British Alpine Hannibal Expedition
Encyclopedia
The British Alpine Hannibal Expedition was an experimental archeology event that took place in 1959. British engineer John Hoyte led an expedition that tried to reenact aspects of Hannibal's legendary crossing of the Alps
during the Second Punic War
in 218 BCE. The group successfully took the female Asian elephant Jumbo, provided by a zoo in Turin
, from France
over the Col du Mont Cenis into Italy
.
After the Carthaginian defeat in the First Punic War
, Hamilcar Barca
secured an extensive territory in the Iberian peninsula
for Carthage
. At the beginning of the Second Punic War
, his son Hannibal took an army of perhaps 50000 men and 37 war elephants from Hispania
to Italy
, where he led a 15 year campaign against Rome
. Hannibal avoided the coastal route, and took his army over the Alps. His march has been described by ancient historians Polybius
and Livy
. The exact route, however, has been subject of long but inconclusive scholarly discourse. In his 1955 book Alps and elephants: Hannibal's march, Gavin de Beer
lists 12 possible candidates from 30 different books.
published a debate about the route Hannibal might have taken over the Alps. This debate came to the attention of John Hoyte, then an engineering student at Cambridge University. Hoyte had an interest in both history and mountain climbing, and spent the summer of 1956 with friends hiking the Alps and comparing possible routes to the ancient descriptions. The group came to the conclusion that the Col de Clapier
was the most likely pass, an opinion still supported by some modern historians.
A few years later, a friend suggested to test this theory with an actual elephant. Hoyte wrote letters to the British consuls in Lyon
, France, Geneva
, Switzerland
, and Turin, enquiring about the possibility of obtaining an elephant for the experiment, but without a serious expectation of success. However, the Turin Zoo had just acquired a female Asian elephant, Jumbo, who was trained as a circus
animal. The owner of the zoo volunteered Jumbo and became the first sponsor of the expedition. Hoyte put together a team of 8 people, including Richard Jolly
as the expedition secretary and Cambridge professor of veterinary science John Hickman, who had gained experience with elephants during World War II
in Burma. The group obtained insurance for Jumbo from Lloyd's of London
and further sponsorship from Life magazine
, which later published a 7 page photo report.
The expedition started in late July 1959 in Montmelian
, France. It followed the valley of the Arc river
and then ascended towards the Col de Clapier. However, the route up to the pass had become narrowed and dangerous due to rockfall
. The group retracted down into the valley and crossed the Col du Mont Cenis, another pass suggested for Hannibal's route by none less than French emperor Napoleon. After 10 days of travel, the expedition successfully "invaded" Susa in Italy.
The members of the expedition originally planned to call the 5700 pounds (2.6 t) elephant Hannibella, however, the animal could not be made to respond to the new name and thus remained Jumbo. Jumbo was 11 years old and equipped with leather boots and knee pads for the most treacherous passages. A specially made coat was provided to keep her warm. Despite a diet consisting of 150 pounds (68 kg) of hay, 50 pounds (22.7 kg) of apples, 40 pounds (18.1 kg) of bread, 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of carrots, and a vitamin B supplement per day, she lost an estimated 300 pounds (136.1 kg) during the first 4 days of the trip, and nearly 500 pounds (226.8 kg) in total. On arrival in Italy, she consumed cake and a Magnum bottle
of Chianti
.
In 1960, Hoyte published a report on the expedition as Trunk Road for Hannibal: With an Elephant Over the Alps.
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
during the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
in 218 BCE. The group successfully took the female Asian elephant Jumbo, provided by a zoo in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
over the Col du Mont Cenis into Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Background
First Punic War
The First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters but also to a lesser extent in...
, Hamilcar Barca
Hamilcar Barca
Hamilcar Barca or Barcas was a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago. He was also father-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair....
secured an extensive territory in the Iberian peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
for Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
. At the beginning of the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
, his son Hannibal took an army of perhaps 50000 men and 37 war elephants from Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where he led a 15 year campaign against Rome
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. Hannibal avoided the coastal route, and took his army over the Alps. His march has been described by ancient historians Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
and Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
. The exact route, however, has been subject of long but inconclusive scholarly discourse. In his 1955 book Alps and elephants: Hannibal's march, Gavin de Beer
Gavin de Beer
Sir Gavin Rylands de Beer FRS was a British evolutionary embryologist. He was Director of the British Museum , President of the Linnean Society, and received the Royal Society's Darwin Medal for his studies on evolution.-Biography:...
lists 12 possible candidates from 30 different books.
