153 8 HANNIBAL AND HERCULES Louis Rawlings Tis chapter will discuss how aspects of Melqart-Herakles-Hercules were used to explain and justify the aims and achievements of the Carthaginian general, Hannibal Barca. 1 Tere are a number of literary and numismatic connections between Hannibal and this divinity influenced, to some extent, by the precedents set by other Hellenistic generals for whom Herakles was a paradigmatic traveller, adventurer and conqueror. Te association of Hannibal with the god is situated at the confluence of three, often competing, cultures: Punic, Greek, and Italian. Tis relationship can be used to illuminate the processes of trans-cultural exchange, appropriation and dialogue across the Western Mediterranean, particularly during the period of extreme pressure caused by the Second Punic War (218–202 BC). I. Foe or friend? Te epic seventeen-book poem Punica (over 12,000 verses), composed by Silius Italicus in the reign of Domitian, may be an unlikely place to begin any investigation, but its mix of history and myth opens a window on to Roman perceptions of Hannibal’s relationship with Hercules. In the first two books of the Punica, Silius relates two episodes on the brink of the Second Punic war, at the siege of Saguntum. Tis city had been founded by Hercules (1.273, 369; 2.507), but the walls he had set up had been undermined by the Carthaginians, crashing down like the Alps in an avalanche (1.370–2). Te simile immediately connects the founding of the city with Hercules’ journey from Spain into Italy, particularly his feat of driving the cattle of Geryon across the Alps. A jeering Saguntine hero, Murrus (perhaps a mortal embodiment of the Herculean wall, murus) emerges from the breach and cuts a swathe through the besieging Punic forces until he encounters Hannibal. As the Carthaginian stuns him with a huge rock, Murrus appeals to Hercules: Hercules, our founder … if I defend your walls with vigorous enough hands, turn aside the storm that threatens us. 2