About the book: 2014 / “Hannibal ad portas!” (“Hannibal is at the gates!”) - this Latin expression has become popular. Not a single enemy in the entire history of Ancient Rome caused such horror. Never before had the Roman legions suffered such brutal defeats. No war has ever required such a strain of strength and such monstrous losses from the Eternal City - in 17 years of this massacre, Rome lost half of the male population: Hannibal was simply “crushed over by the masses” and “filled with corpses”... But did you know that the military genius turned out to be and a genius of power? That soon after the end of the war, Hannibal was elected suffet (highest official) of Carthage and, with the support of the People's Assembly, curbed the oligarchs, stopped theft and corruption? That only the betrayal of the rich, who entered into a conspiracy with the Romans, put an end to his political career? But the old hero did not change his oath until his death, and his tragic death only confirmed the prophecy of the Delphic Oracle: “The worst will defeat the best”... This book pays tribute to the greatest genius of the Ancient world, whose name is translated as “gift of God,” and the honorary nickname Barka means "lightning».