Editing Hannibal (section)

===Ancient world===
Hannibal caused great distress to many in Roman society. He became such a figure of terror that, whenever disaster threatened, Romans would exclaim "''[[List of Latin phrases: H#Hannibal ad portas|Hannibal ad portas]]''" ("Hannibal is at the gates!") to emphasize the gravity of the emergency, a phrase still used in modern languages.<ref>
Alan Emrich, [http://www.alanemrich.com/Class/Class_Practical_Latin.htm Practical Latin] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025715/http://www.alanemrich.com/Class/Class_Practical_Latin.htm |date= 4 March 2016 }}</ref>

His legacy would be recorded by his Greek tutor, [[Sosylus of Lacedaemon]].<ref name=":0" /> The works of Roman writers such as [[Livy]] (64 or 59 BC – AD 12 or 17), [[Frontinus]] ({{circa}} AD 40–103), and [[Juvenal]] (1st–2nd century AD) show a grudging admiration for Hannibal. The Romans even built statues of the Carthaginian in the streets of Rome to advertise their defeat of such a worthy adversary.<ref>Holland, ''Rome and her Enemies'' 8</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cornelius Nepos |title=Selected Lives |date=1895 |publisher=Ginn & Company |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dkAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA181 |access-date=20 October 2022}}</ref> It is plausible to suggest that Hannibal engendered the greatest fear Rome had towards an enemy. Nevertheless, the Romans grimly refused to admit the possibility of defeat and rejected all overtures for peace; they even refused to accept the ransom of prisoners after Cannae.<ref>Livy, ''The War With Hannibal'' 22.61</ref>

During the war there are no reports of revolutions among the Roman citizens, no factions within the Senate desiring peace, no pro-Carthaginian Roman turncoats, and no coups.<ref>Lazenby, ''Hannibal's War'' 237–238
</ref><ref>
Goldsworthy, The Fall of Carthage 315</ref> Indeed, throughout the war Roman aristocrats ferociously competed with each other for positions of command to fight against Rome's most dangerous enemy. Hannibal's military genius was not enough to really disturb the Roman political process and the collective political and military capacity of the Roman people. As Lazenby states,

<blockquote>
It says volumes, too, for their political maturity and respect for constitutional forms that the complicated machinery of government continued to function even amidst disaster—there are few states in the ancient world in which a general who had lost a battle like Cannae would have dared to remain, let alone would have continued to be treated respectfully as head of state.<ref>
J. F. Lazenby, ''The Hannibalic War'', 254</ref>
</blockquote>

According to the historian Livy, the Romans feared Hannibal's military genius, and during Hannibal's march against Rome in 211&nbsp;BC<blockquote>
a messenger who had travelled from Fregellae for a day and a night without stopping created great alarm in Rome, and the excitement was increased by people running about the City with wildly exaggerated accounts of the news he had brought. The wailing cry of the [[Women in ancient Rome|matrons]] was heard everywhere, not only in private houses but even in the temples. Here they knelt and swept the temple-floors with their dishevelled hair and lifted up their hands to heaven in piteous entreaty to the gods that they would deliver the City of Rome out of the hands of the enemy and preserve its mothers and children from injury and outrage.<ref name="livy26_8"/></blockquote> In the Senate the news was "received with varying feelings as men's temperaments differed,"<ref name="livy26_8"/> so it was decided to keep Capua under siege, but to send 15,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry as reinforcements to Rome.<ref name="livy26_8">{{cite web |url= http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy26.html |title= Livy's History of Rome |publisher= Mcadams.posc.mu.edu |access-date= 6 June 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160529171914/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy26.html |archive-date= 29 May 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

