The most piquant assessment of Hannibal was that he knew how to win battles, but not how to win a war.
It is the iron will of single individuals that has shaped the world.
What an IDIOT. There’s a tunnel that goes right through the Alps there.
Story is just a tease: “The research will be revealed in Hannibal’s Elephant Army: The New Evidence on Channel 4 at 8pm next Sunday.” BBC I guess.
This is a rebus - a word puzzle - we believe to be Henry Livingston’s based on statistical comparison with random poets of the time against his body of poetry. 50 percent of the rhymes occur in other known poems of Henry’s. The solution doesn’t statistically match.
Hannibal Rebus, Weekly Museum 9 May 1795
THE name of a general famed of old,
Who caused the Romans to quake we are told;
A place where by strategem Joshua took,
As recorded we find in the sacred book;
A monster that’s said in the sea to reside,
A bird that was reckon’d unclean to the Jew,
But adored by Egypt’s idolatrous crew:
A city renowned for splendor and trade,
Situate in an island in Europe ‘tis said;
A measure that sometimes by Vinter’s is us’d,
To measure a cordial that’s sometimes abus’d;
The physician who charmed Orberus so well,
That he stole back his wife from the regions of hell:
The God who, if history and poets tell true,
Was the brother of Pluto and Jupiter too.
The initials of these, as above they appear,
Gives the name of a man to Columbia dear.
SOLUTION TO REBUS Weekly Museum 25 May 1795
HANNIBAL the great Carthagenian of old;
That caus’d the Romans to tremble (tho’ bold)
Ai the city which Joshua took!
You read it in Chapter the eighth of that book.
Mermaid, or syren, as travellers relate;
Are oft’ seen at sea - we leave them to fate;
Ibris a bird by th’ Eyptians ador’d;
By the Jews ‘twas despised, and by them abhor’d.
London’s a city, (The island’s well known,)
That’s famous in Europe for wealth and renown!
Tun, tierce, or tankard, which Vintner’s may measure,
Their cyder, or wine, at the purchasers pleasure,
Orpheus, the musician, who charm’d Oberus so well!
That he snatch’d his poor wife from th’ torments of hell.
Neptune the God of the ocean we know;
Was Jupiter’s brother, and Pluto’s also —
Th’ initials of these (as above) they will name,
HAMILTON! well known, in Columbian fame!
PING
My father was involved in the second crossing of the Alps by a military force. After the Germans surrendered in 1945, American troops, including Patton’s Ghost Troops, crossed the Alps with tanks due to worries about Tito. Tito backed off and everyone got to come home.
...and looks like there was a fair amount of poo in that valley...
No 7-11’s, no Motel 6’s, no GPS. What was he thinking anyway? Geeeez!
Interesting, thanks! I found this article from 2016 which has some good details on this kind of research:
Proves absolutely nothing. Come up with elephant poop, and they may have an argument.
Maybe I missed something, but it seems to me that the article says they found horse dung on a bridle path, and therefore Hannibal took that route.
Wouldn’t one expect horse dung on a bridle path whether or not Hannibal had passed? How do they know it belongs to horses that belonged to Hannibal?
