Scipio Africanus

Lore & Background

Scipio was born in 236 BC to his homonymous father and Pomponia into the family of the Cornelii Scipiones, a major patrician family. His great-grandfather Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus and grandfather Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina had both been consuls and censors. His father held the consulship of 218 BC, his uncle was consul in 222 BC, and his mother's brothers were both consuls in 233 and 231 BC. In 216 BC, Scipio served as military tribune and survived the Battle of Cannae, where his father-in-law, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus, was slain. After the battle, he rallied survivors at Canusium. According to Livy, he forced young nobles at sword-point to swear never to abandon Rome, though this story is probably a late invention. In 213 BC, he was elected curule aedile despite opposition from a plebeian tribune who claimed he had not reached the minimum age.

In Their Own Story

In 210 BC, Scipio was elected to take command of Rome's forces in Hispania, despite never having held consular office, and was granted imperium pro consule. In 209 BC, he besieged Qart-Hadast (modern Cartagena), a major Carthaginian logistics hub. He captured the city by sending a wading party across the lagoon at low tide, telling his troops he had a vision of the god Neptune promising aid. He ordered his men to massacre all they encountered, cutting even dogs and other animals in half, to terrorize the local population. In 208 BC, he fought Hasdrubal at Baecula, but Hasdrubal escaped north to Italy, where he was later defeated at the Metaurus. In 206 BC, Scipio won a decisive victory at Ilipa, forcing the Carthaginians to withdraw from the peninsula. He also founded the town of Italica, later the birthplace of emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Theodosius I.

Reader's Guide

Scipio was elected consul for 205 BC amid much enthusiasm, though he was 31 and technically too young. He demanded the province of Africa from the senate, threatening to take the matter to the popular assemblies. Despite opposition from Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, the senate assigned him Sicily with permission to cross into Africa. The senate gave him no additional soldiers, so he recruited volunteers, mustering some 30 warships and 7,000 men from his clients and supporters in Italy. He spent most of his consulship preparing his troops in Sicily. In 202 BC, he routed Hannibal's army at Zama, forcing Carthage to sue for peace and ending the Second Punic War. Despite his triumphs, Scipio had many political opponents, in particular Cato the Elder. In 187 BC, he and his brother Lucius were subjected to trials for bribes supposedly received from the Seleucid king Antiochus III. Disillusioned, he left Rome and retired to his villa in Liternum, where he died circa 183 BC.

Did You Know?

• Scipio was not the first person to be given proconsular imperium without having held consular office; earlier examples include Titus Manlius Torquatus in 216 BC.
• At the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, he defeated Hannibal, earning the honorific epithet Africanus.
• He founded the town of Italica around 206 BC, which later became the birthplace of emperors Trajan and Hadrian, but not Theodosius I, who was born in Cauca (modern Coca, Spain).
• After the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, he rallied survivors at Canusium and, according to Livy, forced young nobles at sword-point to swear never to abandon Rome.
• In 187 BC, he and his brother Lucius were tried for bribes supposedly received from the Seleucid king Antiochus III, leading to his retirement and death circa 183 BC.