Hannibal spent the first five years of his life on Mount Eyrx, a military fortress near Carthage, where his father resisted Rome. For five years, Hamilcar, Hannibal's father, had held that mountain without exhausting the Carthaginian treasure. During this time, Hannibal was exposed to many different cultures and languages because his father had a very diverse mercenary army.
The next four years of his life were in Carthage on the northern coast of Africa. This New City (of the Phoenicians) had become a commercial center in Africa. Carthage was unique among all other large and powerful cities because it had no walls around it, which signified its freedom of any controling power.
A revolt in Carthage from 241- 238 B.C. kept Hannibal isolated in a villa in Carthage where tutors and servants cared for him. Because of the internal chaos, the Council of Carthage had elected Hamilcar Barca as