Tom Holland

But however bad it was, what mattered was that the Romans, in the wake of Hannibal's war, remembered it as complete devastation.

So to quote Simon Hornblower on this, I mean, he's absolutely right.

The trauma of Hannibal's lengthy presence, however great or small, the actual damage he wrought will not have been easily forgotten.

To that extent, Hannibal's dream may have been a true prophecy.

Perceptions are a kind of reality.

I mean, we know that throughout history.

Yeah, I mean, I think if you think about how the British viewed the Germans in the wake of the First World War and even more the Second World War, there is something of that, the way that the Romans view the Carthaginians.

And people who've listened to this series may well feel that this is a bit rich because...

The Romans as well have been known to display cruelty and deceit and treachery and so on.

But that doesn't really matter because the Romans felt what they felt.

And this wasn't just a kind of widespread loathing of the Carthaginians, but something more, a kind of biding fear.

that was ultimately irrational.

Yeah, completely smashed.

It is so clear that the days of Carthage as a great power...

are finished because the terms that the Romans had imposed on Carthage in the wake of the defeat of Hannibal had been intended to cripple her forever.

So just to remind listeners of what those terms were, a devastating indemnity, payable in installments over the course of 50 years, designed to kneecap Carthage's economy.

The loss of all her overseas territories.

Carthage had ruled a great empire, you know, Sicily, Spain, whatever, all gone.

Once she had been the greatest naval power in the Western Mediterranean, her fleet is now limited to 10 warships.

And her foreign policy is directly under the control of Rome, which means that she cannot go to war without Roman permission.