Skip to main content

Secondary sourceBooklate 1st century AD

Strategemata

Frontinus · late 1st century AD

A Roman military manual by Frontinus that records many of Hannibal's famous tactical tricks, such as those used at Cannae and Trebia.

This manual preserves accounts of Hannibal's famous tactical tricks, used as teaching examples for later Roman generals.

Ask Hannibal Barca about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Scan of the cover of a Teubner edition of Iulius Frontinus' Strategemata, Libri Quattuor, edited by Gottholdus Gundermann, published in Leipzig in 1888 by B. G. Teubner. Tan paper, a handwritten note at top, and a bookseller label at bottom.
Frontinus, Strategemata, late 1st century AD. Teubner edition, Leipzig, 1888.

About this source

What it is

Strategemata is a Latin collection of military tricks and tactics compiled by the Roman author Frontinus, written towards the end of the first century AD. It gathers over five hundred examples from Greek and Roman history meant to help generals learn from past commanders' cleverness.

Why it matters

Among its examples are several of Hannibal's famous ruses, including tactics used at the battles of Cannae and Trebia. The work shows how Hannibal's military cunning was studied and admired by Romans themselves, even though he was their greatest enemy, and how his methods became part of the standard education of later generals.

Look closer

  • Why might a Roman author choose to include the tricks of an enemy general like Hannibal in a manual for Roman commanders?
  • What does this tell us about how the Romans separated admiration for skill from hatred of an enemy?
  • Frontinus wrote decades after Hannibal died — where might he have gotten his information?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hannibal Barca on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Hannibal Barca sources

Meet the AI Hannibal Barca →
Title page of a 1763 Latin edition of Polybius's Histories: Greek title at top, then 'Polybii Historiarum Quae Supersunt cum Notis Variorum, Tomus Tertius', with 'Excerpta Valesii, Fragmenta et Indices', a crowned emblem, and 'Vindobonae, apud Joann. Paul. Krausium, MDCCLXIII' at bottom.Book

Secondary source

The Histories

Polybius · c. 150 BCE

Scan of a printed page from a 1493 Venetian edition of Livy's Roman history, in Latin black-letter type with two woodcut illustrations. The left column reads 'LIBRO' and the right 'DECA' running heads. The top right woodcut shows figures in a scene with a bearded man and a woman.Book

Primary source

History of Rome

Titus Livius · 27-9 BC

Book

Secondary source

Life of Hannibal

Cornelius Nepos

Blue cloth book cover with a white library barcode label at the upper left. The label reads University of Toronto and a number, 31761 01797616 8. No title or author is visible.Book

Secondary source

The Hannibalic War and The Punic Wars (Libyca)

Appian of Alexandria · c. AD 150

Black-and-white photograph of a marble bust of a bearded man wearing a decorated headband, gazing to his left, with a draped cloak over his shoulder. A small numbered label, 6137, is on the base.Sculpture

Secondary source

Capuan bust of Hannibal

1st century BC - 4th century AD

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Hannibal Barca now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions