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Livy and Polybius note that after the conquest of New Carthage, Scipio Africanus the Elder freed Spanish hostages, among whom was Allucius' fiancée of extraordinary beauty. Not only did Scipio not accept her as a gift, but he summoned her parents and fiancé from her country, returned her to them for free and gave away as a wedding gift the gold intended for her redemption. The motif of the "continence of Scipio", which was a political strategy aimed at gaining allies and ensuring their friendship with the Romans, was widely reflected in literature, opera and, above all, painting, starting from the sixteenth century. In the article we present works created in the Venetian artistic environment that have not been analyzed before.

The purpose of this paper is to present the historiophotic image of Carthage and Carthaginians and also to demonstrate what made-up stories take from the image of antiquity present in our collective consciousness, what motifs were an inspiration for the creators of both the film and the TV series (hictorical motifs but also architecture – very important for the background, e.g. Punic temple of Moloch in Cabiria or frequent Egyptian borrowings – and 19th century paintings by J.M.W. Turner), how ancient code was used to discuss politics of the day (in Cabiria, the fights between pacifists and nationalists calling for the conquest of Africa), whether D’Annunzianism had any impact on the film and how Cabiria fits into the historical-Roman trend. Antiquity presented and imagined as above were analysed on two levels – philological and archaeological (including architectural elements building up urban structures, decorative sculptures, interior decoration, everyday objects and clothing).

The purpose of the article is to present the role of natural weather phenomena that were noted by ancient historians in the narrative of the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). In addition to the best-known use of the weather during the Battle of Cannae (216 BC), during which Hannibal, according to historian Florus, colluded with all nature, the article analyses the failed attempt to capture Rome in 211 BC – prevented by a storm, weather prodigia heralding Roman defeat in the first part of the war as well as the function of meteorological battle imagery.

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