Liternum was an ancient town of Campania , southern central Italy , near "Patria lake", on the low sandy coast between Cumae and the mouth of the Volturnus . It was probably once dependent on Cumae. In 194 BC it became a Roman colony . Although Livy records that the town was unsuccessful, excavation reveals a Roman town existed there until the 4th century AD.
69-497: The town is mainly famous as the residence of the elder Scipio Africanus , who withdrew from Rome and died there. His tomb and villa are described by Seneca the Younger in his Moral Letters to Lucilius . In letter LXXXVI, Seneca describes the villa as being built with squared stone blocks with towers on both sides. In Ovid 's Metamorphoses Liternum is mentioned for its mastic trees : lentisciferum... Liternum . Augustus Caesar
138-553: A basilica and a small theater) dating from the beginning of the Roman Empire. Outside the city walls, the remains of the amphitheater and the necropolis have been identified. 40°55′16″N 14°01′48″E / 40.921094°N 14.030128°E / 40.921094; 14.030128 Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus ( / ˈ s k ɪ p . i . oʊ / , / ˈ s ɪ p -/ , Latin: [ˈskiːpioː] ; 236/235– c. 183 BC )
207-610: A bribe to secure favourable peace terms, which Africanus rejected. At the battle itself, he claimed illness, but was selected to present the Roman peace terms regardless. The credit for the victory accrued to his brother and commander, Lucius. The peace terms presented at Sardis were largely the Roman demands prior to the battle: Antiochus would cede all territory outside the Taurus line (eventually determined to be from Cape Sarpedon in Cilicia through to
276-404: A case that Scipio's successes resulted from good planning, rational thinking and intelligence, which he said was a higher sign of the gods' favour than prophetic dreams. Polybius suggested that people had only said that Scipio had supernatural powers because they had not appreciated the natural mental gifts which facilitated Scipio's achievements. The Roman historian Valerius Maximus , writing in
345-529: A conqueror of Africa . Scipio's conquest of Carthaginian Iberia culminated in the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC against Hannibal's brother Mago Barca . Although considered a hero by the Roman people, primarily for his victories against Carthage, Scipio had many opponents, especially Cato the Elder , who hated him deeply. In 187 BC, he was tried in a show trial alongside his brother for bribes they supposedly received from
414-469: A peaceful and largely open interstate system in the aftermath of the Roman proclamation of Greek freedom. It did not help that the cities that he did take had to be taken by force. The consul of 191 BC, Manius Acilius Glabrio , arrived in the spring and promptly defeated Antiochus at the Battle of Thermopylae – Antiochus lost the battle and was forced back across the Aegean to Ephesus within six months of
483-561: A quickly-suppressed revolt by Spanish tribes when false rumours of Scipio's death from illness spread, he crossed into Africa to solicit the support of Syphax and thence into western Hispania to meet Massinissa for the same purpose. Syphax pledged loyalty but eventually joined with the Carthaginians; Massinissa, however, joined with the Romans with a small contingent when Syphax expelled him the kingdom of Massylii . Meanwhile, Gades surrendered to
552-631: A rousing oration detailing his services to the republic and noting that the day is the anniversary of the Battle of Zama. At this notice, he then leads an impromptu procession to sacrifice at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus amid thunderous applause, leaving the prosecutors embarrassed. This story, however, "generates little confidence". The legal troubles proved little trouble for the Scipiones, as evidence by Asiagenes' lavish games in 186 and vigorous campaign for
621-505: A special favourite of heaven and actually communicated with the gods. It is quite possible that he himself honestly shared this belief. However, the strength of this belief is evident, even a generation later when his adopted grandson, Publius Aemilianus Scipio , was elected to the consulship from the office of tribune. His rise was spectacular and letters survive from soldiers under his command in Hispania show that they believed that he possessed
690-508: Is said to have conducted a colony of veterans to Liternum. The construction of the Via Domitiana through Liternum made it a posting station, but the town later had a malaria outbreak and went into decline. In 455, the town was pillaged and destroyed by Genseric , king of the Vandals . Excavations between 1930 and 1936 brought to light some elements of the city center ( forum with a temple,
