🏔️ Hannibal Crossing the Alps | 218 BC What you’re seeing: Hannibal’s column on a narrow Alpine path, c. 218 BC. The camera follows a commander standing in for Hannibal on an icy ledge, with troops and a baggage animal ahead and a deep river valley dropping toward the Po and the plains of northern Italy. How did Hannibal get here? After losing the First Punic War, Carthage rebuilt in Spain. Hannibal attacked the Roman-allied city of Saguntum (Valencia, Spain), then marched overland through Spain and southern Gaul toward Alpine passes that opened straight into Italy. How accurate is this? Polybius and Livy (a Greek historian who spoke to veterans, and a later Roman historian under Augustus) describe high, snow-covered passes with sheer drops, narrow paths and exhausted men and animals. The exact route is debated, but a cliff on one side and a long fall on the other matches their descriptions of the most dangerous stretches. Clothes and troops: We do not know his exact appearance, b...