The Story of Hannibal

By Johanna Johnston

The story of the great general of Carthage, whose strategy against the Romans made him a military genius. Suitable for Grade 5-6 readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Muriwai Books
• Release date: Jul 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787206274

Johanna Johnston

JOHANNA JOHNSTON (February 2, 1914 - December 14, 1982) was a renowned children’s author based in the USA. She also wrote scripts for radio during the 1940’s and 50’s, including for the long-running children’s series Let’s Pretend, as well as children’s stories, retellings of myths and children’s history. In addition to her numerous children’s books, she published several biographies, including “The Life, Manners and Travels of Fanny Trollope,” about the mother of the novelist Anthony Trollope, as well as “Mrs. Satan: The Incredible Saga of Victoria C. Woodhull” and “Runaway to Heaven: The Story of Harriet Beecher Stowe.” Her children’s book titles include “The Story of Hannibal,” “The Indians and the Strangers,” “The Story of the Barber of Seville,” and “Great Gravity the Cat.” Miss Johnston died of a stroke in New York in 1982 at the age of 68.

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Text originally published in 1960 under the same title.

© Papamoa Press 2017, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

THE STORY OF HANNIBAL

by

JOHANNA JOHNSTON

ILLUSTRATED BY W. T. MARS

The Story Of Hannibal

HANNIBAL

Was there ever a cause too lost,

Ever a cause that was lost too long,

Or that showed with the lapse of time too vain

For the generous tears of youth and song?

ROBERT FROST

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 7

THE STORY OF HANNIBAL 8

BASIC HISTORICAL SOURCES FOR THIS BOOK 9

THE GOAL 11

SPAIN 20

ROME CHOOSES 27

TO THE ALPS 36

LIGHTNING IN ITALY 45

ALL SORTS OF SURPRISES 55

CANNAE 61

HANNIBAL’S WAY 67

AND SO TO ZAMA 73

UNDESTROYED 84

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 89

THE STORY OF HANNIBAL

BASIC HISTORICAL SOURCES FOR THIS BOOK

The Histories of Polybius

Roman History by Titus Livius

The History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen

The poem HANNIBAL FROM West-Running Brook by Robert Frost.

THE GOAL

His name was Hannibal, and he fought the Romans. And the world remembers that he led an army over the Alps to meet them, an army that included many elephants. Armies no longer fight with elephants, and to march them over such mountains is stranger still. So those elephants in the Alps remain in men’s minds, a wonder and a mystery.

But there is more to Hannibal’s story than that. Above all else, there is the man himself: Hannibal, whose surname was Barca, meaning lightning!

He was a man of lightning. But at the same time, he was the opposite of lightning too, steadfast and enduring, and so dedicated to one goal that defeat itself could not shake nor stop him.

His story begins when he was very young, for that was when the goal was fixed. That was when he first fell in love with the city where he had been born and vowed to serve that city all his life.

His city was Carthage. It has been gone now for over two thousand years. But it stood then, in the second century B.C., when Hannibal lived, on the north coast of Africa, very near to where the city of Tunis stands now.

Hannibal was not quite six when he first really saw Carthage. From the time he was a baby he had been with his father, Hamilcar, in Hamilcar’s mountain army camp in Sicily. Then, in 241 B.C., the war in Sicily was ended with a truce, and the little boy and his father and all the army came home.

And suddenly, there it was, the city which had just been a name to Hannibal until then. He saw it from the deck of his father’s swift trireme as the ship swept toward it, across the gulf of Tunis. He saw its many-storied buildings rising, white and gleaming, up its central hill. He saw glass sparkling, banners and bright hangings flashing in the sun, and a dazzling fleet riding at anchor in the harbor.

To the little boy on shipboard it was like a dream, the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

He turned a shining face to his father standing beside him. And he saw his father’s face still dark and brooding, as it had been ever since they left Sicily. His father frowned at the beautiful vision ahead, and Hannibal heard him speaking as if to himself, Safe now—yes. Still free too. But for how long—how long?

So it was that Hannibal learned fear for Carthage at almost the same moment that he first saw her beauty. Uneasily he touched his father’s hand. Father, what is it? Isn’t the war over?

Hamilcar turned and stared down at the little boy. No, he said. The war is not over, though I have no doubt the Council thinks it is. The war will never be over—till Rome is content to stay on her side of the sea and leave us in freedom on ours. And when that day will come—who knows?

The war was not over. The little boy looked ahead at the city, so close now he could see people moving about on the water front, and he felt a shiver go through him. The Roman enemies they had left behind in Sicily were not left behind to stay. Any day they might follow and threaten all this beauty.

Come, said his father suddenly. "No more of that now. One day when Carthage has grown

Reviews for The Story of Hannibal

[thomas rea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I always wondered about the story of Hannibal so this short story made it very clear and informative