The achievements of Hannibal and his brilliant tactics paved the road for future generals to
look at his tactics and use them. Sadly, no less than seven accounts of Hannibal's
operations are said to have been written during his lifetime or very soon afterwards. Two
of them by Greeks who accompanied him on his march from Spain and two others were
Romans who fought against him. The two main historians at odd with Hannibal's route
are Polybius and Livy. Polybius was a Greek historian and wrote about Hannibal's journey
70 years after the event. Livy was a Roman historian and wrote about Hannibal's journey
120 years after the event. One of the disagreements of Hannibal's march to Rome
centered around the region of the Rhone valley. Historians have argued which route
Hannibal took as his army was headed to the Alps. I will analyze in this paper the different
accounts of the historians and the authors and I will create my own conclusion on which
The route from Cartagena to the Rhone is hardly disputed, but northwards of
Avignon there is a difference of opinions by many historians. The main point of the issue
is the place where Hannibal turned eastwards from the Rhone and began the last stage of
his march towards Italy. Some authorities believe that the turning point was at the place
where the river Drome flows into the Rhone, and also the river Aygues between
Montelimar and Valence. Others believe that he turned off much farther north than this,
along the valley of the Isere which enters the Rhone north of Valence.
The author Cottrell, believed with the historians who felt it was the Drome that
Hannibal followed. One of his main reasons why he believes this route is because in 1777,
Barthelemy Daillan was digging in his cellar and found the skeleton of an elephant. With it
was a copper medallion, but he used it as an ornament on his shovel. It is now lost. I...