Hannibal ’s attack on Rome is considered to be one of the greatest military feats of all time – even if it did end in defeat for the Carthaginians . Now researchers have firm scientific proof to suggest that the Second Punic War ( 218 - 201 BCE ) was a turning head in Roman story , transform what was , at the time , a regional power into one of the world ’s most infamous empire . And it all comes down to a smattering of Romanist coin made from Spanish silver .
The Second Punic War kicked off when Hannibal and his army ( of men , horses , andelephants ) cover the Pyrenees and Alps to make it in Northern Italy . After some initial succeeder , the Carthaginian ’s were defeated and drive to hand over their district in the Western Mediterranean , as well as some pretty hefty amends .
This meant that the Carthaginians , who had once been the leading economical and political power in the region , were left only with their territory in Northern Africa . Meanwhile , the fix and Iberian atomic number 47 mine acquired by the Romans during the war paved the way for the Roman Empire .
The role of Spanish silver in the rise of the Roman Empire has long been acknowledged , but research presented at this year’sGoldschmidt geochemistry conference(August 13 - 18 , 2017 ) was the first to study the silver content in Roman Catholic coins .
The researchers , led by Professor Fleur Kemmers and Dr Katrin Westner from the Institute for Archaeological Sciences at Goethe University in Frankfurt , analyzed the isotopic structures of 70 romish coins using a process called mass spectroscopic analysis to determine their country of source . The coin day of the month from 310 - 300 BCE to 101 BCE , a full stop that brackets the Second Punic War .
They discovered divergence in the isotopic signature of lead between coin before 209 BCE and those after 209 BCE . Those in the later coins match to deposit in southeastern United States and southwest Spain , whereas those of earlier coins come from the same sources of coinage found in Greek cities in Sicily and Italy . This shows just how pervasive Spanish ash gray was after the Second Punic War and how significant it was to the rise of Rome , which was until now just speculation .
" This monumental influx of Iberian silver medal importantly change Rome ’s economy , permit it to become the superpower of its day,“explainsWestner . " We make love this from the histories of Livy and Polybius and others , but our work gives contemporary scientific proof of the ascension of Rome . “What our piece of work show is that the defeat of Hannibal and the hike of Rome is drop a line in the coin of the Roman Empire . "
