Tall Talk About Elephants: Hannibal’s Crossing Through Disciplines

The enigma of Hannibal’s Alpine crossing has captivated minds and sparked debates across centuries, much like an elusive puzzle that resists a definitive solution. This article explores the fierce and often acrimonious scholarly debates surrounding Hannibal’s journey, where the quest to separate historical fact from romantic myth has turned into a battleground for competing disciplines. Military historians, geographers and philologists have all staked their claims, each employing distinct methods to argue their case, yet the controversy has only intensified. As the debate has evolved, the focus has shifted from merely identifying the route to examining how historical truths are constructed amid academic rivalries. The article scrutinizes the rhetorical strategies and epistemological conflicts that have defined this ongoing dispute, revealing how the quest to solve Hannibal’s mystery has often led to sharp intellectual skirmishes. These clashes, far from resolving the issue, have instead highlighted the complexities of reconstructing ancient events with limited and sometimes contradictory information. Ultimately, these debates, as harsh as they may be, have contributed to elevating the Western Alps as a zone of historical attention and prestige, now increasingly exploited for heritage.