Was Hannibal Black

Interesting for who? he was a great Carthaginian general, no matter what any revisionist fool, if they be either a Nazi or afro-centrist, wants to believe.

southafrican, take a look at the other threads that try to mix race with history and see what happens, before starting another one. Nor is it good enough to start a whole new thread so you can ask what really is a silly trivial question. If you so want to ask such things at least go to the question and answers section and reserve the dedicated forums for  proper discussion about history.

If you want to continue creating such threads, we will regard this as spam and you will be warned.

How many times we are going to answer the same? Hannibal was Lebanese....

Originally posted by pekau ...  ...I heard of stupid African theories like Japanese and Chinese being Black and all... but Hannibal could be black. It's not completely illogical. He was born in North Africa, right? Or was he born in Spain?

Originally posted by pinguin It is illogical. Carthago was a state build and controlled by Phoenician descendents, not even Berbers. Beside, it is recorded in history that Hannibal was Lebanese (remember, Phoenicians...)

Not even Berbers? Are you sure? I find it very difficult to believe that in the 700 years since the Phoenecians first colonized Carthage that they never once mixed with the Berbers already living there. Hannibal probably looked like a modern Tunisian. Though that doesn't really tell you much, since I don't think Tunisians come in only one colour. Without a photograph of Hannibal it's really going to be impossible to say what he looked like for sure. We also don't know how tall he was or what shoe size he wore.

Not even Berbers? Are you sure? I find it very difficult to believe that in the 700 years since the Phoenecians first colonized Carthage that they never once mixed with the Berbers already living there.

The amount of Berbers that entered into this Phoenician Colony would probably be quite small. Remember this was a time when tribes rarely interbred with those they considered inferior. And to the Phoenicians and Carthaginians by extension who had their own rich culture, why would they willingly interbreed en masse with 'uncivilized' desert nomads. Not to say that individuals in the population didn't interbreed, but it wouldn't cause a mixture of populations. Besides even the berbers themselves in that area wouldn't be what modern ethnists would consider 'black'.

As to Hannibal himself, he was a general from a rich family, therefore his ancestors would have been noble, meaning that they would strongly lead towards hannibal himself being almost entirely of Phoenician-Mediteranean stock.

I agree though it would be interesting if Hannibal was black because it would completely invalidate all researched materials on the general.

doesn't look very black to me!

North Africans are not black, thats Sub-Saharan Africans.  No Hannibal was not black, he was Phoenecian, and thus of Semitic and North African origins.

Originally posted by pinguin Hannibal Black? Only in Hollywood

Healthy discussion? Depends on your definition.  More like extended ridicule and side-tracking... There's no one who actually sides with the idea that Hannibal was black. The way you put it, it would make it seem like there's an actual debate on whether he might have been black, whereas the unanimous opinion is that he was not.

Originally posted by pekau Originally posted by pinguin Hannibal Black? Only in Hollywood   I like the picture though. Pretty cool.