Hannibal at the Gates On Hannibal's Trail


Hannibal at the Gates

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We're on a ten-week journey, cycling 3,500 kilometres

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on the trail of the great Carthaginian warrior, Hannibal.

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Over 2,000 years ago, Hannibal marched his army

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from the south of Spain,

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across the Alps, and into Italy.

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He launched a spectacular assault on the heart of Roman power.

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Hannibal's brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, were his generals.

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I'm Danny Wood. I'm a journalist.

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And, like Hannibal, I'm travelling with my brothers -

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Ben, a computer expert, and Sam, an archaeologist.

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Hannibal marched with over 100,000 soldiers armed with swords, spears

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and 37 elephants.

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We're armed with three bikes, three tents and a bike cam.

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We've been on the road six weeks and we've cycled 2,700 kilometres

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up Spain's east coast, through France, across the Alps, and into Italy.

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We are now on the final leg of our journey,

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following Hannibal's trail all the way to the gates of Rome.

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Day 43 of our journey.

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Cannae, southern Italy.

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Here in August 216 BC, Hannibal annihilated the Roman army.

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Everybody was expecting him to march on Rome,

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but at this crucial moment, the great commander hesitated.

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Hannibal's master of cavalry Maharbal, was growing impatient.

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He urged him to build on his triumph and take the city of Rome.

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Maharbal said that, within just five days, Hannibal could be feasting

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at the capital, Rome's great centre of power.

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But Hannibal said he needed time to reflect.

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Maharbal got angry and replied, "You know how to win a battle, Hannibal,

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"but you don't know how to win the war."

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Hannibal finally decided not to march straight on to Rome.

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Historians through the ages have tried to explain this decision.

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First of all, Rome is a long way from Cannae.

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For us, it would take three long days of cycling.

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For an army, it would be more like a three-week march, and Hannibal knew the value of surprise.

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Some historians have calculated that, in order to carry enough food

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to sustain his army on such a long march,

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Hannibal would have needed something like half a million pack horses.

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Even if he'd made it to Rome, he knew it was one of the best defended cities in the world.

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His army just wasn't large enough to force its way

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through the city walls,

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and Hannibal knew the Romans wouldn't surrender.

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This would be a fight to the death.

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Instead of marching on Rome, Hannibal terrorised the whole of southern Italy.

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For the next four years, he conquered new territories.

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And the great conflict between Carthage and Rome spread to Sicily, Sardinia and Spain.

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Then, King Philip of Macedonia, now part of Greece,

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joined Carthage in an alliance against the Romans.

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This was turning into the first war in history that engulfed the known world.

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After Cannae, Hannibal took Capua, the second most powerful city

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in the whole of the Italian peninsula.

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But he was desperate for reinforcements and supplies

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from his brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, who were now back in Carthage and Spain.

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For that, he needed a harbour.

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Hannibal had his eye on Naples.

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He attacked the city three times, and every time he was driven back by the Neapolitans.

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After the third attempt, he turned to the gods for help.

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Lake Avernus, one of the most sacred places of the ancient world.

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According to Greek mythology, this is the entrance to the underworld.

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Hannibal had been educated by a Greek tutor so he was familiar

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with the rituals described by Homer.

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"With my drawn blade, I dig the votive pit.

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"And pour libations upon it to the unnumbered dead.

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"Milk...

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"..and honey.

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"Then sweet wine...

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"Last, clear water."

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"And I scatter barley down,

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"then I address the blood of breathless dead."

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That's the last of the offerings, so I guess we have to think of what we want to ask the gods for.

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I think we should thank the gods.

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-We haven't had a serious accident the whole time we've been riding.

-True.

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And perhaps ask them to keep us safe until the end.

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Yeah, that's a good idea.

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Soon after making his offering to the gods,

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Hannibal's prayers for a harbour seemed to be answered

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when some noblemen from the city of Tarentum came looking for him.

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Tarentum, now called Taranto was the largest and richest port in the deep south of Italy.

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And the Tarantines wanted to break free from Roman domination.

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They offered to help Hannibal liberate their city.

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So after days are riding through olive groves

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and vineyards, we arrived at a very busy city of Taranto,

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apparently one of the most polluted cities in southern Italy.

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Tons of factories and belching chimney stacks,

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and a lot of traffic too.

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In Hannibal's time, Tarentum was defended by strong city walls.

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All that remains from those days is the maze of narrow streets in the old town.

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Hannibal was marching on Taranto, but this time there would be no need to lay siege.

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The Tarantines would help him break into the city to liberate it from the Romans.

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There were two stages to the scheme.

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It's the story of Hannibal's careful planning combined with trickery and deception.

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Hannibal approached the city from the east in darkness,

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and at midnight he lit a fire outside the city walls.

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This was the signal for the Tarantine collaborators

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to kill the Roman sentries at one of the gates.

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Hannibal and his men swarmed into the city.

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Another Tarantine, who left the city every day to go hunting,

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turned up at a different gate along with 30 Carthaginian troops.

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The Roman guards recognised his whistle and opened the gates as usual.

