Una guerra diversa da tutte le altre: memorie della seconda guerra punica

The article analyses the significance of the Second Punic War in Roman collective memory. In particular, it focuses on the way through which the conflict was metabolised by the generations who directly experienced it in the years immediately following its conclusion, when Rome was embarking on the path that would lead it, within a few decades, to assume a hegemonic status in the Mediterranean context. Undoubtedly, the losses suffered during the first years of the conflict led the members of the senatorial elite to develop a different conception of political life, especially in the management of military command, while for a large part of the population, and especially for the veterans of the conflict, the war brought profound economic changes that were destined to explode a few decades later.