Legendary Commanders Who Challenged Ancient Rome

In the history of war, only a select few men always make the list of greatest generals. Napoleon. Caesar. Alexander. They are always joined by Hannibal, who has the distinction of being the only man who nearly brought Rome to its knees before its decline almost 700 years later. Rome never suffered a more horrifying defeat in its history than at Cannae, and indeed, Hannibal nearly rewrote the course of Western history during the Second Punic War. 

Spartacus is the world’s most famous slave, and one of the most notorious figures of Ancient Rome. A slave enamored of freedom and willing to fight and die for it, he became especially popular in the years following the Enlightenment, after which he was widely viewed as a poignant champion of liberty in the 18th and 19th centuries. As a result, he became a symbol during struggles like the French Revolution, the American Revolution, the American Civil War and the struggle for emancipation. Today, his dual life as a gladiator and a “freedom fighter” makes him fascinating to audiences around the world. 

Attila, Emperor of the Hunnic Empire and thus most commonly known as Attila the Hun, is an idiosyncratic figure who has become more myth than man, not least because much of his life is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps the most famous “barbarian” in history, Attila was the lord of a vast empire spanning two continents, but he is best remembered for what he did not conquer. Though he seemingly had Rome at his mercy in 452, he ultimately decided not to sack the Eternal City, and a year later he had suffered a mysterious death. Naturally, the dearth of information and the passage of time have allowed myths and legends to fill in the most important details of Attila’s life. Why did a man at war with the Roman Empire for so long decide not to sack Rome in 452? Did a meeting with Pope Leo the Great convince him to spare the capital of the Western half of the empire?