(~330 – ~220 BCE · Western Europe, Northern Africa & Southern Spain)
The Narrator offers a brief summary of the First Punic War from the Carthaginian perspective to prepare listeners for the story of how he first met and became the patron of the Spanish bandit Marco, a man forgotten by history but destined for greatness.
Based on Chapter 10 of Middle by Geoff Micks.
Romans (at right) boarding a Carthaginian ship with the help of a Corvus gangplank. (Illustration by Giuseppe Rava.)
An illustration of how desperate things became in the First Punic War. Thousands on both sides died at sea.
The Oath of Hannibal by Benjamin West, painted in 1770. It depicts the moment when the nine-year-old Hannibal is taken to a temple by his father Hamilcar Barca to swear an oath that he shall never be a friend of Rome.
I promise not to do this too often, but when I wrote Marco, I was picturing Eli Wallach. This portrait, I hope, will do a nice job of illustrating what I had in mind.
An Iberian falcata. Note the curved blade and the horsehead pommel.

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Credits:
Voice Acting – Geoff Micks
Editing – Geoff Micks
Music – Dimitri Kovalchuk (MokuseiNoMaguro) through Pixabay
Additional Music – Aleksey Voronin (Amaksi) through Pixabay







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