Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life (5 page)

The Roman sources of later years reveal a deep prejudice against cultures that lived by the sea. The Romans tied the nature of the Carthaginians as merchant traders to cultural stereotypes that rested on the notion that living in a city by the sea led to immoderate behaviour. Through the words of a Roman envoy, the historian Appian puts the entire blame for the woes of the Carthaginians, the wars in Sicily and the loss of Sardinia on the lure of the sea and profit (
Lib.
86). Cicero claimed that the Romans were justly concerned that the Carthaginians were imposing themselves on their territory and acted in self-defence against an inherently aggressive power. The aggression of Carthage, as embodied in the actions of Hannibal, derived in the Roman mind from its maritime location.
⁴⁰
The belief that the sea was a negative factor in the character of a people was embraced. Cicero goes on to state that ‘the Carthaginians were given to fraud and lying, not so much by race as by nature of their position’. He claimed that ‘owing to their harbours, which brought them into communication with merchants and strangers speaking many different languages, they were inspired by the love of gain with the love of cheating’ (
De agr.
2.95). Cicero notes that the Romans liked to view the multicultural and multilingual Carthaginians as inherently dangerous and threatening. The Roman expression of the negative aspects of Hannibal’s character was deeply rooted in the suspicions around his culture of origin.

In reality the Carthaginians were of course no more aggressive or threatening than the Romans but the origin of wealth in the two states was very different. The Romans were traditionally an agrarian society. Even though Carthage had extended its influence far into the surrounding territory and developed intensive agricultural production from early in its history, the merchant stereotype of its Phoenician origin persisted. By the time of Hannibal the elite families of Carthage were large landowners with estates in the wealthy agricultural areas that surrounded the city and spread into the countryside of North Africa.
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Hannibal’s family estates seem to have been centred on land holdings in the eastern coastal areas of Carthaginian territory, near the city of Hadrumentum (modern Sousse,
Map 2
).

The reality of life for the people of Carthage is not always in keeping with the portrait of the Carthaginians painted by their enemies. Much of the problem lies in the image created by the Romans. Hannibal was born into a world where fiercely contested warfare dominated the relationship between Carthage and Rome. There would have been a natural intensity to the depiction of the other side and although we only have the Roman view of the Carthaginians, similar attributes must have been applied to the Romans by their enemies. Broadly speaking, the Carthaginians are portrayed negatively in
both Greek and Roman literary descriptions, although not exclusively so.
⁴²
Although the different cultures coexisted quite peacefully over a long period in the western Mediterranean, war and its propaganda often overwhelm more subtle relationships. The characterization of Carthaginian culture that permeates the later Roman tradition is largely adverse. ‘Such was Punic bravery, equipped with tricks and treacheries and deceit,’ commented Valerius Maximus on Hannibal’s victory at Cannae where the Romans ‘were deceived rather than vanquished’ (7.4, ext.2).
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Punic treachery and Phoenician covetousness, deceit and deception were the dark arts of the enemy embodied by Hannibal and the Carthaginians according to the pro-Roman sources.
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The earliest portrayal of a Carthaginian in Latin literature is found in the works of the playwright Plautus, who wrote Latin comedy for the Romans in the late third/early second centuries. ‘By god – his aspect indeed is Punic’ (
Poen.
975–977), Plautus would write at the end (or just after) the Second Punic War, a time when Hannibal was fresh in the minds of the Romans and very much still alive. The play, called the
Peonulus
, or ‘little Punic’, is based on a no longer extant Greek comedy called the
Karchedonias,
‘the Carthaginian’. Plautus’ play has often been used to argue just how familiar the Romans were with the Carthaginians. Punic jokes, like those about the French or Germans in the UK, thread through the play, the Romans and Italians laughing at the cultural curiosities and national stereotypes of the main character, a Punic merchant. The
Poenulus
provides some remarkable and quirky insights into the accepted cultural characterizations of the Carthaginians just at the end of the Hannibalic War.
⁴⁵

