A
history resource article by
Mary Harrsch ©
2014
It's been a busy summer but I finally finished the first book in bestselling author
Ben Kane's series about the Hannibalic Wars entitled "
Hannibal: Enemy of Rome". As in his popular "The Forgotten Legion", Kane has used young men on the cusp of manhood as his primary characters.
We first meet Hanno, a young
Carthaginian who hopes to become a soldier like his father, Malchus, once was. Now, Malchus serves on the council in Carthage and, although Malchus drags Hanno to the council meetings so he may learn statecraft, Hanno finds the meetings a bore and prefers to skip out and go fishing with his best friend, Suniaton, the son of a high priest.
We also briefly meet Hanno's two older brothers, Sapho and Bostar who presently serve as officers in the Carthaginian army. We discover that Sapho, the eldest, is jealous of Bostar because Bostar has been promoted above him because of Bostar's superior tactical acumen. Sapho's jealousy also extends to a lesser degree to Hanno, who, as the youngest, has captured his father's heart after the death of Hanno's mother.
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A painting of the intricate harbor and ancient city of Carthage. Image
courtesy of the Carthage Archaeological Museum, Tunis, Tunisia. |
Kane provides a vivid description of the capital of Carthage, still majestic even after suffering defeat at the hands of the Romans in the First Punic War. But all is not well as Carthage and Rome have once more butted heads in Iberia where Carthage has conquered most of the peninsula and the town of
Saguntum, fearful of the growing Carthaginian presence in the region, has appealed to Rome for help.
Malchus supports the Barca family and clearly expects Hannibal, the senior Barca commander, to exact "payback" from the Romans for their past offenses to Carthage.
Meanwhile, Hanno and Suniaton hear of a large run of tunny (tuna), and can't resist trying their luck so they can earn a little spending money. They set off in a small boat that they soon fill with fish. Suniaton has pilfered a bottle of wine from his father's wine cellar and they decide to celebrate their good luck. Soon they fall asleep in the warm sun so do not see an approaching storm. When the violence of the storm finally awakens them they find they have been swept far out to sea and cannot see the outline of Carthage in any direction. As they were only on an afternoon outing they have no supplies and soon are famished from thirst and hunger. Finally they see a ship on the horizon and think they are saved. But the ship is manned by pirates who see the two boys as nothing more than slaves that can be sold for a profit.
To make matters worse, a patrol ship makes the pirate captain decide to avoid Sicily and steer to Italy instead. When the ship arrives in Italy the two boys are marched off towards Capua where it is hoped they will be sold to a gladiator school.
But Hanno is purchased by a Roman equestrian family that runs a farm near Capua instead. Then we meet Quintus and Aurelia, the son and daughter of Fabricius, once a Roman cavalry officer and now a landowner who raises grain and livestock.
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A Roman villa rustica excavated near the ancient town of Boscoreale
north of Naples, Italy. Photo by Mary Harrsch © 2007. |
Now we find out what Roman life is like for this semi-retired military veteran and his family. I really like the way Kane gives us thorough backgrounds on all of these characters so we have a solid understanding of the similarities and differences that separate the two cultures.
Hanno and Quintus who are almost the same age become friends and as the plot unfolds, each saves the other's life, making their bond even stronger.
In the meantime, since Rome does not send assistance, Saguntum subsequently falls to Hannibal's forces. So talk of war with Carthage soon dominates the conversations at the villa. Quintus begins cavalry training and Quintus' father, Fabricius is soon ordered to join Roman forces in southern Gaul marching towards Iberia where the Romans plan to confront Hannibal.
With Fabricius gone, the villa overseer, who lost his wife and children to Carthaginians on Sicily and harbors hatred for Hanno, attempts to drag Hanno away to Capua where he plans to sell the youth to the lanista at the gladiator school for an arranged fight to the death with Hanno's friend Suniaton. But I don't want to give away much more of the plot so you'll have to read it for yourselves to find out what happens.
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Remains of the amphitheater at Capua. Image courtesy of
Flickr user Robert Ulrich. |
Eventually, Hanno and Quintus both end up serving in their respective armies after Hannibal successfully crosses the Alps and the two armies end up camped across the Trebia River from each other.
Having studied the Second Punic War to some extent, I was wondering how Quintus and his father were going to escape the slaughter that I knew was about to befall them. Kane does such a good job of characterization that at this point in the book I cared about both the Carthaginian family and the Roman family equally.
The climactic battle sequence was nothing short of breathtaking. What I liked the most was Kane's description of the scenes and terror each character saw around them and felt as the epic struggle unfolded - Hanno and his father fighting with the Libyan spearmen near the center of the Carthaginian line while Quintus and his father struggled with the Roman cavalry on the flanks.
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The Gauls, who had been previously allied with the Romans, joined Hannibal at the Battle of the Trebia River and were placed at the Carthaginian center. Although fierce, the Gauls could not hold back the disciplined Roman legionaries who fought through the center then retreated back to Placentia (Modern day Piacenza). Image courtesy of Total War: Rome II by Creative Assembly.
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I appreciate the fact that Kane does not attempt to "take sides" on the historical controversy over whether Scipio tried to warn Sempronius Longus against the ill-fated attack or not.
claims he did but many scholars look askance at this report since Polybius and the Scipios were closely allied. These scholars also point to the reported number of Roman troops involved in the engagement as problematic.
records there were 18,000 Romans and 20,000 Italic allies involved. Polybius claims there were 16,000 Romans and 20,000 Italic allies.
Since this crucial bit of evidence relies on theory rather than certainty, Kane's decision to sidestep the issue was certainly reasonable. He does, however, relay to us the impatience expressed by the troops themselves over Scipio's apparent hesitance to act while recuperating from his wounds.
I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this exciting trilogy. The only criticism I would have is that the title makes it sound like the book is about Hannibal himself. Although the key events in the latter part of the book are the result of Hannibal's orders, Hannibal himself appears only infrequently in the narrative. It perhaps would have been somewhat more accurate to name the series "The Hannibalic Wars" with the subtitle "Enemy of Rome" (Book One). But I can certainly understand the choice of title from a marketing perspective since some people may not actually make the connection between "Hannibalic Wars" and Hannibal.