759-635: Is said to have written his memoirs in Greek, but those are lost (perhaps destroyed) along with the history written by his elder son and namesake (adoptive father of Scipio Aemilianus) and his Life by Plutarch . As a result, contemporary accounts of his life, particularly his childhood and youth, are virtually non-existent. Even Plutarch's account of Scipio's life, written much later, has been lost. What remains are accounts of his doings in Polybius, Livy's Histories (which say little about his private life), supplemented with
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#1732858820908828-492: Is that the girl was freed by Aemilia Paulla after Scipio's death and married to one of his freedmen . This account is only found in Valerius Maximus (Memorable Deeds and Sayings 6.7.1–3. L) writing in the first century AD, some decades after Livy. Valerius Maximus is hostile to Scipio Africanus in other matters such as his frequent visits to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus , which Maximus saw as "fake religion". Scipio
897-623: The Oxford Classical Dictionary , prefer 183 BC. It is not clear where Scipio Africanus was buried. There are three main possibilities. The first is the Tomb of the Scipios in Rome. Nothing survives in the literary record documenting his burial there, however. The second is his villa at Liternum: it was later owned by Seneca the Younger , who in a letter expressed his belief that an altar there
966-559: The First Punic War , which saw the Carthaginians' war efforts renewed. The senate, regardless, assigned Scipio no additional soldiers, leading him to recruit an army of volunteers; Livy reports that from his clients and supporters in Italy, he mustered some 30 warships and 7,000 men. He spent most of his consulship preparing his troops in Sicily for the invasion of Africa. He captured Locri on
1035-517: The Gracchi brothers , Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus . None of his sons had legitimate issue. However, his son Publius adopted the son of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, who became known as Scipio Aemilianus . Scipio's only descendants living through the late Republican period were the descendants of his two daughters. His younger daughter's last surviving child Sempronia , wife and then widow of Scipio Aemilianus – his adoptive grandson –
1104-657: The river Baetis , near Baecula. While Scipio was victorious, the battle was indecisive and Hasdrubal escaped north with most of his army across the Pyrenees for Italy; Hasdrubal and his army reached Italy in 207, where they were eventually defeated in the Battle of the Metaurus with the army destroyed and Hasdrubal slain. The following year, Hasdrubal was replaced by a certain Hanno, who was captured by Junius Silanus in Celtiberia . Following
1173-463: The river Tanais ), pay a war indemnity of 15,000 talents to Rome with a separate 400 talents to Eumenes, all exiles and enemies of Rome would be handed over (including Hannibal) along with twenty hostages (including Antiochus' youngest son). The 190s BC saw a re-emergence of attempts by the aristocratic elite to put limits on individual ambitions. The return of the Scipiones to Rome saw claims over Lucius Scipio's triumph disputed: critics thought
1242-560: The Capitoline triad that they would never abandon Rome. This story is probably a late invention, as it does not appear in Polybius. The next year, in 213 BC, he was elected curule aedile and served with his cousin Marcus Cornelius Cethegus . His candidacy was opposed by one of the plebeian tribunes on the grounds that he had not yet reached the minimum age, but the voters expressed such enthusiastic support for Scipio that
1311-610: The Mediterranean and beyond, limit her rights to expand in Africa, recognize Massinissa's kingdom, give up all but twenty of her ships, and pay a war indemnity. However, during the negotiations, the Carthaginians – suffering from starvation – attacked a Roman food convoy, leading to protests to be sent and envoys exchanged. Amid further attempts to remove him from command – one of the consuls of 203 BC, Gnaeus Servilius Caepio , attempted to substitute himself for Scipio to claim credit for
1380-406: The Roman toga, raised much opposition among some Senators of Rome, led by Cato the Elder who felt that Greek influence was destroying Roman culture. Cato, as a loyalist of Fabius Maximus , had been sent out as quaestor to Scipio in Sicily circa 204 BC to investigate charges of military indiscipline, corruption, and other offence against Scipio; none of those charges was found true by the tribunes of