The cast of characters includes Hanno, a devout and reasonably sympathetic Carthaginian merchant, travelling in search of his daughters who have been stolen from Carthage. The play humorously reflects the reality of life for the many tens of thousands who were captured and enslaved in these years of warfare. The Carthaginian characters wear culturally specific clothing, a Punic dress, and one actor asks, ‘who is this man with the long tunic as if an innkeeper’s slave?’ (
Poen.
975–977).
⁴⁶
In Plautus, the ‘Punic tunic’ was an unmanly piece of clothing and the slur of unmanliness is repeated by Polybius when he records that the Carthaginians wore undergarments beneath their tunics.
⁴⁷
Equally, to the Roman eye, both Hanno and his slaves would have been viewed as foreign because they had pierced ears and wore earrings (978–981).
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Insults hurled at Hanno by the other characters in the play make reference to Sardinian fleeces, salt fish and garlic. The audience would have seen these as goods traditionally carried by Carthaginian merchants. Cargos of elephants and wild beasts used in processions, games and triumphs all evoke Carthaginian
life as well.
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We know that in a triumphal procession during the First Punic War more than a hundred elephants were paraded through Rome (Pliny,
NH
7.139, 8.16–17, Livy,
Per.
19). Thus the link between Carthage and elephants may have been a well-established trope even before Hannibal’s great exploits. Plautus also implies that Carthaginian ships did not carry pork, and Polybius’ omission of pigs from the wildlife of North Africa may confirm that the Carthaginians did not eat pork and that pigs did not factor in their sacrifices either, implying similar dietary traditions to Jewish or Islamic custom (Polyb. 12.3.1–4).
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Plautus’ Carthaginian trader ‘… knows all languages; but though knowing he fakes that he doesn’t know. He’s thoroughly Punic’ (
Poen
. 112–113). The image of the cunning multilingual merchant is reinforced when Virgil writes of the ‘double tongued people of Tyre’ (
Aen
. 1.661).
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Speaking many languages made one suspect, and the characterization of Hanno as a trickster is a classic ethnic stereotype. It also allows Plautus to showcase the Punic language in the play. Punic, as written by Plautus, sounds like gibberish, and is thought to be an imitation of how the language sounded to Latin ears.
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Poking fun at the sound of other peoples’ language, at their culturally specific attire, food traditions and customs is a familiar practice in the modern world. Plautus plays with his Punic language and makes fun of words that sound like words in Latin but have different meanings (
Poen.
1014).

Many aspects of Hanno in the play may well be caricatures of Hannibal himself and the audience would have understood who was being referred to directly.
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Plautus’ play makes clear the level of familiarity that Romans and Italians had with Carthaginians and Hannibal specifically.
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Although Hanno goes about his business ‘craftily and cunningly’ (
Poen.
111), he also shows many traits that the Romans would have considered virtuous and natural. Plautus portrays Hanno as deeply religious and devout; the portrait is not wholly negative and there are elements of sympathy. So, the characterization of the Carthaginians in Roman and Greek culture was far from monolithic or simplistically negative.
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Hannibal’s Punic culture was different, yet at the same time very familiar to contemporary Romans. The propaganda of the later Roman historians certainly masks a more nuanced and deeply held understanding between the two cultures.
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We learn from Plautus that the Carthaginian men of Hannibal’s time were culturally different from their Greek and Roman counterparts. Their style of dress was different, they pierced their ears, were often multilingual and did not eat pork. Earlier ancient writers such as Herodotus (fifth century
BCE
) note that, traditionally, Phoenician men were circumcised but those who had
close contact with the Greeks adapted to local custom and did not circumcise their children. Whether the Carthaginians continued the ritual of circumcision is unknown but if they did, it would have further contributed to the Roman and Greek view of Carthaginian ‘otherness’ (Herodotus 2.104.3–4; Aristophanes,
Birds
227–228). Although it is difficult to tie the cultural traditions identified with Carthaginians to Hannibal specifically, they would, no doubt, have influenced the portrait of him that has been passed down to us.

