Frank Baxter Outside Reading 4 (entry 14)
I recently read a book called “Hannibal’s March: Alps and
Elephants” by Sir Gavin De Beer. One of my favorite figures of history as
always been the General Hannibal.
To me he is like the real life Odysseus, a man who uses his brain to
achieve superhuman feats.
What was interesting in this book is that it was a
historical argument on which exact trail Hannibal took into Rome. The author
laid out a vary compelling argument and traced the entire journey of Hannibal,
however, the entire book felt rather lacking. The reason I think the book was
that appealing is that by focusing simply on the “facts” and trying to get the “truth”
the author missed the real point of Hannibal. Hannibal’s importance is within
the myth of the man. What I mean by this is his story, that he had a blood oath
to his father to destroy Rome, Carthage wouldn’t give him the support he needed
so he set out on his own, using his own charisma he banded together several
nation-tribes, he march elephants over the alps, he never lost a battle.
What I described was the reality of Hannibal or what he
means and conveys to our generation. When the author simply focused on trying
to discover the truth he lost the importance of the entire event. Truly from
this I have learned that humans are homo narras.
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