"SECOND HANNIBAL": FROM THREAT SYMBOL TO ROMAN REBIRTH.

Roman writers often named their enemies as "Second Hannibal", thus connecting the respective event they depicted with the Second Punic War. Through this "Second Hannibal", the plots from the Second Punic War are connected to the narration of other events, forming a general narrative. This narrative, however, was not fixed, always taking on new connotations in different eras. Initially, the "Second Hannibal" symbolized both a threat to and moral alarm for the Romans, eventually enhancing the legitimacy of Roman governance. Later, the focus shifted to the resilience shown by Romans after experiencing disasters. During Late Antiquity especially, Roman authors hoped to recreate the allegedly victorious history of their ancestors by labeling and defeating a "Second Hannibal", and returning to a historically imagined period of post victory prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]