize the port of Utica to use as a secure base from which to defeat the Carthaginian Empire in its North African homeland. The First Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome for 23 years, from 264–241 BC. After a 23-year interbellum, war broke out again in 218 BC as the Second Punic War. After a further 13 years of war, the Roman general Scipio, who had recently expelled the Carthaginians from Iberia, was assigned to Sicily with the intention of invading the Carthaginian homeland in North Africa.
Battle of Crotona203 BCE
The Battles of Kroton in 204 and 203 BC were, as well as the raid in Cisalpine Gaul, the last larger scale engagements between the Romans and the Carthaginians in Italy during the Second Punic War. After Hannibal’s retreat to Bruttium due to the Metaurus debacle, the Romans continuously tried to block his forces from gaining access to the Ionian Sea and cut his eventual escape to Carthage by capturing Kroton, the last port which had remained in his hands after years of fighting.
Battle of Zama201 BCE
The Battle of Zama was fought in 202 BC in what is now Tunisia between a Roman army commanded by Scipio Africanus and a Carthaginian army commanded by Hannibal. The battle was part of the Second Punic War and resulted in such a severe defeat for the Carthaginians that they capitulated, while Hannibal was forced into exile. The Roman army of approximately 40,000 men was outnumbered by the Carthaginians who fielded either 40,000 or 50,000; the Romans were stronger in cavalry, but the Carthaginians had 80 war elephants.
Roman–Seleucid War191 BCE
The Roman–Seleucid war (192–188 BC), also called the Aetolian war, Antiochene war, Syrian war, and Syrian-Aetolian war was a military conflict between two coalitions, one led by the Roman Republic and the other led by the Seleucid king Antiochus III. The fighting took place in modern-day southern mainland Greece, the Aegean Sea, and Asia Minor.
Aetolian War190 BCE
The Roman–Seleucid war (192–188 BC), also called the Aetolian war, Antiochene war, Syrian war, and Syrian-Aetolian war was a military conflict between two coalitions, one led by the Roman Republic and the other led by the Seleucid king Antiochus III. The fighting took place in modern-day southern mainland Greece, the Aegean Sea, and Asia Minor.
Battle of the Eurymedon189 BCE
The Battle of the Eurymedon, also known as the Battle of Side took place in August 190 BC. It was fought as part of the Roman–Seleucid War, pitting the fleets of Rhodes under admiral Eudamus against a Seleucid fleet of Hannibal.

Event data from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].