Punica

What it is

Written in Latin by the poet Silius Italicus in the late 1st century AD, the Punica is a seventeen-book epic poem of about 12,000 lines, the longest surviving Latin poem from antiquity. It tells the story of the Second Punic War and the rivalry between Hannibal and the Roman general Scipio Africanus, drawing heavily on Livy's history and the poetic style of Virgil.

Why it matters

Written over two centuries after Hannibal's death, the poem shows how imperial Rome turned Hannibal into a legendary, almost mythic antagonist in Roman literature, worthy of epic treatment alongside Homer's and Virgil's heroes. It also preserves details not found elsewhere, such as the name of Hannibal's wife, Imilce, showing how later Romans imagined his personal life as well as his wars.

Look closer

• Why would a Roman poet, writing long after the war, choose to make Rome's greatest enemy into an epic hero-villain?
• How might a poem differ from a history book in the way it presents a real historical figure like Hannibal?
• What can later inventions, like naming Hannibal's wife, tell us about what information had been lost by this time?