Historical story

Hannibal and the Poisonous Snakes

Hannibal's Descent with Elephants; the leader, once, managed to win a battle also thanks to the use of snakes

Hannibal's well-deserved fame as a great leader, in addition to the indisputable skills of a strategist, it is also due to the bizarre and unscrupulous use that the Carthaginian made of animals in battle , suffice it to mention the famous case of elephants used against the Romans, a page of history that over the centuries has even assumed legendary connotations (in photo ).

In this post I refer instead to a lesser known but equally interesting episode, taken from a story by the Latin writer Cornelio Nepote , according to which, in 184 BC, in view of the naval battle against the city of Pergamum (Turkey) and his allies, the brilliant Hannibal, who was clearly outnumbered, "ordered that as many live poisonous snakes as possible be taken and that these be thrown into earthenware pots" .

These vessels, once filled with dangerous reptiles, were then thrown against enemy ships, where they first sowed surprise and then terror, so much so that Hannibal, in the end, won.