Hannibal's Children

Infobox Book
name = Hannibal's Children


image_caption = First edition cover of "Hannibal's Children"
author = John Maddox Roberts
country = United States
language = English
cover_artist = Scott Grimando
genre = Alternate history, Novel
publisher = Ace Books
release_date = May 2002
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 368 p. (first edition, hardback) & 359 p. (paperback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-441-00933-6 (first edition, hardback) & ISBN 0-441-01038-5 (paperback edition)
preceded_by =
followed_by = The Seven Hills

"Hannibal's Children" is the 2002 alternate history novel by John Maddox Roberts.

Plot introduction

The Carthaginians won the Second Punic War against the Romans. The defeated Romans were forced to go into exile north of the Danube River. Years later a Roman expedition heads south to see what has changed in the world and meets the heirs of Hannibal who have become kings, or Shofet, of Carthage.

Plot summary

The novel opens at the alternate close of the Second Punic War. Hannibal offers terms to the Romans: abandon your city and move north of the Alps, or be destroyed. The Romans, under the dictator Q. Fabius Maximus, accept the offer and withdraw into Germania, vowing to return. The Carthaginians declare victory and go home.

One chapter and several generations later, the Romans have long since reestablished their republic. These Romans, largely out of need, have adopted a practice of Cultural Romanization more pronounced than the historical Romans did: large numbers of Germans have been adopted into the Roman society, forming a large proportion of both the legions and the Senate. A series of auspicious omens prompt the Senate to send a delegation south into Latium. The expedition leaders are subtly but immediately at cross purposes: the commander, Marcus Scipio, a scion of the ancient patrician Cornelii Scipiones family, is wholly motivated by a desire to reestablish the Republic in the Mediterranean basin. His deputy, Titus Norbanus, one of the newer, Germanic Romans, seeks personal glory, at least in part to ensure that the Germans (particularly his own family) remain as powerful within the expanded Republic as they do under the current scheme. It quickly becomes clear to the Romans that generations of constant warfare in Germania have strengthened them, whereas the Carthaginians have grown soft in the absence of real opposition. The Republic quickly begins playing the Carthaginians off against the Egyptians (the only other serious power in the Mediterranean), reclaiming Latium in the process. At the close of the novel, the Egyptian army led by Scipio vanquishes the Carthaginian force, in which four Roman legions led by Norbanus are technically serving. The sequel follows Norbanus's trek back to friendly territory and his march towards power.

Characters in "Hannibal's Children"

;Marcus Scipio: Leader of Roman Expedition to Carthage and Eygpt;Titus Norbanus: Second in command of Roman Expedition;Selene: Queen of Egypt;Hamilcar: Shofet of Carthage

Major themes

As with Roberts's other series, "Hannibal's Children" and its sequel "The Seven Hills" explore the decline of the Republic in the face of ambition. In the former, the Caesars and in the latter Norbanus aggressively pursue power for its own sake, in the process exposing weaknesses in the Republic.

Release details

*2002, USA, Ace Books (ISBN 0-441-00933-6), Pub date ? May 2002, hardback (First edition)
*2003, USA, Ace Books (ISBN 0-441-01038-5), Pub date ? March 2003, paperback