Abstract
Hannibal's crossing of the Alps is an historical event that is only passed down to us through ancient texts. Careful analysis of these written sources must therefore antedate and inform any scientific enquiry, including fieldwork. The random selection and investigation of topographical or sedimentological features, on the other hand, informed only by free translations of the Greek originals, is a misguided enterprise and can only end in futile conclusions. However, if both lines of enquiry—the critical analysis of written sources and the gathering of geographical evidence—are combined, it is still possible to reach positive conclusions. In the case of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, such combined efforts lead to the insight—first gained by Jean-Baptiste Perrin (1887)—that the pass at Col de Clapier in the Mt Cenis group concurs with all the descriptive details as given in Polybius' Histories.
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