Who was Hannibal, the flawed but brilliant Carthaginian general? What makes Rome vs Carthage in the third century BC one of the most totemic ancient rivalries of all time? How did Hamilcar, father of Hannibal, restore the fortunes of Carthage following their devastating defeat to the Romans in 264 BC? And, what personal tragedy spurred Hannibal on to seize his destiny by the reins, take command of the Carthaginian army, and at last set out to have his vengeance on Rome? Join Tom and Dominic as they launch into the early life and rise of Hannibal; bane of Rome and master of Carthage, as the famous feud between those two greatest of cities gathers momentum... The Rest Is History Club: Become a member for exclusive bonus content, early access to full series and live show tickets, ad-free listening, our exclusive newsletter, discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, and our members’ chatroom on Discord. Just head to therestishistory.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestishistory. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Did you know that our Sunday Times bestselling book, The Rest Is History Returns, is now out in paperback? From finding out who British history's biggest lad was to tracing the admittedly hazy ancient origins of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's filled cover to cover with more curious historical moments than you can crack a lasso at, plus puzzles and a pub quiz.
MUSIC My reality, he says, is I wake up and go, I haven't done the Hannibal trilogy. He first started talking about this 18 years ago. His desire to make a trilogy about Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian general, one of the greatest wartime generals in history, the man who in 218 BC led a troop of elephants over the Alps to invade Italy. I promised myself I would try to make the Hannibal trilogy.
Part of creating mythology in Riddick and creating worlds like Fast in some bizarre way was preparation for the ultimate task. He will do it, he says. So that's a profile of the actor Vin Diesel, one of your favourite actors, Tom, in Men's Health in 2021. So in that article, Vin Diesel is talking about his great ambition to do a trilogy about the life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general,
And four years on, Diesel has not yet delivered. No, he hasn't. We're still waiting for that Hannibal masterpiece. And why on earth, Tom, when it's such an amazing story, hasn't he done it?
Because it's a story that would involve him taking an army, including 37 elephants, over the Alps, winning three of the most celebrated battles of all time, slaughtering enormous numbers of Romans. Yeah. and bringing Rome almost to her knees. And it is so epic that I imagine the costs would be prohibitive.
And actually, the person who put me on to Vin Diesel's enthusiasm for Hannibal, Marina Hyde, as I rest his entertainment, very wittily commented on this, that to make these films would cost only marginally less than an independent nuclear deterrent. Oh, that is witty. I think she's not exaggerating. But Vin is obviously still dreaming.
That's good, because there's a rival project, I read, that Denzel Washington, who has dabbled in swords and sandals in Gladiator 2, he's ambitious to do a Hannibal epic as well, isn't he? Although there's actually no sign of that coming to the screen either. I don't know.
I think this one may be kind of more in the works. I think it's for Netflix. So it may be coming soon, but I mean, again, no, no sign of it as yet.
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