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A lo largo de la Segunda Guerra Púnica, los distintos agentes intervinientes en el frente hispano recurrieron constantemente a la diplomacia, materializada a menudo en el intercambio de regalos. El presente artículo analiza estos intercambios, centrándose en un tipo de dones singularmente valiosos: los seres humanos de estirpe aristocrática previamente reducidos a la condición de rehenes o cautivos. Su eventual liberación, espontánea y unilateral, y las respuestas suscitadas entre sus familiares y comunidades de origen, se comprende mejor desde el punto de vista de las dinámicas de intercambio de dones diplomáticos, generadoras, por definición, de gratitud, ansiedad y reciprocidad entre los interlocutores. En tanto que canal de comunicación, la materialidad diplomática – esto es, la circulación de bienes de prestigio, rehenes, promesas... – sirvió para tejer redes de alianza y para consolidar asimetrías políticas en un escenario bélico progresivamente extensivo y multipolar. Summary: Throughout the Second Punic War, the various actors involved on the Hispanic front constantly resorted to diplomacy, often in the form of exchanges of presents. This article analyses these exchanges, focusing on a singularly valuable type of gift: human beings of aristocratic lineage previously reduced to the status of hostages or captives. Their eventual release, spontaneous and unilateral, and the responses elicited among their families and communities of origin, are best understood in terms of the dynamics of diplomatic gift exchange, which by definition generate gratitude, anxiety and reciprocity among the interlocutors. As a channel of communication, diplomatic materiality – that is, the circulation of prestige goods, hostages, promises, etc. – served to weave alliance networks as well as to consolidate political asymmetries in a progressively extensive and multipolar war scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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