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In he came, along with Hannibal's men, who slaughtered the sentries.

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Hannibal quickly took the town, killing anyone who resisted.

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But many of the Roman soldiers retreated to the citadel,

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a fortress that controlled the sole access channel to the harbour.

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Hannibal's failure to capture the citadel meant that the port of Tarentum was still closed to him.

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Even though he'd taken the city, he still had no major port

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to bring in reinforcements from Carthage and finish off Rome.

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After 54 days on the road, we're finally making our triumphal entry into Rome.

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The city of Hannibal's dreams.

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We've only just arrived but we've already come face-to-face with the enemy.

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-Are people called Hannibal in Rome?

-There are a lot of Caesar but not any Hannibal.

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-Was Caesar as good as Hannibal?

-No, as a general.

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I prefer Caesar because he's my boss!

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So are you still afraid of Hannibal?

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We're here to defend Rome.

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-He can come but...

-You're prepared.

-Yeah, sure!

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THEY CHANT

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We're on our way to the Palazzo del Quirinale,

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the official residence of the Italian president.

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But we've come to meet someone much more important than the President of Italy.

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This is one of the few images of Hannibal.

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Nobody knows for sure exactly when the bust was made,

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it was probably in the 16th century so it's not a real likeness.

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But it's the closest we'll ever get to meeting Hannibal face-to-face.

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-That's not how I imagined him really.

-Yeah, it's true.

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-He's got a bit of a weak chin.

-Did you imagine him looking like you?!

-Well...

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He seems quite content to be here.

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This is the man who once posed a greater threat to Rome

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than any other enemy during its whole history.

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Over 2,000 years later, Hannibal has finally made his way to the heart of Roman power.

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But Hannibal was still only dreaming of marching into the Roman capital.

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In 211 BC, Hannibal set up camp just outside the walls of Rome.

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Inside the city, there was chaos.

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People were in a frenzy of panic.

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It's said that to mock the Romans' impotence,

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Hannibal hurled a javelin into one of the gates to the city.

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But Livy assures us that the Romans didn't refuse to fight.

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No battle took place.

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But only because the gods sent violent hailstorms that went on for two days.

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Deeply troubled by this omen, Hannibal decided to retreat from Rome.

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We're heading out of Rome on the Via Appia and it's starting to rain.

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This ancient road is all cobblestone so it's getting slippery.

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So we're getting out of Rome as quick as we can.

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It's a bit like Hannibal's sign from the gods, when he had violent hailstorms and he retreated.

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By now the Romans' power and influence in the world was growing.

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They were beginning to test their Imperial muscles in Sardinia, Sicily and Spain.

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Only Carthage stood in their way.

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But in 210 BC, Carthage lost the war for Sicily and Sardinia to the Romans

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and within five years, Philip of Macedon had signed a peace treaty with Rome.

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The odds were turning against Hannibal.

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The Roman advances in Spain were the hardest blow for Hannibal.

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Even his home city, Cartagena,

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the city he set out from on his long march to Rome, fell to the Romans.

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The rest of Spain soon followed.

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Hannibal was also losing ground in Italy, first Capua then Taranto.

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He now needed reinforcements simply to hold his position.

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His brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, were coming to the rescue.

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In 207 BC, Hasdrubal, marched from Spain.

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When he arrived in Italy, he sent despatches telling Hannibal

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to meet him at an agreed point on the River Metaurus in central Italy.

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But Hasdrubal's messages were intercepted by the enemy.

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And instead of Hannibal, the Roman army was waiting.

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Trapped alongside a river, the situation for Hasdrubal's Carthaginians was hopeless

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but they fought a desperate battle.

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When he could see that all was lost,

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Hasdrubal turned his horse towards the Romans and rode into them, to die in battle.

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Some nights later, a Roman horseman galloped up to Hannibal's camp.

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He threw something in that landed with a thud.

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When Hannibal saw it he said, "This is the fate of Carthage".

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It was Hasdrubal's severed head.

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Two years later, Hannibal's youngest brother, Mago, arrived with reinforcements in northern Italy.

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He too was hunted down by the Romans and wounded in battle.

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He managed to escape in a boat to Carthage, but died before reaching home.

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Isolated, and with a dwindling army, Hannibal was running out of options.

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He retreated to Calabria, the most southern region of mainland Italy.

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He became almost a prisoner here.

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And by 203 BC, 14 years after Hannibal had first invaded Italy,

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the Romans had finally found a military commander to match

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the legendary Carthaginian general...

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Scipio the Younger.

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Scipio had been studying Hannibal's strategy for many years.

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As a young man, he'd witnessed Hannibal winning a victory against his own father.

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He'd also witnessed the carnage at Cannae.

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Now he was heading for the capital of the Carthaginian empire,

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the city of Carthage in northern Africa.

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Scipio landed in Africa with a big army -

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his aim, to achieve exactly what Hannibal had failed to do in Italy.

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To defeat the enemy on their own turf.

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Now Hannibal's recalled to Carthage to defend the homeland.

