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Livy Second Punic War Analysis

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Livy believed that the Second Punic War was started by the siege of Saguntum by the Carthaginian Commander Hannibal and that this violated past treaties which left Rome no choice but to declare war on Carthage. In addition he believed the events that caused the war were entirely the fault of Carthage and that Rome did everything possible to prevent the dispute with Carthage from escalating. However there are inconsistencies in his work which undermine his reliability as a historian.
The event that started the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage was the siege of Saguntum by Hannibal. However Livy believed that the road to war started after the First Punic War with Hamilcar's wars in Spain. "During the nine years [Hamilcar] spent in extending Carthaginian influence in Spain, made it clear enough that his ultimate objective was an enterprise of far greater movement, and that if he had lived the invasion of Italy would have taken place under Hamilcar's leadership" After Hamilcar's death the Carthaginian forces in Spain were controlled by Hasdrubal. Hasdrubal was more open to peace with Rome than Hamilcar and even signed a treaty with Rome that "[fixed] the river Ebro as the boundary between their respective spheres and establishing the neutrality …show more content…

One is also left with the impression that the Romans made every attempt to maintain past treaties with Carthage but that the Carthaginians and Hannibal in particular were set on war. This is exactly what Livy intended when writing on the Second Punic War. The problem is that Livy seems to be writing propaganda more than history. His purpose is to thrust the blame for the war solely on Carthage and Hannibal and leave Rome blameless in the eyes of potential readers. Whether or not this was what Livy actually believed is impossible to know for

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