Hannibal has always been the most famous member of the Barcid dynasty, which dominated Cathage and its empire in Africa and Spain in the latter half of the third century BC. However, Dexter Hoyos' revealing study makes it clear that Carthaginian success was founded on the military and political skills of more than one member of this remarkable family.
It was Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, who relaunched Carthage as an imperial power after disastrous wars; Hamilcar's son-in-law Hasdrubal further developed the new "imperium "in the face of Roman suspicion and opportunism. Only then was...