HANNO, the name of many Carthaginian soldiers and states men, the most important of whom are : I. HANNO, Carthaginian navigator, who flourished c. 500 B.C. He wrote an account of a coasting voyage on the west coast of Africa, undertaken for the purpose of exploration and coloniza tion. The original, inscribed on a tablet in the Phoenician lan guage, was hung up in the temple of Melkarth on his return to Carthage. A supposed Greek translation of this is still extant, under the title of Periplus, but its authenticity has been ques tioned. Hanno appears to have advanced beyond Sierra Leone as far as Cape Palmas.
Valuable editions by T. Falconer (1797, with translation and notes) and C. W. Muller in Geographici Graeci minores, i. ; see also E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, i. and treatise by C. T. Fischer (1893) , with bibliography.
2. HANNO (3rd century B.c.), called "the Great," Carthaginian statesman and general, leader of the aristocratic party and the chief opponent of Hamilcar and Hannibal. He appears to have gained his title from military successes in Africa, but of these nothing is known. In 24o B.C. he drove Hamilcar's veteran mer cenaries to rebellion by withholding their pay, and when invested with the command against them was so unsuccessful that Carthage might have been lost but for the exertions of Hamilcar (q.v.). Hanno subsequently remained at Carthage, exerting his influence against the democratic party. During the Second Punic War he advocated peace with Rome, and according to Livy even advised that Hannibal should be given up to the Romans. After the battle of Zama (202) he was one of the ambassadors sent to Scipio to sue for peace.
Livy xxi. 3 ff ., xxiii. 12; Polybius i. 67 ff.; Appian, Res Hispanicae, 4, 5, Res Punicae, 34, 49 68.
For others of the name see CARTHAGE; HANNIBAL; PUNIC WARS and Smith's Classical Dictionary.