Hannibal was the son of Hamilcar Barca. He was a Carthaginian who was born twenty two centuries ago. He was actually born in Spain but spent most of his life in Carthage so he is considered a Carthaginian. Hamilcar ruled over a mountainous realm which could support very little crops or people.
This however was his land, called Mount Eryx, in a region near Tyre. Because the land could support so little people the people were constantly in need of food to eat. Hamilcar’s solution was to gather a strong force of mercenaries to raid the adjacent lands and plunder them. So young Hannibal was raised amid camps of soldiers and with an air of military and war about him.
This is undoubtedly how he learned of warcraft and it had a huge impression on him being so young. The mercenaries and soldiers told Hannibal of war and indulged his curiosity when he often roamed the camps in search of answers to his military questions, he was the lord’s son and they had to do so. Since Hannibal spent a lot of time in the camps with a wide variety of soldiers from different cultures and nationalities he picked up on the different languages, beliefs and values of each. Later during Hannibal’s early adolescence the the mediterranean islands and Mount Eryx became a point of interest to the mighty Roman empire. At first they offered peace but eventually demanded that the Cartaginians withdraw from the islands. They had no choice but to give up Corsica and Sardinia as well as Sicily.
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The Cartaginians, needless to say, were not happy and very bad blood began to grow between Carthage and Rome. For the next eight years it was sort of a cold war between the two empires and during the temporary stalemate the Cartaginians secretly explored the forbidding Atlantic ocean as far out as the Canary Islands or perhaps the Azores. They learned a great deal about the northern parts of the Iberian peninsula. At the end of this period Hamilcar started to take much of what is now Spain.
In the beginning of the war against the Celtic blooded inhabitants of the land things went well and over half of Spain was captured. However the natives then suddenly struck with the might of a people losing it’s home and drove Hamilcar, who was Know the commander of the Carthaginian force back almost to the sea. The tide turned once again and Carthage reclaimed one third of the land, but this time at an agonizingly lethargic pace. It was at this time that Hamilcar Barca was killed. Hamilcar and his sons Hannibal and another. were marching to battle (by this time Hannibal was a respected a contributing member of Carthage’s command) when they were ambushed by the Celts.
Hamilcar and his sons managed to escape into a valley and split up there. The Celts followed Hamilcar while his sons escaped. Hamilcar was slain on the banks of a river. It is believed that Hamilcar overconfidence with his recent success and failure to adequately scout ahead brought on the ambush.
Regardless of how it came to pass Hamilcar Barca was dead and as Hannibal informed the officers of the army they elected Hasdrubal the Splendid to lead them. Enraged at the death of so well-loved a leader by what they considered a treacherous move, the Carthaginians leveled the Celts and layed waste to their villages, taking almost the whole peninsula in avery short time. Hannibal however was upset at not being chosen to succeed his father.