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We've been in Italy for five weeks and we're now following Hannibal's

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trail across the Mediterranean to Tunis, formerly Carthage.

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It must have been a terrible homecoming for Hannibal.

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Hannibal was on campaign in Italy for 15 years, continuously waging war.

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He was obviously an amazing motivator and brilliant with his men.

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His sense of disappointment and the failure of his ambition must have been just enormous.

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In the autumn of 203 BC, Hannibal arrived in northern Africa.

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He'd left when he was just nine years old.

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It must have seemed like an alien place.

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Carthage is now buried beneath modern day Tunis.

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But after 2,000 years, the legend of Hannibal lives on.

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One of the TV stations is called Hannibal TV and Hannibal's face is even on the currency.

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-Do you know Hannibal?

-Hannibal, yes.

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Yes.

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Hannibal! Coffee mug.

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A few hours in the souk and we already feel like locals.

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Well, almost!

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It's beautiful weather, perfect for cycling.

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Sunny and a cool breeze.

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And every Tunisian we've come across has been happy and friendly,

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so we're hoping that will continue.

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It was time for the two great rivals, Hannibal and Scipio,

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to face each other in battle.

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The armies met at a place called Zama, in a region today known as the Tell.

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Zama is about 150 kilometres south-west from Tunis,

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a very long day's ride by a bike, but a good six-day march for an army from Carthage.

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Hannibal sent scouts to spy on the Roman army.

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They were captured.

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But instead of killing them, Scipio proudly showed them all around his camp.

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He wanted them to report every last detail of his mighty army to their leader.

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Hannibal was curious about the young general.

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When his scouts reported back he decided to arrange a meeting with Scipio.

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He was 13 years younger than Hannibal but he'd also

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won some great victories and Hannibal respected him.

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When they met for the first time, it's said that mutual admiration

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struck them dumb for almost a minute.

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They just looked at each other in silence.

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Hannibal spoke first.

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He offered peace terms to spare both their armies bloodshed but Scipio refused.

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He was ready to test himself in battle against the great Hannibal,

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the legend who'd defeated every Roman general, including Scipio's own father.

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The next day, battle commenced.

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Scipio had formed a mirror image of Hannibal's legendary battle formation -

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infantry at the centre flanked by cavalry on each side.

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Hannibal had 50,000 men - almost twice as many as Scipio.

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And while Scipio had stronger cavalry, Hannibal had 80 warrior elephants.

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Hannibal made the first move.

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He attempted to break the Roman lines with a terrifying elephant charge.

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They thundered down on the Roman infantry.

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But Scipio had trained his men well.

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As the elephants approached, they opened lanes in their ranks

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to let them thunder into great valleys of death.

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Some were killed under a deadly hail of javelins,

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but most turned and stampeded back, crushing Hannibal's own cavalry underfoot.

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Now the infantry clashed and for a time,

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the contest seemed evenly matched, but Scipio was using Hannibal's own trademark tactics against him.

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His cavalry surprised the Carthaginians with a pincer movement from the rear.

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Hannibal's men were surrounded and slaughtered.

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At the end of the day, the Romans had lost barely 2,000 men.

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On Hannibal's side, 20,000 lay dead or dying.

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As many again were taken prisoner.

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Scipio was triumphant. The pupil had eclipsed the master.

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After the slaughter at Zama, Hannibal returned to Carthage, where our journey will end.

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Now all we've got to do is survive our last 40km back to Tunis,

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which is turning into a bit of a challenge.

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PHONE RINGS

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Allo...

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Bonjour... Au revoir.

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For Hannibal and Carthage, the 17-year war with Rome was over.

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Historians call it Hannibal's War.

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It was the closest Rome had come to destruction.

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If Hannibal had won, Rome might be now only a half remembered city-state.

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No Caesars, no empire.

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But in the end, it was Hannibal's civilisation in Carthage that would be obliterated.

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On the outskirts of Tunis are the last remains of the great city of Carthage.

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But these aren't the ruins of the city where Hannibal walked.

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This was the Roman city built on its ashes.

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As for Hannibal, he never gave up.

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He fled Carthage and settled in a place called Bithynia in modern-day Turkey.

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He went on trying to raise an even mightier army to one day have his revenge on Rome.

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Many years later, in 183 BC, the Romans finally hunted him down and surrounded his home.

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Rather than allow himself to be captured, Hannibal committed suicide by taking poison.

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He was 65 years old.

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The Greek historian Plutarch gives us Hannibal's dying words:

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"Let us now put an end to the life that has caused the Romans so much anxiety."

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After 71 days, 3,500 kilometres, 23 punctures,

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more campsites than we'd care to remember,

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our journey is coming to an end in the old harbour of Carthage.

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It's amazing, I can't believe we've reached the end of our journey.

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We've been looking at this place on maps for so long.

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And Cartagena seems like ten years ago, like a lifetime we've been riding.

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Part of me wants to keep riding, but a bigger part of me wants to lay in bed for the next week.

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-It'll be nice to get home, see everyone and not get the bike out for a few months.

-I agree.

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Let's go!

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