According to Livy, the land occupied by Hannibal's army outside Rome in 211&nbsp;BC was sold by a Roman while it was occupied.<ref>Livy, The War with Hannibal, 26.11</ref> This may not be true, but as Lazenby states, "could well be, exemplifying as it does not only the supreme confidence felt by the Romans in ultimate victory, but also the way in which something like normal life continued."<ref>J.F. Lazenby, ''The Hannibalic War'', p. 254</ref> After [[Cannae]], the Romans showed considerable steadfastness. As an example of Rome's confidence, after the Cannae disaster she was left virtually defenseless; however, the Senate still chose not to withdraw a single garrison from an overseas province to strengthen the city. In fact, they were reinforced and the campaigns there maintained until victory was secured; beginning first in Sicily under the direction of [[Claudius Marcellus]], and later in [[Hispania]] under [[Scipio Africanus]].<ref>Bagnall, The Punic Wars 203
</ref><ref>Lazenby, Hannibal's War 235</ref> Although the long-term consequences of Hannibal's war are debatable, this war was undeniably Rome's "finest hour".<ref>Lazenby Hannibal's War 254
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Goldsworthy
| first1 = Adrian
| author-link1 = Adrian Goldsworthy
| title = The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265–146BC
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jM1sFXcAPvAC
| publisher = Hachette UK
| publication-date = 2012
| pages = 366–367
| isbn = 978-1780223063
| access-date = 15 May 2018
| date =  2012
}}
</ref>

Most of the sources available to historians about Hannibal are from Romans. They considered him the greatest enemy Rome had ever faced. [[Livy]] gives us the idea that Hannibal was extremely cruel. Even [[Cicero]], when he talked of Rome and its two great enemies, spoke of the "honourable" [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]] and the "cruel" Hannibal. Yet a different picture sometimes emerges. When Hannibal's successes had brought about the death of two [[Roman consul]]s, he vainly searched for the body of [[Gaius Flaminius (consul 223 BC)|Gaius Flaminius]] on the shores of [[Lake Trasimeno|Lake Trasimene]], held ceremonial rituals in recognition of [[Lucius Aemilius Paullus (General)|Lucius Aemilius Paullus]], and sent [[Marcus Claudius Marcellus|Marcellus]]' ashes back to his family in Rome. Any bias attributed to Polybius, however, is more troublesome. [[Ronald J. Mellor|Ronald Mellor]] considered the Greek scholar a loyal partisan of [[Scipio Aemilianus]],<ref>[[Ronald J. Mellor|Mellor, Ronald J.]] ''The Historians of Ancient Rome''</ref> while H. Ormerod does not view him as an "altogether unprejudiced witness" when it came to his pet peeves, the Aetolians, the Carthaginians, and the Cretans.<ref>Omerod, H. ''Piracy in the Ancient World'', p. 141</ref> Nonetheless, Polybius did recognize that the reputation for cruelty the Romans attached to Hannibal might in reality have been due to mistaking him for one of his officers, Hannibal Monomachus.<ref>[[Gavin de Beer|De Beer, Sir Gavin]] (1969). ''Hannibal: Challenging Rome's Supremacy'' p. 111.</ref>

In the [[Severan dynasty|Severan period]], Hannibal was portrayed as a successful military leader from history who could serve as an exemplary figure for a Roman audience.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Lentzsch |first=Simon |title=The Eastern Roman Empire under the Severans: Old Connections, new Beginnings? |publisher=[[Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht]] |year=2024 |isbn=978-3-647-30251-5 |editor-last=Hoffmann-Salz |editor-first=Julia |pages=226–227, 234–236 |chapter=In the footsteps of the past – the Severans and the Tomb of Hannibal |editor-last2=Heil |editor-first2=Matthäus |editor-last3=Wienholz |editor-first3=Holger}}</ref> In the 13th century, Byzantine scholar [[John Tzetzes]] wrote that "Severus (likely [[Septimius Severus]]), being of Libyan birth", constructed a "tomb of white marble" for Hannibal in Libyssa. Scholars debate whether this act was intended to promote a unified North African identity, stimulate local economic interests, or link Severus with past military heroes to strengthen his legacy, reflecting a broader Severan policy of honoring local traditions and historical figures.<ref name=":2" />