Howdy everyone! Thanks for taking the time to open this!
Anyways, I understand that Hannibal Barca, his brothers, and a couple others ran the military show for Ancient Carthage during the Second Punic War, but who were the Shophets (Judgets, like Roman Consul I guess?) who ruled over Carthage during the Second Punic War?
I've done a lot of research (Internet based mainly) on this subject and find really not that much at all on actual names of these rulers.
Additional Question: Do we know of any individual names of Carthaginian bureaucrats and aristocrats (Maybe even families?) who were against the War, or at least Hannibal himself? I ask this because I also understand that Hannibal's ability to wage his Italian campaign precarious due to the Carthaginian bureaucracy that refused state-funded reinforcements (Meaning that the nation of Carthage was rather apathetic to helping Hannibal and he had to rely on his own family and familial allies to fund him and his other generals)
I'm very sorry if these questions don't seem to make sense because this seemed to be the only way I could think of to word them!
(Last question I swear. Are there any books in existence that would allow me to get a better understanding of the whole Carthaginian side of the war, maybe a well-researched historical fiction novel focusing on Hannibal & Co, or is there an academic paper of sorts?)
Hey man! Ancient Carthage is actually a pet interest of mine, so I may be able to answer a few of your questions. First, the only named noble that I know of in Carthage that opposed Hannibal Barca was "Hanno the Great" (the second of this name in history), and from what I understand, it was his interventions in Carthage that prevented Hannibal's reinforcement. He argued against the first Punic War (which brought him into conflict with Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal's father), and followed the same suit ~30 years later in opposing Hannibal. The Carthaginians were ruled by two annually elected suffets from wealthy families, with their power checked by some sort of supreme council (possibly a senate), and another ruling body called the council of 104. As for the individual names, I'd imagine not many exist thanks to Roman censureship and active destruction of Carthaginian records following the end of the 3rd Punic War. For books of historical fiction, I'd highly recommend David Anthony Durham's "Pride of Carthage". It's intensely readable and gives a reasonably researched account of what Hannibal may have been like and faced in his wars against the Republic. Hopefully this has answered some of your questions! I actually genuinely enjoy talking about this kind of stuff, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask away.
Hello there!
The suffetes (špṭm in Punic) did hold a somewhat similar role as the Roman consuls, though they did not lead armies. Two were elected annually (perhaps by the People's Assembly), and they served concurrently. But for the period in question, we know of only one suffete by name: a certain Bomilcar, whose son Hanno, according to Appian, was Hannibal's nephew. The conventional view is that Hamilcar Barca had married off one of his daughters to Bomilcar; thus Bomilcar was Hannibal's brother-in-law. Whether Bomilcar remained a suffete throughout the Second Punic War is unknown.
Typically, the suffetes shared power with the senators, who were responsible for legislation and foreign affairs. Both groups belonged to the same social class and would presumably have voted in their own interests. However, the Carthaginian constitution had a particular idiosyncrasy, as Aristotle observed: "The suffetes and the senators, if they are both in agreement, can decide whether or not they will submit any proposal to the [popular] assembly; but if they are not in agreement about a submission or non-submission, the assembly can discuss the matter. Moreover, when the suffetes and the senators submit a proposal, the assembly is not restricted to hearing and ratifying the proposal of the rulers, but rather it has the power of judgement, and any member of the assembly who wishes may speak in opposition." In other words, legislative powers automatically fell to the People's Assembly in the event that the suffetes and senators reached deadlock on the issue. Because our sources consistently emphasize that the Barcids derived its influence from the People, I suspect that alliances with suffetes like Bomilcar essentially gave Hannibal a roundabout way to veto the Senate--at least early on. This support evidently didn't last.
The Barcids also faced resistance from Hanno (so-called "the Great") and his supporters. The historian Livy sometimes depicts Hanno as the only person in the Senate who opposed Hannibal, but the details suggest otherwise. Livy admits, for example, that the popular senator Hasdrubal Haedus ("the Goat Kid") was "always an advocate of peace and an enemy of the Barcid faction" (pacis semper auctor adversusque factioni Barcinae, 30.42.12); and in 203, thirty senior members of the Senate (whom Livy calls "the more sacred council") prostrated themselves before Scipio Africanus and begged for peace, blaming the conflict on Hannibal and his supporters. Many senators apparently had ties of guest-friendship with their Roman counterparts. As such, Senate opposition and changing political fortunes at home may account for the overall lack of support for Hannibal's campaign in Italy. Another point to remember is that Hannibal had not stepped foot in Africa since 237, when he was nine years old.
The best scholarly work on Carthaginian politics during the Second Punic War is Dexter Hoyos' Hannibal's Dynasty (London and New York: Routledge, 2003), though it's not without problems. I highly recommend Hoyos' other book The Carthaginians (Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2010) for a more up-to-date overview of the subject.