Serge Lancel's book is dedicated to Hannibal (247-183 BC), the greatest commander and extraordinary personality. The author considers his hero “a figure even more significant than Alexander the Great,” a man of “worldwide scale.” The book contains all possible biographical facts obtained by historians, archaeologists, writers. Its events unfold in the ecumene of the entire civilized world of the third century BC. Fate threw Hannibal from North Africa to Spain, through the Pyrenees to Gaul, through the Alps to Italy, across the Mediterranean, along the waves and islands to Phenicia, Asia Minor, Armenia and to the shores of the Bosphorus. In many realities, the author describes the course of famous battles and the course of rare moments of the hero’s peaceful life. In addition to Hannibal, the military commander, naval commander and city planner, on the pages of the book such heroes of the ancient world as Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, Scipio Africanus, Archimedes, Antiochus, Philip of Macedon and others make their way through the thick of events. The author’s scientific and panoramic view is supported by reliable information that removes the mythological folklore touch from the image of Hannibal, and carefully selected illustrative material.