1449-464: The Romans. Some time c. 206 BC , Scipio also founded the town of Italica (located about 9 km northwest of Seville), which later became the birthplace of the emperors, Trajan , Hadrian , and Theodosius I . With a general victory across the peninsula, Scipio then returned to Rome to stand for the consulship of 205 BC, leaving Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus in command. He returned to Rome late in
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#17328588209081518-568: The Scipiones had been fighting a weak enemy and that the war had actually truly been won a year earlier at Thermopylae. His triumph, however, was approved regardless. Lucius' attempt to secure from the senate a prorogation to oversee the settlement of Asia also was rejected; no exception would be made to the general post-Hannibalic war rule against promagistrates. Lucius Scipio adopted the cognomen Asiagenes and at his triumph brought some 137,420 pounds of silver, 224,000 tetradrachms , 140,000 gold coins, 234 gold crowns, 1231 ivory tusks, and more into
1587-457: The Scipiones' legal troubles are recorded in the ancient sources. Scipio Asiagenes was in fact indicted. He was not alone, his successor in Asia – Gnaeus Manlius Vulso – also was brought up on charges. Regardless, the trial forced a full accounting of cash paid by Antiochus to Manlius and Asiagenes. After Asiagenes was fined – either by a special court or by tribunician legislation – he refused to pay
1656-404: The Scipios arrived, the Romans had an army in Asia minor. Antiochus offered terms – a war indemnity to cover half the cost of the war and abandonment of his claims to Smyrna, Lapsacus, Alexandria Troas, and other towns – but the Scipiones rejected the offer based on the Roman war aim of reshaping to their benefit the Aegean balance of power. They responded by demanding Antiochus cede all territory to
1725-856: The Seleucid king Antiochus III during the Roman–Seleucid War . Disillusioned by the ingratitude of his peers, Scipio left Rome and retired from public life at his villa in Liternum . Scipio Africanus was born as Publius Cornelius Scipio in 236 BC to his then-homonymous father and Pomponia into the family of the Cornelii Scipiones . His family was one of the major still-extant patrician families and had held multiple consulships within living memory: his great-grandfather Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus and grandfather Lucius Cornelius Scipio had both been consuls and censors . His father had held
1794-421: The Taurus mountains and pay an indemnity covering the entire cost of the war; the demands were so extreme he immediately broke off negotiations. Late in the year, around mid-December, Antiochus' forces engaged the Romans at Magnesia ; even though they outnumbered the Romans and allies by at least two to one, Antiochus' army of some 60,000 men was routed. Shortly before Magnesia, Antiochus offered Scipio Africanus
1863-489: The account-books from his brother, he waved them before the senators and then tore them up, asking the rhetorical question as to how the senate could be concerned with a mere 3,000 talents when he had brought 15,000 into the treasury by conquering Spain, Africa, and Asia. One story, given by Valerius Antias , indicates that one of the tribunes at the urging of Cato the Elder brought charges against Scipio Africanus alleging bribery and theft. Antias then has Scipio respond with
1932-473: The alleged embassy, Scipio is apocryphally said to have discussed the best generals with Hannibal at Ephesus. In 192 BC, Rome declared war on Antiochus, who – after a cold war with the Romans starting from the close of the Second Macedonian War through to 193 BC – had invaded Greece. Antiochus' initial push into Greece was met with little enthusiasm by the locals, who were well-treated in
2001-599: The army under Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, which retreated to Gades (modern Cádiz ), Scipio's brother took Orongis (modern Jaén ) before a decisive victory in 206 BC at the Battle of Ilipa , north of modern Seville , forced the Carthaginians to withdraw from the peninsula. In mopping-up operations, Scipio captured Ilourgeia and Castulo, inflicting severe punishment on the former for having killed refugees from his army. Other Roman commanders captured other towns in Spain, including Astapa, whose inhabitants committed mass suicide. After
