Comments on: Hannibal in the Alps–today!

By: andreaskluth

andreaskluth — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:40:50 +0000

Re the first point: Always walk in front of an elephant.

By: Mr. Crotchety

Mr. Crotchety — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:02:48 +0000

I was about to say something insensitive about the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elephants (SPCE, if such a thing exists) and carbon credits. If the glaciers of the Alps have indeed receded as The Pasterze , would this make a re-enactment more or less difficult? Maybe they’ve ceded and receded since then.

By: andreaskluth

andreaskluth — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:13:27 +0000

Patick Hunt, a scholar at Stanford, thinks the Col de Clapier is more likely.

By: andreaskluth

andreaskluth — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:10:22 +0000

Several people have tried, I believe. I heard a talk somewhere by a British guy who borrowed an elephant to walk over the Alps with him, but (you have already guessed it) he ran into trouble with the animal-rights crowd.

This is a lobby that Hannibal did not contend with.

By: Thomas Stazyk

Thomas Stazyk — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:02:11 +0000

No elephants plus corporate sponsorship? They have no right to call themselves the Hannibal Tour.

By the way, I always thought that Col de la Traversette in the Cottian Alps was the generally accepted route that Hannibal took? But I learned that in high school Latin class so it may have gone by the wayside.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:53:29 +0000

It might be interesting to find out whether anyone today could cross the Alps with actual elephants, on the exact path which Hannibal allegedly took, and at the same time of year.

Perhaps an intrepid group will one day organise such an expedition. It’s a way to verify that Hannibal did cross the Alps in the way he said he did.