Abstrakt

Roman sources suggest that upon his exile, Hannibal attempted to persuade Antiochus III, the ruler of the Seleucid Empire, to wage a new war against Rome. The king showed an interest in the idea and dispatched Aristo on a mission to Carthage in 193 BC. Aristo informed Hannibal’s supporters of the king’s plans. The article analy-ses the plausibility of the alleged event and its signifcance in Roman historiography. Aristo’s mission had greatly contributed to Carthage’s relations with the ancient Middle Eastern countries. It is also possible that the envoy’s role was to lay the gro-und for an offcial treaty between Antiochus III and Carthage. Aristo is mentioned mainly in Roman sources, and it is highly likely that the account of his mission to Carthage had been changed considerably to accommodate the political preferences of the Roman rulers. This was done to present the relations with Carthage in a different light and to portray the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC as an event that had been provoked by Carthaginian conspiracy and intrigue against Rome.