What happened to Hannibal's wife Imilce after he was defeated and marched into exile?

by masiakasaurus

Did they have any children by the way?

XenophonTheAthenian

Hannibal's family life is pretty much totally unknown. Livy reports that Hannibal's wife was from Castulo in Spain:

Castulo, urbs Hispaniae valida ac nobilis et adeo coniuncta societate Poenis ut uxor inde Hannibali esset, ad Romanos defecit.

That's literally it, that's all we know for certain about Hannibal's personal family. The later epic poet Silius Italicus places in Book 4 of his Punica a certain Imilce, wife of Hannibal, in Hannibal's camp. Silius has Hannibal send her back to Carthage with their son, amid tears. She and the son appear once more later in the same book, when Hanno proposes to sacrifice the boy and is stopped by Imilce. That's all we have about Imilce and Hannibal's supposed son. None of what Silius Italicus says should necessarily be taken at face value. Like Lucan, whom Silius imitates, Silius was writing a work of historical epic, and mixed within the historical episodes are lots of obviously fictional or invented episodes. Most of the obvious ones are the direct interventions of the gods and their speeches, created by the imagination of the poet. But Silius in particular likes to stick in people who are obviously totally invented, especially heroes and champions--a number of Gallic and Carthaginian champions, totally unattested, are killed or distinguish themselves at various points. Imilce may have some basis in fact, though the name appears nowhere else, but the son is certainly an invention. The son's only reason for existing within the poem is to provide a symbolic representation of Hannibal's determination that Hanno attempts to snuff out but is ultimately defeated. Imilce serves slightly more purpose, since her first appearance pretty clearly shows an imitation of Hector's farewell to Andromache (there's a child present there as well, furthering the parallel). The episode where Imilce is sent back to Carthage also reeks of imitation of Pompey's decision to send his wife away for her safety in Lucan.