After his devastating loss in Zama, he still managed to survive. Yes, Hannibal Barca rode his loyal steed away from harm. After two to three years following the defeat in the Battle of Zama, he went back to Carthage. He went back there not as a great, infamous general willing to go to the unending boundaries of the Earth, but as a simple statesman that only wants to make his once great hometown, start anew. Even though that the very leaders of Carthage absolutely hate him. This hate emerged from the idea of even challenging Rome, more so to challenge them in their own land, in Roman soil. On the other side of the coin, the Carthaginians like him, for simply being man enough to challenge Rome, and actually win most of the battles when very much needed. That is why he was elected Chief Magistrate of the once great country of Carthage.
After some time, Carthage somehow retained bits of the shadow of what it once was, by the leadership of Hannibal Barca. Carthage's rising power alarmed Roman Power. They were afraid that Hannibal, being a once in a lifetime general and all, would cause an uprising in Carthage, making it a force to be reckoned with once again. So the Romans would get into position in case an event of like that will occur.l First, they peacefully asked for Hannibal to go down from power, having no other choice, he followed the demands of the extremely paranoid Romans at that time. So Hannibal not only did he step down from power, but he went on a self-prompted exile.
The exile was a symbol of the greatness of Roman Power, that even the greatest of generals, fall to their might. Hannibal traveled to the far edges of the known world. His destination was the city of his forefathers, Tyre. The place of what was known to be one of the handfuls that put up a fight against the legendary Macedonian army, led by Alexander the Great himself. Tyre now, at present form is in the country named Lebanon. It is an Island just off shore, by Beirut. After a vacation that was not so enjoyable in the city of the people who built Carthage, he went on around the world. At another point in time that the Romans were gaining. The defeat of Hannibal in Zama and the occupation in Carthage made their momentum go up by a hundred. They finally reached the land of the Selucid Empire, where the infamous Hannibal Barca is hiding. Hannibal tried to impress the emperor of The Selucids named Antiochus III and try to command an army to fight off the Romans, Mr. Antiochus did not accept. The results were horrifying, the entire Selucid Empire was driven out of their home land, into Asia Minor. Leaving Hannibal running away, to another place called Crete, where he took his own time to rest his old body until the Romans release the tightness around Asia Minor.
He went back, after sometime and took refuge to a man called Prusias, in Armenia, who was now in combat with the ally of Rome, King Eumenas. Hannibal was a general there, to repay the people covering him up. He won a handful of naval victories, before being given up by the very person he trusted, Prusias. So, he went on, away from the given place, away from the Romans.
The Romans never stopped hunting him down, but Hannibal does not want to die to them, not after all he has done, all that for nothing. So, at Libyssa he went to a small shack, writing his own will, at the same time insulting the Romans. After, he drank poison to die. The Romans found the body of Hannibal, lying dead flat on the ground. The Romans found his writing, and burned it, then they re-wrote it, to claim that it was theirs. The writings said "Let us relieve the anxiety of the Romans who have grown weary of waiting for the death of a hated old man."
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