Tom Holland

Oh, great banter.

But in a sense, Scipio didn't quite know how to reply to it because he felt that Hannibal had had the better of him in that exchange.

Are they speaking in Greek?

They would presumably have been speaking in Greek, yes.

When they met before Zama, they had interpreters because they didn't want to leave open any chance of their communications being mistaken.

But I guess at this point they were speaking in Greek.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, well, so it is said, um,

But if he is actually there, and it's much debated by ancient historians, he's not at the big shootout, which takes place at a place called Magnesia, where the Seleucids are comprehensively defeated.

Lucius Scipio is the victor.

And if Scipio Africanus hadn't been present, neither was Hannibal.

So by this stage, both the old warhorses are fading into the background.

But even so, the Romans remain paranoid about the mischief that Hannibal might get up to.

And so

Part of the terms that Lucius imposes on his defeated foe is that Hannibal has to be surrendered into Roman hands.

Antiochus has to quit Europe for good.

He has to withdraw inland from the Aegean seaboard, inevitably has to pay a massive indemnity, but

The point is made, we are not going to allow you to have Hannibal.

And there's a sense, perhaps, that that is, for the Romans, although it might seem a minor demand, is in fact the key one.