Hannibal

Hannibal Barca was the son of Hamilcar Barca, a general of Carthage, the great trading city in North Africa that had lost the First Punic War to Rome. According to the historian Polybius, when Hannibal was nine his father made him swear never to be a friend of Rome. In 218 BC, starting the Second Punic War, he marched an army with war elephants from Spain over the Pyrenees and across the Alps into Italy, losing many men and animals in the snow. He defeated the Romans at the Trebia, at Lake Trasimene, and in 216 BC at Cannae, where his army surrounded and destroyed a much larger Roman force. Yet Rome refused to surrender, and under Fabius it avoided pitched battles. Hannibal stayed in Italy for fifteen years without taking Rome. Called home to defend Carthage, he was defeated by Scipio at Zama in 202 BC. He later led Carthage's government, then fled to the eastern kings when the Romans demanded his surrender. Around 183 BC, about to be handed over, he took poison.

Faith: Faith not well documented beyond the Carthaginian religion of his time. Source: Wikipedia

See also: Plutarch's Life of Fabius · Plutarch's Life of Marcellus