Think about what you know about the man named Hannibal, then read the spoiler boxes.
General Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants.
General Hannibal fought Romans.
General Hannibal was Cathaginian.
How many of these things did you know before you read the spoilers? I attest that at least the first (if not the second) is common knowledge, and part of Western society’s collection of things “everyone knows.” Am I wrong?
I could do that; but my family is well-educated, too. That’s what got me worried. Hell, my Mom was once fluent in Latin and Greek, so you think she’d know one of the most famous episodes in Roman history.
Considering that Hannibal was a character on The A-Team while Scipio was not, we can probably be pretty comfortable that not much is known about the fellow at all among the wider public.
Although, when you asked to think of what I know about Hannibal Barca, the first thing that came to mind was how he learned of his brother’s death.
I knew all three. I’m pretty sure this was touched on in a highschool history class, but I knew from earlier (my father probably mentioned it at some point.)
I did not notice the spelling error. I had to paste it into google to see what everyone was talking about . I don’t look at individual words when I read :o.
I was in the company of a few very intellegent people while I was on vacation a few years ago. I was reading Hannibal, by Thomas Harris and I made the joke “A book about Hannibal and not one mention of elephants”. At least I thought it was a decent joke but I was met with blank stares of incomprehension.
A few years ago on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” the first or second question was “Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with these animals” and the choices were camels, elephants, ostriches or llamas. The guy hemmed and hawed, then used his 50/50, which eliminated llamas and ostriches.