Hannibal (Punic Hanniba'al חניבעל, Ba'al is my grace, or Ba'al has given me grace), son of Hamilcar Barca (247 BC – ca. 183 BC, short form Hannibal) was a Carthaginian military commaner and tactician, later also working in other professions, who is popularly credited as one of the finest commanders in history. He lived during a period of tension in the Mediterranean, when Rome (then the Roman Republic) established its supremacy over other great powers such as Carthage, and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of Macedon, Syracuse, and the Seleucid empire. He is one of the best-known Carthaginian commanders. His most famous achievement was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.