Hannibal Barca and Scipio Africanus 101: A Short(-ish) Primer

So I ended up writing a 2k primer on Hannibal Barca and Scipio Africanus yesterday, ending at about midnight last night, which is why it only occurs to me now to share it with y'all. Because, you know, I have a lot about feelings about these two? And now you can have context!

(Because not everyone is as familiar with generals from the Second Punic War as you are, dhampyresa. I mean, seriously. It probably says a lot about me that the only thing I had to look up for this was troop numbers at Trebbia.)


( I ship it so very hard, btw )

So yeah, that's the story of Hannibal Barca and Scipio Africanus.

I skipped a lot of stuff, like the thing with the oxen and did you see how much I glossed over Ilipa? Ilipa! I love Ilipa! It's my favourite after Cannae. Plus, I, like, gave zero background on the political landscape of Rome and/or Carthage at the times and didn't talk at all about strategies or troop movements or or or! This is very abridged, but hopefully still gets to the core of the story.

(Some follow-up questions)

But hey! Have some links for sticking with me all this time:
A post where I talk about why I ship them
A movie where Alexander Siddig is Hannibal
Some cartoons explaining the Punic Wars
A song about Hannibal
One of my favourite poems which takes place immediately before Trebbia

Also! Have I mentionned yet that the meeting at Ephesus has been described as "Hannibal discreetly courting Scipio? Because it was.

So there you go, then.

An update + Fandom Snowflake 10

I did go to the Medieval Morocco exhibit on Sunday, even though it required getting up early to be able to do it and do the rest of the things I had to do that day, but it was super worth it!

I'd never seen the Tuileries so empty (or the Louvre, either) or so early and you know, I still think the Tuileries at dusk are the best Tuileries, but the Tuileries in early morning light is also pretty great. The way the city is structured means that in morning the sun shines out from behind the Pyramid, which is beuatiful, but at sunset the light spills down the Champs-Elisées and past the Obélisque and has this gorgeous golden colour as though the world is born anew like a phoenix and I understand, finally, why they call Paris the City of Light.

Doing the whole exhibit (and I do mean the whole exhibit: reading all the cards for all the items and listening to all the audioguide) took about 2 hours and was a great experience. It's a shame we weren't allowed to take pictures, because there are SO MANY pictures I wanted to share. It was all so so fascinating and I'm really glad I went.

Then I was going to go the Phoenician and Punic Antiquities in the Oriental Antiquities wing and go right into Egyptian Antiquities, but I got lost (because they'd closed the Phoenician rooms) and ended p seeing the Code of Hammurabi.

And then I went through a door and left Mesopotamia for "French Sculpture of the 18th and 19th century", because that makes perfect sense. This was the point where I gave up trying to understand how this museum is arranged and admitted that I was lost.

So I did what I aways do when I'm lost in the Louvre: find the Winged Victory of Samothrace and reorient from there. Since I'd ran out of time though, that meant, this times, exiting.

Some pictures of the permanent exhibit, under the cut.( Six pictures )

Day 10

Stretch yourself a little and try something new. Go play in a new fandom or with a new pairing. Try working in a new medium. Or check out some fanworks that are new to you. (The recs from Day 1 might be a good place to start!) Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.


I'm going to count the Hannibal Barca/Scipio Africanus primer for this one, because I've never posted a primer before.

(And if that doesn't count, I am also watching HBo's Rome, which is a new fandom to me AND Agent Carter, which is a new fandom for everybody! I've only seen up to episode 2 of each, though.)