Hannibal's Children

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Hannibal's Children is a 2002 alternate history novel by American writer John Maddox Roberts.^[1] It is concluded by its sequel, The Seven Hills.

Plot summary

The novel opens at the alternate close of the Second Punic War. Hannibal offers terms to the Romans: abandon their city and move north of the Alps, or be destroyed. The Romans, under the dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus, accept the offer and withdraw into Germania, vowing to return. The Carthaginians declare victory and go home.

One chapter and several generations later, the Romans have long since reestablished the Roman Republic. These Romans, largely out of need, have adopted a practice of Cultural Romanization more pronounced than the historical Romans did: large numbers of Germans have been adopted into the Roman society, forming a large proportion of both the legions and the Roman Senate.

A series of auspicious omens prompt the Senate to send a delegation south into

It quickly becomes clear to the Romans that generations of constant warfare in Germania have strengthened them, whereas the Carthaginians have grown soft in the absence of real opposition. The Republic quickly begins playing the Carthaginians off against the Egyptians, the only other serious power in the Mediterranean, reclaiming Latium in the process.

At the close of the novel, the Egyptian army, led by Scipio and armed with fearsome weapons from the School of Archimedes from the Library of Alexandria, outlasts the Carthaginian force, which hurriedly retreats upon hearing the news of the Roman reconquest of Italy. The four Roman legions led by Norbanus, technically Carthaginian auxiliaries, decide to ignore Scipio's offer to join him in Alexandria, and chart their own path to Rome.

Characters

• Marcus Scipio: Leader of Roman Expedition to Carthage and Egypt
• Titus Norbanus: Second in command of Roman Expedition
• Aulus Flaccus: Senator and diplomat, assistant and friend to Marcus Scipio
• Selene II: Queen and Regent of Egypt
• Hamilcar II: Shofet of Carthage
• Princess Zarabel: Sister of Hamilcar, leader of the Cult of Tanit

See also

• The Seven Hills, the sequel to Hannibal's Children
• Delenda Est

References