"Hannibal ad portas!" ("Hannibal at the gates!") - this Latin expression has become winged. Not a single enemy in the entire history of Ancient Rome inspired such horror. Never before had the Roman legions suffered such brutal defeats. Not a single war has yet demanded such a strain of strength and such monstrous losses from the Eternal City - over the 17 years of this massacre, Rome has lost half of the male population: Hannibal was simply “crushed under the mass” and “filled up with corpses” ...But you know you that the military genius also turned out to be a genius of power? That shortly after the end of the war, Hannibal was elected Suffet (highest official) of Carthage and, with the support of the National Assembly, curbed the oligarchs, stopped embezzlement and corruption? That only the betrayal of the rich, who conspired with the Romans, put an end to his political career? But the old hero did not change his oath until his death, and his tragic death only confirmed the prophecy of the Delphic oracle: "The worst will defeat the best" ...This book pays tribute to the greatest genius of the Ancient World, whose name translates as "gift of God ”, and the honorary nickname Barka means “lightning”.