Product Description
There is a Latin saying, 'Hannibal ad Portas'(Hannibal is at the door) and it was said Roman parents used it to threaten their misbehaving children: if a child was bad, the parent would tell them that Hannibal was coming for them - the modern equivalent is the 'bogeyman'. Such was the fear Hannibal Barca instilled in mighty Rome...A panoramic novel, told in arcing, epic technicolour, of the story of one of the ancient world's most celebrated figures and the Second Punic War (218-202BC) - a long, bloody conflict between the two 'super powers' of the times that hinged on the genius, the ambition and the personal tragedies of two towering individuals: Hannibal Barca of Carthage, whose military genius became the stuff of legend, and Publius Scipio of Rome. History, of course, records us the outcome - that Rome would be the victor, surviving to become the colossal Empire we know of, while Carthage was burned to the ground and all but erased from history. But it was a close run thing and the world might have been a very different place had Hannibal succeeded in stifling the might of Rome. PRIDE OF CARTHAGE is an epic, sweeping, thrilling story of ancient warfare, of armies traversing frozen snow-covered mountains, of battles won or lost by brilliant generals fighting in ingenious, cunning ways, of a time when elephants were employed in much the same way as we now use tanks. And it's a novel teeming with superbly drawn, memorable characters and multi-national players, both historical and imagined - from the Numidian horsemen of North Africa to the naked, sword-swinging Celts of Northern Spain, from the ranks of Roman legions to slaves and freemen of all colours and from all corners of the ancient Mediterranean world.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
In a time before Caesar, before Augustus, Nero or Constantine, before the Gallic Wars or the conquest of Britain, in a time before its place in the history of the Western world was assured, the nascent empire that was Rome had first to survive the devastating assault by its most formidable foe. He was a man celebrated and feared like few historical figures, a man known for millennia by a signal name: Hannibal.
The wars fought between Hannibal’s Carthage and the Roman Republic have fascinated the world for thousands of years. The struggle shaped the destiny of nations and established the fame or infamy of a host of towering figures, none more so than Hannibal himself, the driving force of what became known as the Second Punic War (218 – 202BC), and Publius Scipio, the young Roman general who eventually proved his nemesis.
Never before has a single novel captured so compellingly the panoramic scope of the conflict: from Hannibal’s famous elephant-mounted crossing of the Alps and the savagery of battles like Trasimene, Cannae and Zama to the shifting tides of fortune that pulled peoples from all corners of the Mediterranean into the conflict, from Macedonians and Moors to Libyans and Gauls. As he chronicles this titanic struggle through the actions of individual characters – from the genius, ambition and tragedies of Hannibal and Scipio themselves to their princes, generals and foot soldiers, lovers and wives – David Anthony Durham brings ancient history to brilliant, vivid life.
Epic in scope and vision, PRIDE OF CARTHAGE is a glorious and unforgettable novel of artistry, scholarship and unbridled excitement.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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