Cultural depictions of Hannibal

This page lists the cultural depictions of Hannibal, a Carthaginian general.

Hannibal in literature

List of derivative works (novels unless otherwise noted):

• 29 to 19 BC: Upon her death in Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid, Dido, Queen of Carthage, warns of a Carthaginian who will avenge her. By almost all critical accounts, this predicts the wars of Hannibal against Rome.
• written 1308–1321, Dante's Divine Comedy, poem, Inferno XXXI.97–132, 115–124 (Battle of Zama) and Paradiso VI
• 1726, Gulliver's Travels, satirical work
• 1862, Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô, set in Carthage at the time of Hamilcar Barca. Hannibal appears as a child.
• 1887, G. A. Henty's "The Young Carthaginian" tells the story of Hannibal and the Second Punic War from the perspective of the fictional character Malchus, a cousin of Hannibal.
• 1939-1940, Henry Bedford-Jones (writing as Gordon Keyne) wrote They Lived By The Sword, a serialized novel about Hannibal's crossing of the Alps. It was serialized in Blue Book magazine, and later published in book form.
• 1963, Bryher's Coin of Carthage, about Hannibal invading Italy.
• 1996, Elisabeth Craft, A Spy for Hannibal: A Novel of Carthage, 091015533X
• 1996–2000, Ross Leckie, Carthage trilogy, source of the 2008 film (1996, Hannibal: A Novel, ISBN 0-89526-443-9 ; 1999, Scipio, a Novel, ISBN 0-349-11238-X ; Carthage, 2000, ISBN 0-86241-944-1)
• 2002, John Maddox Roberts, Hannibal's Children, ISBN 0-441-00933-6, an alternate history. In the opening, Hannibal conquers Rome in 215 BC and exiles the Romans from Italy. In 100 BC, Romans visit Carthage, where the descendants of Hannibal operate as hereditary rulers, using the title shofet.
• 2005, Terry McCarthy, The Sword of Hannibal, ISBN 0-446-61517-X
• 2006, David Anthony Durham, Pride of Carthage: A Novel of Hannibal, ISBN 0-385-72249-4
• 2006, Esther Friesner, "First, Catch Your Elephant," in Alternate Generals III, edited by Harry Turtledove. This is a Monty Python-style spoof replete with humorous anachronisms.
• 2006, Angela Render, Forged By Lightning: A Novel of Hannibal and Scipio, ISBN 1-4116-8002-2
• 2008, Bill Mahaney, 'The Warmaker—Hannibal's Invasion of Italia and the Aftermath' ISBN 978-0-595-48101-9
• 2011, Ben Kane, Hannibal: Enemy of Rome, Preface Publishing: London. Hannibal appears frequently in this novel set during the Second Punic War and told from the points-of-view of two young men, one Roman, one Carthaginian. Covers the siege of Saguntum, the crossing of the Alps by Hannibal's forces and the Battle of the Trebia.
• 2011, William Kelso, "The Shield of Rome", 216 BC. The novel is set in the aftermath of Hannibal's stunning victory at Cannae and Rome's heroic response.
• In Poul Anderson's time travel story Delenda Est, two adventurers from the future join Hannibal's army, use modern weapons to help him defeat the Romans, but then assassinate Hannibal and take over Carthage.
• One of the episodes in Erich Kästner's satire fantasy The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas depicts Hannibal in his afterlife being engaged in a fierce war with General Wallenstein of the Thirty Years' war and emphasizes both generals' callous disregard for the lives of their soldiers – underlining Kästner's pacifist views.

Hannibal in theatre and opera

• In Hector Berlioz's 1858 opera Les Troyens (itself a re-imagining of Virgil's Aeneid, above), he appears in a vision to Dido just before she dies.
• In Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera and its 2004 film adaption, the Paris Opera Populaire is in rehearsal for an opera by the fictional composer Chalumeau about Hannibal starring the humorous opera stars Piangi and Carlotta. This opera features the aria "Think of Me", sung by the character Elissa. Carlotta was supposed to play Elissa; however, the Phantom's intimidation of Carlotta causes her to forfeit the role in favor of Christine Daaé.

Hannibal in Art

Basquiat's famous painting "Jawbone's of an Ass" depicted Hannibal along with other Mediterranean historical figures as contributing to great shift in society, analogizing it with Sampson of the Bible.

Hannibal in film and television

Year	Film	Other notes
1914	Cabiria	Italian silent film
1939	Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal	Italian motion picture
1955	Jupiter's Darling	MGM musical picture starring Howard Keel and Esther Williams
1959	Hannibal	Italian motion picture starring Victor Mature
1997	The Great Battles of Hannibal	British documentary
2001	Hannibal: The Man Who Hated Rome	British documentary
2004	Decisive Battles	History channel documentary
2005	The True Story of Hannibal	British documentary
2005	Hannibal vs. Rome	in National Geographic Channel
2006	Hannibal	TV film by the BBC starring Alexander Siddig in the title role
2009	Battles BC	History Channel TV film
2009	Ancients Behaving Badly	History Channel TV film
2010	On Hannibal's Trail	BBC TV documentary
2011	Deadliest Warrior	Spike television series
2016	Barbarians Rising	History Channel TV series

Hannibal's Crossing of the Alps is also alluded to in passing in Episode Two of Fortunes of War by the comment that "Snow didn't stop Hannibal", the implication being that it would not stop the Wehrmacht invading Romania.

Comics

• In the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic by Devil's Due, Hannibal is genetically re-created by Doctor Mindbender and becomes a member of The Coil.
• In Kouta Hirano's Drifters manga series, he appears as a senile old man helping his fellow Drifters battle against the Ends. Despite his senility, he has proven to still be a brilliant strategist, relaying his tactics via unorthodox means.
• The comedian Hannibal Buress was named after Hannibal.
• Mihachi Kagano's manga series Ad Astra – Scipio to Hannibal depicts the rise of Hannibal and his adversary Scipio. He was described as emotionless, blank-starer and unflinching even surrounded by weapons of his enemies, and his genius strategic and tactical might.

Video games

In the Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, Hannibal featured as a war elephant unit.