Hannibal (247 BC – 183/182 BC; sometimes referred to as Hǎnnibal Barca) was a Carthaginian politician and statesman who is considered to be one of the finest military generals in history. He lived in a period of tension in the Mediterranean, with both Carthage and Rome (then the Roman Republic) vying for control of the region. Considered by many as the greatest enemy of the Roman Republic, he is best known for his achievements in the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which famously included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.

During his invasion of Italy he defeated the Romans in a series of battles, out of which the most famous included the Battles of Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae. After Cannae he seized the second largest city in Italy, Capua, but could not move on to attack the city of Rome as his army needed reinforcements. He maintained an army in Italy for more than a decade and his decision not to attack Rome became a controversial one as the Roman armies regrouped. A Roman counter-invasion of North Africa forced him to return to Carthage, where he was defeated in the Battle of Zama. The defeat forced the Carthaginian Senate to send him into exile. During this exile, he lived at the Seleucid court, where he acted as military advisor to Antiochus III in his war against Rome. Defeated in a naval battle, Hannibal fled again, this time to the Bithynian court. When the Romans demanded his surrender, he preferred to commit suicide rather than submit.