Hannibal

About Hannibal

Hannibal Barca, ranked #290 in historical importance by MIT's Pantheon project, was a Carthaginian politician and general celebrated as one of the greatest military commanders in history. His defining contribution was launching the Second Punic War against Rome in the 3rd century BCE, most famously by leading an army, complete with war elephants, across the Alps to invade Italy itself. This campaign was a monumental feat of logistical and military genius that kept the Roman Republic on the brink of collapse for years.

Despite this profound historical impact, Hannibal’s modern internet attention is disproportionately low. He garnered 1.5 million Wikipedia views in 2025. To provide context, this is a clear case of underattention, as figures with significantly lower historical importance, like politician Ronald Reagan (#307 importance), received 5.4 million views. Conversely, when looking at figures who are demonstrably more historically pivotal but receive less attention, Hannibal's own relative attention deficit is notable, though his 1.5M views still place him above figures like Cnut the Great (#198 importance, 427K views).

Interestingly, the trend for Hannibal's attention is negative, with a 18.9% year-over-year decline in views and a -16% drop between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, suggesting that the general's legendary military exploits are fading from contemporary digital consciousness.