The Romans have defeated and humiliated Carthage, their rival for power in the Mediterranean. Now a brilliant young Carthaginian general, called Hannibal, is out for revenge. Caught up in the maelstrom are two young boys, Hanno, the son of a distinguished soldier and Quintus, son of a Roman equestrian and landowner.

Originally published: Enemy of Rome. London: Evans Bros., 1960.

The Romans' destruction of Carthage after the Third Punic War erased any Carthaginian historical record of Hannibal's life. What we know of him comes exclusively from Roman historians who had every interest in minimizing his success, exaggerating his failures, and disparaging his character. The charges leveled against Hannibal include greed, cruelty and atrocity, sexual indulgence, and even cannibalism. But even these sources were forced to grudgingly admit to Hannibal's military genius, if only to make their eventual victory over him appear greater. Yet there is no doubt that Hannibal was the greatest Carthaginian general of the Second Punic War. When he did not defeat them outright, he fought to a standstill the best generals Rome produced, and he sustained his army in the field for sixteen long years without mutiny or desertion. Hannibal was a first-rate tactician, only a somewhat lesser strategist, and the greatest enemy Rome ever faced. When he at last met defeat at the hands of the Roman general Scipio, it was against an experienced officer who had to strengthen and reconfigure the Roman legion and invent mobile tactics in order to succeed. Even so, Scipio's victory at Zama was against an army that was a shadow of its former self. The battle could easily have gone the other way. If it had, the history of the West would have been changed in ways that can only be imagined. Richard A. Gabriel's brilliant new biography shows how Hannibal's genius nearly unseated the Roman Empire.

Hannibal's enduring reputation as both a man and a brilliant general is largely due to his enemies' fascination with him. Universally ranked as one of the greatest tacticians and military strategists in history, Hannibal and his tactics have been studied as real-life lesson for even the most modern of wars. Under his leadership, Carthage came close to dominating the western Mediterranean; his total victory would have changed the course of history. Yet, on at least three occasions, a different strategic choice might have brought that elusive overall victory. This engaging history examines the contradictions and paradoxes of Hannibal's career, including his puzzling final battle and enduring legacy. Exploring Hannibal's politics just as voraciously as his storied military exploits, Dexter Hoyos fully considers issues regarding the possibility of postponing the Roman conflict in order to concentrate on Carthage's own prosperity—creating an objective, questioning, and cogent portrayal of most famous Carthaginian in history.