Hannibal (2006 TV Movie)
6/10
Factually inaccurate
21 February 2010
Please give citations for your claims - for example, that Scipio declared that Hannibal become governor of Carthage - Hannibal became Shophete after the Romans had left, not because of them. Carthage signed for peace but did not give up their brilliant general, but Rome's wrath was so much that he was eventually forced to flee the city.

You also claim that Hannibal honoured his agreement with Scipio and so did not return to Carthage to lead them in battle. I've found no such evidence of this, it was well known that he attempted to convince other rulers around the Mediterranean (such as Antiochus III) to make war with Rome. This behaviour is not in line with someone who agreed to never make war on Rome again.

Thirdly, you say that Scipio is the greater general of the two - this is very much debatable. Did he beat Hannibal at Zama? Yes, he did, but there were many reasons for this and his supposed higher quality as a general is not one of them. Leaving these reasons aside, Scipio was so successful because he emulated Hannibal, not because he came up with brilliant strategies of his own. He turned Hannibal's own tactics against him and quite brilliantly, but the point remains that they were not his tactics to begin with.

Finally, the film does flutter about Scipio's role in Roman politics - in real life, Scipio lost favour with the senate due to increasing pressure from his political enemies, and his popularity with the people, and dropped out of the public limelight entirely. It was not due to some honourable statement of his.
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