The Forgotten Brother

Was the Carthaginian Commander at the Battle Of Cissa (Spain, 218 BC) Hanno, brother of Hannibal?

Some doubt has arisen concerning the identity of the Carthaginian commander at this battle even though is named by Livy as Hanno (The War With Hannibal, XXI .23,Penguin Classic p46).

But was he Hanno, the brother of Hannibal Barca? Hanno was not an uncommon Carthaginian name.

Some doubt has also been expressed over the number of brothers Hannibal had at all. Livy only explicitly identifies two men as Hannibal’s brothers: Hasdrubal and Mago.

Hasdrubal is identified by Livy as being Hannibal’s brother left in charge of southern Spain at the start of the 2nd Punic War (The War With Hannibal, XXI 22,Penguin Classic p45). Mago is also identified explicitly as Hannibal’s brother fighting at both the battle of the Trebia (Livy XXI .54 p80) and at Cannae(Livy XXII.46, p146).

While named by Livy at XXI.23, however, the Hanno in charge of Spain north of the Ebro, the CinC at the Battle of Cissa, was not explicitly identified by Livy as being Hannibal’s brother. Livy goes on to state, moreover, that this Hanno was captured after his defeat at Cissa along with the “heavy baggage” left by the rest of Hannibal’s army before they marched over the Pyrenees.

If this was Hannibal’s brother who was defeated and captured, it would seem to be at odds with Livy’s later report that “Hanno, son of Hamilcar” was killed fighting against Scipio in Africa in 204 BC, during the final phases of the war (LivyXXIX.34, pp610-12). Hamilcar, of course, was Hannibal’s father. Was then, the commander at Cissa another Hanno altogether?

Polybius says not. He makes no bones about it, saying Hannibal “left Hanno in command of the whole territory north of the Ebro and placed the Bargusii under his brother’s absolute rule…..He detached from his army a contingent of 10,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry to be commanded by Hanno and deposited with him all the heavy baggage of the expeditionary force.” (The Rise of the Roman Empire, Polybius, III.35, Penguin Classic, p211).

There would seem to be little doubt that Polybius is talking about the same man as Livy was – and names him as Hannibal’s brother.

The fact that Livy names the Carthaginian commander north of the Ebro at all supports the view that he was, in fact, Hannibal’s brother. Livy also reports that Hannibal sent sizeable contingents of troops to Sicily and Africa to defend against possible Roman thrusts. But he does not name their commanders. The fact that he does name the commander north of the Ebro indicates that the man had some particular significance to other parts of the story; that he was Hannibal’s brother.

So if this Hanno was the son of Hamilcar, how can he have been captured by the Romans in 218 BC and yet killed fighting against them in 204 BC?

The following possibilities present themselves:

1.      Perhaps Livy was mistaken and the Carthaginian commander was not captured after the Battle of Cissa at all. It would certainly not be the only time that Livy exaggerated Roman claims of success. Livy was a Roman, after all.

2.       Perhaps Hanno was captured and later ransomed. The ransoming of prisoners was common in this period – Hannibal offered to release his Roman prisoners after Cannae for a ransom, in fact (only to be turned down) (Livy XXII.58,p158).

The fact that the Battle of Cissa occurred in the early stages of the war makes the second possibility more likely than it may seem to be at first glance. Hannibal had not yet set foot on the Italian Peninsula. He was not, as yet, a figure that frightened Roman children into behaving. The Romans may not have been aware of the significance their prisoner would later acquire.

This supposition is further supported by the absence of any account of Hanno’s treatment after capture. Normally, a Roman prisoner of great significance could look forward to being given a parade through Rome and then being strangled on the steps of the Rostrum.

No record of such events exists in Hanno’s case, supporting the notion that either the Romans didn’t capture him at all or, if they did, they didn’t realize what they had and, one way or another, he got away from them.

One thing can be said, however: on the balance of probabilities, the commander of the Carthaginian army at the Battle of Cissa was Hanno, son of Hamilcar and brother of Hannibal.