Sophonisba

Sophonisbe (also Sophonibe, Sophonisba, Punic Saphanba'al; 2nd century BC) was the daughter of the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal (son of the Carthaginian ruler Gisco ) and became famous for her role in the Second Punic War.

She was engaged early with Masinissa, but then about 205 BC married to the westnumidischen King Syphax, who allied himself with Carthage in the sequence against Rome. After the defeat and capture of Syphax 203 BC it fell into the hands of Masinissa, who immediately married her in order to escape the violence of the Romans; but when Scipio, the influence Sophonisbes to Masinissa fearing extradition demanded that they drank the cup of poison her gereichten of Masinissa.

Her story has been widely treated dramatically, including by Gian Giorgio Trissino (1524 ), Daniel Casper von Lohenstein (1666 ), Hermann Hersch (1859 ), Emanuel Geibel (1873 ) and Friedrich Roeber (1884 ). In the visual arts, especially of the 17th century, the presentation of their suicide was popular, including Bartholomäus Spranger ( 1610, National Gallery in Prague ), Tiepolo (1731, Milan, Palazzo Dugnani ) and Rembrandt van Rijn (1634, Madrid, Prado ).