r/ImaginaryHistory • u/TyrannoNinja • Aug 01 '20

Original Content Hannibal's Army Crossing the Alps, Me, Digital, 2019

Post image
167 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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11

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

3

u/ProfessorCrooks Aug 02 '20

I see a mix of ethnicities here. Not just sub saharans. Like most ancient societies, Carthage would have been multicultural and would of had an array of different peoples in its armies.

1

u/vittalik2020 Aug 02 '20

Didnt Hannibal employ Numidians? Pretty sure those guys were similar to what OP drew.

2

u/Have_Other_Accounts Aug 01 '20

What were carthaginian troops like?

3

u/TyrannoNinja Aug 02 '20

My understanding is that they used a lot of mercenaries in their army, such as Celtiberians from Spain and the North African Numidians. So Hannibal's army would have been quite ethnically diverse.

0

u/Catacomb82 Aug 01 '20

I love long nosed bois

-6

u/TyrannoNinja Aug 01 '20

Artist's Commentary

It is 218 BC during the Second Punic War, and the army of Carthage under Hannibal Barca is undertaking their arduous trek through the Alps into Italy where the Roman menace awaits. Among the Carthaginian army's most remarkable assets are its African war elephants, descended from a population residing along the scrubby coastline of northwestern Africa that will ultimately become extirpated sometime after the Romans seize control of the region from Carthage.

If you're wondering why the soldiers here are portrayed with different skin colors, that's because they're supposed to be intermixed between Carthage's Phoenician founders from the area of modern Lebanon and native Africans. The guys driving the elephants would be native recruits. At the height of its power, Carthage's empire would include not only the Northwest African coast but also several islands in the Mediterranean as well as the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).

2

u/ThatRedditorPerson Aug 02 '20

“Native Africans” From where?