The physical city of Carthage in Hannibal’s time was ‘surrounded with harbours and fortified with walls, it appeared to project out of Africa’ much like a ship anchored off the coast (Cicero,
De agr
. 2.87).
⁵⁷
The city sat out on a peninsula and travellers who approached Carthage from the sea would have seen the urban landscape rising up behind massive sea walls. A monumental sea gate, facing east, comprised of two arches flanked by two towers would have been the visitor’s first impressive glimpse into the city.
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Behind the sea walls the grand acropolis rose at the centre of the city. This was the Byrsa hill, crowned by a temple built to the Phoenician–Punic god Eshmun. The temple was most likely to have been in a Near Eastern style, which means it would have been surrounded by walls that enclosed the precinct of the god. Within the walled precinct would have been a flat-roofed temple.
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Eshmun was an important deity in the civic culture at Carthage. It was under the protection of Eshmun that the Carthaginians placed their law-making and governance. This is emphasized by the meeting of the Senate in the precinct of the god.
⁶⁰

Up the sides of the Byrsa hill there was multi-storey housing with narrow stepped streets. The buildings were multiple family dwellings six storeys high with a shared central courtyard: the central zone of the city was densely populated.
⁶¹
The more substantial urban homes of the elites such as Hannibal’s family were situated slightly away from the main hub of the town, perhaps nearer to the sea or up on the hills that rise north of the Byrsa. These hills provide extensive views across the gulf and a cooling breeze in the hot months of the summer.
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At the base of the Byrsa hill was the large open space of the main market area (the agora/forum). This was the central public square, and it contained another important city temple, dedicated perhaps to the god Reshep who was at the time equated with the Greco-Roman Apollo.
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Inside the richly adorned temple was a statue of the god in a shrine of beaten gold weighing 1,000 talents (1 talent = 26kg) (Appian,
Lib
. 127). The busy market area was also the place where the sitting magistrates dispensed justice and performed the daily tasks of urban governance (Livy 34.61.15). Next door to the market, farther to the south, were the impressive ports of the city. From the later phases of
Punic Carthage the city had two magnificent harbours in this location, the remains of which can still be seen today.
⁶⁴
An ancient account of the ports reveals their monumental construction; at capacity they would have been bustling with activity. They had a common entrance from the sea
c.
24 metres wide, which could be closed with iron chains. ‘The first port was for merchant vessels, and here were collected all kinds of ship’s tackle. Within the second port, the military harbour, was an island and great quays were set at intervals round both the harbour and the islands’ (Appian,
Lib
. 96). The military harbour was full of ship sheds, had capacity for 220 vessels and, resting on top of them, magazines for their tackle and furniture. The façade was elegantly decorated and in front of each dock stood two Ionic columns giving the appearance of a continuous portico to the harbour and the island.
⁶⁵

The prominence of the ports reflects the city’s location on the northern tip of Africa jutting out into the sea-lanes on a narrow peninsula. Carthage was connected to the land by a narrow stretch with a great defensive wall built across it to defend from inland incursions.
⁶⁶
This massive triple wall stood
c.
14 metres high. It protected the land-side of the city, and along its length at intervals of every 60 metres were four-storey towers. The walls were used for housing the armed forces and supplies for the military at Carthage. By the latter part of the city’s existence this included room for 300 elephants, stables for 4,000 horses and barracks for 20,000 soldiers (Appian,
Lib.
95).
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Carthage was as renowned for its government as for its physical beauty. The Greek mathematician and geographer Eratosthenes, a contemporary of Hannibal, wrote that ‘not only are many of the Greeks bad, but many of the barbarians are refined … Romans and Carthaginians, who carry on their governments so admirably’ (Strabo 1.4.9). Aristotle wrote about the government of Carthage in his
Politics
, a work that looks at the nature of government and the forms available in the fourth century
BCE
. He included Carthage as the only non-Greek system of government worthy of analysis. Aristotle came to the conclusion that ‘the government of the Carthaginians is oligarchical, but they successfully escape the evils of oligarchy by enriching one portion of the people after another by sending them to their colonies. This is their panacea and the means by which they give stability to the state’ (
Politics
2.8.9).
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