Hannibal: Rome's Greatest Enemy

The author's retelling of Cannae's impact on the Battle of Zama was both emotional and fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed this historical biography.

Entertaining and informative, his book on Alexander the great is even better

I read a poem recently about Hannibal and I had to admit while I recognized the name I didn’t know anything about him (musta slept through that Western Civ class). So I found this biography and downloaded it to my kindle. Very glad I did. It was a concise and easy to read history of one of the greatest military minds ever. Hannibal went up against the big bad Romans and while he didn’t defeat them, he did way more damage than anyone would till Rome was teetering and the Huns invaded (or was it the Goths? Another Western Civ class I skipped).

This author does a great job of creating non-fiction that reads like a fictional narrative.

This book was in mint condition and arrived fast!

Philip Freeman gives an excellent account into one of the most fascinating people in history. I didnt know much about Hannibal as we didnt learn about him growing up, but man was he a pain in the a** for the Romans!! Can't recommend enough if you're a fan of Roman history and that time period. Also, enjoyed the section on what would have happened if Hannibal had succeeded in capturing Rome. Really puts into perspective the impact of the Roman Empire. Definitely check out his other works on Julius Caeser and Alexander if you enjoyed this one.

Hannibal fascinated me when I was young. With Phillip Freeman's "Hannibal: Rome's Greatest Enemy" (2022), I have read a book about Hannibal at last. Freeman, Fletcher Jones Chair in Humanities at Pepperdine University, has written extensively about the ancient world, including biographies of two other military leaders, Alexander the Great, who came before Hannibal, and Julius Caesar, who came after. Freeman describes how in his youth he was taken with the story of Hannibal, as I was and as so many have been. Freeman writes describing Hannibal's accomplishments and what Freeman has come to see as the meaning of the history. "Like so many others, I remember as a boy reading with fascination the story of Hannibal leading his battle elephants over the Alps and defeating the seemingly unbeatable Romans in a seemingly hopeless war to save his country. But I long wondered: Who was the man behind the legend? What can the stories we have of him -- almost all from hostile Roman sources -- tell us about the real Hannibal? How does the story change if we look at Hannibal from the Carthiginian and not the Roman point of view? Can we search beneath the accounts of Roman historians like Livy who were eager to portray Hannibal as a monster and find a more human figure? Can we use the life of Hannibal to look at the Romans themselves in an unfamiliar way, not as the noble and benign defenders of civilization familiar from modern history books but as voracious, ruthless conquerors motivated by greed and imperialism?" Freeman's lucidly written book places Hannibal and his fight against Rome in the context of the times and against the backdrop of the relationship between Rome and Carthage. He develops the history of Carthage and its first war with Rome, followed by the young Hannibal travelling to Spain with his father and developing his skills in warfare and administration to an astonishing degree. Freeman describes Hannibal's great feat in crossing the Alps to Italy where he fought Rome for fifteen years. The highlight was the Battle of Cannae in 216, B.C., in which Hannibal obliterated a large Roman army in one of the greatest military victories in history. Freeman offers a dramatic description of this battle and considers the question of why Hannibal failed to follow-up his triumph by marching on Rome. Freeman has a great deal of sympathy for Hannibal and offers a much more favorable portrayal than do the historical Roman sources. He is also sympathetic to Carthage as a nation of traders that, in his account, did not seek to subdue the world in its own image, as did Rome. Much of the cause for Hannibal's ultimate failure to defeat Rome was due to his lack of support from the leadership in Carthage. By any measure, Hannibal was an extraordinarily gifted individual and general. Freeman praises Hannibal as well as "a practiced statesman, a skilled diplomat, and a man deeply devoted to his family and country". There is a great sense in this book of rooting for the underdog. The book gives the reader a view of the terrors of war in the ancient world and of its-no-holds-barred character. I thought anew of the waste of human life and of the great genius and skill devoted to death and killing, both in Hannibal's time and in the modern world. Freeman's book helps the reader along with a timeline and with a discussion of historical sources, ancient and modern, on Hannibal. Unfortunately, there are no maps. Freeman's book is an excellent choice for readers who want to learn and to think about Hannibal and about the wars between Rome and Carthage. Robin Friedman

One of the most entertaining history books I’ve read. This is one of those books you just fly though.