Claim: Hannibal marched a small fighting force across two mountain ranges.

Hannibal Barca -LRB- Punic language : ð $ ð $ ð $ ð $ ð $ ð $ ð $ `` ð $ ' , Q-R-B L-A - ' - A-B-N-Ḥ ; 247 -- between 183 and 181 BC -RRB- , was a Carthaginian general , considered one of the greatest military commanders in history . His father Hamilcar Barca was the leading Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War . His younger brothers were Mago and Hasdrubal , and he was brother-in-la   Hannibal lived during a period of great tension in the Mediterranean Basin , when the Roman Republic established its supremacy over other great powers such as ancient Carthage and the Greek kingdoms of Macedonia , Syracuse , and the Seleucid Empire . One of his most famous achievements was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War , when he marched an army which included war elephants from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into Italy . In his first few years in Italy , he won three dramatic victories -- the Trebia , Lake Trasimene , and Cannae , in which he distinguished himself for his ability to determine his and his opponent 's strengths and weaknesses , and to play the battle to his strengths and the enemy 's weaknesses -- and won over many allies of Rome . Hannibal occupied much of Italy for 15 years but was unable to march on Rome . An enemy counter-invasion of North Africa forced him to return to Carthage , where he was decisively defeated by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama . Scipio had studied Hannibal 's tactics and brilliantly devised some of his own , and finally defeated Rome 's nemesis at Zama , having previously driven Hannibal 's brother Hasdrubal out of the Iberian Peninsula .   After the war , Hannibal successfully ran for the office of sufet . He enacted political and financial reforms to enable the payment of the war indemnity imposed by Rome ; however , Hannibal 's reforms were unpopular with members of the Carthaginian aristocracy and in Rome , and he fled into voluntary exile . During this time , he lived at the Seleucid court , where he acted as military advisor to Antiochus III the Great in his war against Rome . Antiochus met defeat at the Battle of Magnesia and was forced to accept Rome 's terms , and Hannibal fled again , making a stop in the Kingdom of Armenia . His flight ended in the court of Bithynia , where he achieved an outstanding naval victory against a fleet from Pergamon . He was afterwards betrayed to the Romans and committed suicide by poisoning himself .   Hannibal is often regarded as one of the greatest military strategists in history and one of the greatest generals of Mediterranean antiquity , together with Philip of Macedon , Alexander the Great , Julius Caesar , and Scipio Africanus . Plutarch states that Hannibal was questioned by Scipio as to who was the greatest general , and Hannibal replied either Alexander or Pyrrhus , then himself , or , according to another version of the event , Pyrrhus , Scipio , then himself . Military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge called Hannibal the `` father of strategy '' , because his greatest enemy , Rome , came to adopt elements of his military tactics in its own strategic arsenal . This praise has earned him a strong reputation in the modern world , and he was regarded as a great strategist by Napoleon and others .