Hannibal Trivia
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125 free Hannibal trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Hannibal trivia quiz follows the Carthaginian general from the oath he swore to his father as a boy to the poison he took in Bithynia forty years later: the siege of Saguntum, the march over the Alps with elephants, the ambush at Lake Trasimene, the double envelopment at Cannae, fifteen years loose in southern Italy, defeat at Zama, reform as sufet and a long exile at foreign courts. The easy questions cover the outline: his city, his father, the mountains, the great battle of 216 BC, the Roman who finally beat him and the phrase Romans shouted when disaster loomed. The harder half is for readers of Polybius and Livy: the meaning of Barca, the wigs he wore among the Gauls, the vinegar and the rockfall, the eye he lost in the Arno marshes, the cattle with burning horns, the number of senators who died at Cannae, Maharbal's rebuke, the bronze tablets at Crotona, the trumpets at Zama, the reforms to the Hundred and Four, the philosopher he called an old fool, the clay pots of snakes, and the prophecy about Libyssan earth. Every answer was checked against Hannibal's encyclopaedia entry before publishing. If you enjoy this, try our Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Roman Empire quizzes next.
30 of 125 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Hannibal's home city of Carthage lay in which modern country?
Tunisia
Carthage's ruins lie in Tunisia, just outside Tunis; Hannibal is honoured there with a television channel and a railway station bearing his name.
Q 02Who was Hannibal's father?
Hamilcar Barca
Hamilcar Barca, who led Carthage's forces in Sicily and then carved out an empire in Hispania, died in 228 BC, reportedly drowning in a river while campaigning in Spain.
Q 03What does the cognomen Barca mean?
Lightning
Barca comes from Punic barqa, meaning 'lightning' or 'thunderbolt', a cognomen Hamilcar earned for the speed and ferocity of his raids in Sicily.
Q 04At which river did Hannibal defeat the Carpetani coalition in 220 BC?
Tagus
Returning from Salamanca in 220 BC, Hannibal crossed the Tagus, then turned and crushed the Carpetani as they forded it, his elephants trampling men on the bank.
Q 05According to Polybius, what did Hannibal's father make him swear as a boy?
Never to be a friend of Rome
Polybius has Hannibal tell Antiochus that, aged about nine, his father Hamilcar made him swear at an altar never to be a friend of Rome.
Q 06How old was Hannibal when the army proclaimed him commander-in-chief in 221 BC?
26
Hannibal was 26 when the army in Hispania acclaimed him commander in 221 BC; Livy says the old soldiers fancied they saw his father Hamilcar restored to them in his face.
Q 07Whose assassination in 221 BC brought Hannibal to supreme command in Hispania?
Hasdrubal the Fair
Hasdrubal the Fair, Hannibal's brother-in-law, was murdered by a Celtic servant in 221 BC; he had signed the 226 BC treaty with Rome fixing the Ebro as a boundary.
Q 08According to the Roman poet Silius Italicus, what was the name of Hannibal's wife from Castulo?
Imilce
Silius Italicus's epic Punica names Hannibal's wife as Imilce of Castulo and gives him a son, neither mentioned by Polybius, Livy or Appian.
Q 09Hannibal's attack on which Roman-allied city in Spain sparked the Second Punic War?
Saguntum
Saguntum, a Roman ally south of the Ebro, fell to Hannibal in 219 BC; a Roman embassy then offered Carthage the choice of war or peace.
Q 10How long did Hannibal's siege of the city that started the war last?
Eight months
The siege lasted eight months in 219 BC; Hannibal sent the booty home to Carthage, a move that won the government's support for war.
Q 11From which Spanish city did Hannibal set out for Italy in the spring of 218 BC?
New Carthage (Cartagena)
Hannibal marched from New Carthage (Cartagena), the Barcid capital in Spain, in late spring 218 BC, leaving his brother Hasdrubal with a garrison to hold Hispania.
Q 12According to Livy, what did Hannibal use along with fire to break through a rockfall in the Alps?
Vinegar
Livy says Hannibal's men heated the rock with fire, then poured vinegar over it to crumble it; Polybius never mentions the episode and no scorched rock has been found at the likely spot.
Q 13Which pass does W. C. Mahaney argue Hannibal crossed, citing disturbed peat and horse-gut bacteria?
Col de la Traversette
Q 21What nickname did the Roman dictator of 217 BC earn for avoiding battle with Hannibal?
Cunctator, the Delayer
Fabius was mocked as Cunctator, 'the Delayer', for shadowing Hannibal without fighting; the name became an honour, and strategies of attrition are called Fabian after him.
Q 22Trapped in Campania by Fabius, how did Hannibal slip his army out at night?
He tied burning torches to the horns of cattle
Romans chased the moving lights along the heights while the army crept through an unguarded pass.
Q 23At which 216 BC battle in Apulia did Hannibal envelop and destroy a Roman army?
Cannae
Mahaney's team found a churned, manure-rich layer in a mire below the Col de la Traversette, radiocarbon-dated to about 218 BC, the year of the march.
Q 14According to Polybius, roughly how many foot soldiers did Hannibal have left when he reached Italy?
20,000
Polybius, citing Hannibal's own inscription, gives 12,000 African and 8,000 Spanish foot on arrival, 20,000 in all, roughly half the infantry that had crossed the Rhône.
Q 15Which Roman consul, wounded at the Ticinus in 218 BC, was saved by his teenage son?
Publius Cornelius Scipio
Publius Cornelius Scipio, consul of 218 BC, was wounded in a cavalry skirmish at the Ticinus; his son, the future Scipio Africanus, is said to have charged in to rescue him.
Q 16Fearing assassination by the Gauls in the winter of 218–217 BC, how did Hannibal disguise himself?
He wore differently dyed wigs
The Gauls' enthusiasm for his cause had cooled after a winter of hosting his army.
Q 17What caused Hannibal to lose the sight of his right eye during the march through the Arno marshes?
Conjunctivitis
Four days and three nights wading through the flooded Arno marshes brought on an eye infection, usually identified as conjunctivitis, that cost Hannibal the sight of his right eye.
Q 18Which Roman consul was killed with his army in the ambush at Lake Trasimene in 217 BC?
Gaius Flaminius
Gaius Flaminius, consul of 217 BC, died with some 15,000 men in the Trasimene ambush; Livy says Hannibal searched the field for his body to bury it, in vain.
Q 19Hannibal's march past Flaminius before Trasimene is called the first recorded example of what?
A turning movement
Hannibal's strategic turning movement, marching past Flaminius to cut him off from Rome, is often cited as the first recorded in military history; it drew the consul into a hasty pursuit and the ambush.
Q 20Which Roman was appointed dictator after Trasimene and refused to meet Hannibal in open battle?
Quintus Fabius Maximus
Quintus Fabius Maximus, named dictator in 217 BC, shadowed Hannibal and avoided pitched battle; many Romans called it cowardice, and his six-month term was not renewed.
At Cannae on 2 August 216 BC Hannibal's double envelopment annihilated the largest army Rome had ever fielded; tens of thousands died in a single day.
Q 24Which two consuls commanded the Roman army on alternate days at the great battle of 216 BC?
Varro and Paullus
Consuls Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus alternated command; Livy blames Varro, whose day it was, yet the Senate thanked him afterwards for not despairing of the Republic.
Q 25How many Roman senators died in the great defeat of 216 BC?
80
That was a quarter to a third of a Senate of no more than 300 men.
Q 26Which cavalry commander told Hannibal, 'You know how to gain a victory, but not how to use one'?
Maharbal
Maharbal, Hannibal's cavalry commander, urged an immediate march on Rome after the 216 BC victory; Livy records this rebuke when Hannibal declined.
Q 27Which Macedonian king pledged support to Hannibal after 216 BC, starting the First Macedonian War?
Philip V
Philip V of Macedon made a treaty with Hannibal in 215 BC, but Rome's fleet and Aetolian allies kept him occupied in Greece and he never sent Hannibal meaningful help.
Q 28Which city, then the second largest in Italy, defected to Hannibal and became his base?
Capua
Capua, the chief city of Campania, went over to Hannibal after 216 BC; Rome besieged and retook it in 211 BC despite his march on Rome to draw the armies off.
Q 29For roughly how many years did Hannibal occupy most of southern Italy?
15
Hannibal held most of southern Italy for some 15 years, from 218 BC until Carthage recalled him in 203 BC, never receiving the reinforcements needed for a decisive blow.
Q 30Which Carthaginian led the peace party that denied Hannibal reinforcements after his greatest victory?
Hanno the Great
His faction relied on trade with Rome and resented being dragged into war over Saguntum.