Serge Lancel's book is dedicated to Hannibal (247-183 BC), the greatest military leader and outstanding personality. The author believes his hero "figure even more significant, than Alexander Macedonian", man "global scale." The book contains all possible, extracted by historians, archaeologists, writers, biographical facts. Its events unfold in the ecumene of the entire civilized world of the third century before the birth of Christ. Fate threw Hannibal from North Africa to Spain, through the Pyrenees to Gaul, through the Alps to Italy, through the Mediterranean, through the waves and Islands to Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Armenia and the shores of the Bosphorus. In many realities, the author describes the course of the famous battles and the rare moments of the peaceful life of the hero. In addition to Hannibal, commander, naval commander and urban planner, the pages of the book through the thick of events make their way such heroes of the ancient world as Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, Scipio Africanus, Archimedes, Antiochus, Philip of Macedon and others.Scientific-panoramic view of the author is supported by reliable information, removing the mythological-folk plaque from the image of Hannibal, and carefully selected illustrative material.