The Expedition
In 1955, The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
published a debate about the route Hannibal might have taken over the Alps. This debate came to the attention of John Hoyte, then an engineering student at Cambridge University. Hoyte had an interest in both history and mountain climbing, and spent the summer of 1956 with friends hiking the Alps and comparing possible routes to the ancient descriptions. The group came to the conclusion that the Col de Clapier
Col de Clapier
Col de Clapier is a high mountain pass over the mountain massif Mont Cenis in the Cottian Alps and Graian Alps between Savoy in France and Piemont in Italy. The bridle path goes from Bramans to Susa...
was the most likely pass, an opinion still supported by some modern historians.
A few years later, a friend suggested to test this theory with an actual elephant. Hoyte wrote letters to the British consuls in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, France, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and Turin, enquiring about the possibility of obtaining an elephant for the experiment, but without a serious expectation of success. However, the Turin Zoo had just acquired a female Asian elephant, Jumbo, who was trained as a circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
animal. The owner of the zoo volunteered Jumbo and became the first sponsor of the expedition. Hoyte put together a team of 8 people, including Richard Jolly
Richard Jolly
Sir Richard Jolly is a leading development economist.He was, for nearly a decade, the director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom.- Education :...
as the expedition secretary and Cambridge professor of veterinary science John Hickman, who had gained experience with elephants during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Burma. The group obtained insurance for Jumbo from Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
and further sponsorship from Life magazine
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, which later published a 7 page photo report.
The expedition started in late July 1959 in Montmelian
Montmélian
Montmélian is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.-Population :-External links:*...
, France. It followed the valley of the Arc river
Arc (Savoie)
The Arc is a 128 km long river in the Savoie département of south-eastern France. It is a left tributary of the Isère River, which it joins at Chamousset, approximately 15 km downstream from Albertville. Its source is near the border with Italy, in the Graian Alps, northeast of Bonneval-sur-Arc...
and then ascended towards the Col de Clapier. However, the route up to the pass had become narrowed and dangerous due to rockfall
Rockfall
Rockfall or rock-fall refers to quantities of rock falling freely from a cliff face. A rockfall is a fragment of rock detached by sliding, toppling, or falling, that falls along a vertical or sub-vertical cliff, proceeds down slope by bouncing and flying along ballistic trajectories or by rolling...
. The group retracted down into the valley and crossed the Col du Mont Cenis, another pass suggested for Hannibal's route by none less than French emperor Napoleon. After 10 days of travel, the expedition successfully "invaded" Susa in Italy.
The members of the expedition originally planned to call the 5700 pounds (2.6 t) elephant Hannibella, however, the animal could not be made to respond to the new name and thus remained Jumbo. Jumbo was 11 years old and equipped with leather boots and knee pads for the most treacherous passages. A specially made coat was provided to keep her warm. Despite a diet consisting of 150 pounds (68 kg) of hay, 50 pounds (22.7 kg) of apples, 40 pounds (18.1 kg) of bread, 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of carrots, and a vitamin B supplement per day, she lost an estimated 300 pounds (136.1 kg) during the first 4 days of the trip, and nearly 500 pounds (226.8 kg) in total. On arrival in Italy, she consumed cake and a Magnum bottle
Wine bottle
A wine bottle is a bottle used for holding wine, generally made of glass. Some wines are fermented in the bottle, others are bottled only after fermentation. They come in a large variety of sizes, several named for Biblical kings and other figures. The standard bottle contains 750 ml,...
of Chianti
Chianti
Chianti is a red Italian wine produced in Tuscany. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco ; however, the fiasco is only used by a few makers of the wine now; most Chianti is now bottled in more standard shaped wine bottles...
.
In 1960, Hoyte published a report on the expedition as Trunk Road for Hannibal: With an Elephant Over the Alps.
External links
- The Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
course Hannibal by Patrick HuntPatrick HuntPatrick Hunt is an American archeologist and author.-Research:Dr. Patrick Hunt has directed the Stanford University Alpine Archaeology Project since 1994...
- Episode 7 features John Hoyte narrating the story in 2007. - A picture of John Hoyte on Jumbo can be found in
- The Elephant Boot at the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
/The British Museum A History of the World depicts one of the boots made for Jumbo.