2070-488: The assembly elected Scipio to take command. Modern scholars dismiss the Livian narrative of senatorial indecision and have instead suggested that the senate chose Scipio but forced a popular vote to legitimise an irregular command. Giving Scipio command was an extraordinary act, as he at this point had never held a praetorship or consulship, but was regardless granted imperium pro consule , taking command on his arrival to Spain in
2139-408: The brothers divided their forces to attack three separate Carthaginian armies were defeated in detail . The brothers fell in separate battles against the Carthaginians, who were led by Hasdrubal Barca , Mago Barca , and Hasdrubal Gisco ; the two Barcas were Hannibal's brothers. Initially, Gaius Claudius Nero – who was praetor in 212 BC – was sent to contain the situation. But in 210 BC,
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2208-459: The censorship of 184 (he was unsuccessful). Friends of the Scipiones continued to win consular elections. Scipio himself retired to Liternum; "the idea that he retired in semi-exile or ignominy is pure romance". Scipio retired to his country seat at Liternum on the coast of Campania , where he died. There are multiple dates reported for his death. Polybius and Rutilius , who both lived shortly after his death, report that he died in 183 BC;
2277-468: The citadel and rapidly switched his tune, sparing the remaining citizens and only enslaving the town's non-citizens. He then took the three hundred Spanish hostages into his custody, giving them gifts, guaranteeing their safety and that of their families, and promising them freedom if their respective communities would ally with Rome. After the battle, several Spanish tribes defected to the Romans. The next year, 208 BC, Scipio fought Hasdrubal north of
2346-463: The city rapidly and with little ability to tell combatants and civilians apart, Scipio ordered his men to massacre all they encountered and pillage any structures; Polybius viewed the massacre as intended to terrorise the Spanish population into rapidly surrendering and included an anecdote of Romans being so thorough as to cut even the dogs and other animals in half. He then forced the surrender of Mago in
2415-449: The city. His soldiers were granted bonuses of 25 denarii each, with more to officers and cavalry. These enormous amounts of plunder triggered moral panic at Rome about the possible diversion of those funds to extravagant private use. These troubles related to the broader matter of charting the boundaries of power that magistrates could exercise abroad, especially in relation of monies obtained in war. A confusing mess of stories related to
2484-534: The consulship of 194 BC. During his second consulship, he wanted to succeed Titus Quinctius Flamininus in Greece and advocated for a stronger Roman presence in the Aegean to guard against Antiochus III , but was unsuccessful. He instead fought the Boii and Ligurians in northern Italy, against whom the Romans had been continuously campaigning since 201 BC. Scipio let his co-consul, Tiberius Sempronius Longus , take
2553-420: The consulship of 218 BC, his uncle was consul in 222 BC, and his mother's brothers – Manius Pomponius Matho and Marcus Pomponius Matho – were both consuls in 233 and 231, respectively. The Second Punic war started in the spring of 218 BC when the Roman ultimatum to Carthage demanding that Hannibal withdraw from Saguntum in Spain was rejected. Scipio's father was consul that year and
2622-437: The disastrous Battle of Cannae – his father-in-law, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus , was there slain – and, after the battle, rallied survivors at Canusium . According to Livy, when he heard that Lucius Caecilius Metellus and other young nobles were discussing a plan to abandon the republic and go overseas to serve as mercenaries, Scipio stormed into the meeting and forced all of them at sword-point to swear to Jupiter and
2691-487: The early autumn. He was the first person to have been given proconsular imperium without having held consular office. He went to Spain with some 10,000 reinforcements and was joined by another commander, Marcus Junius Silanus , who was dispatched pro praetore and soon assumed command of Nero's army. Seeking to defeat the three Carthaginian armies in detail, the next year, 209 BC, saw Scipio's first major campaign: he besieged Carthago Nova (modern Cartagena), which
2760-475: The faculty of inspiring his soldiers with confidence. Livy reports that, as a Roman commissioner to Ephesus following the defeat of Antiochus III , on meeting the exiled Hannibal , Scipio took the opportunity to ask Hannibal's opinion of the "greatest commander", to which Hannibal named Alexander the Great as the first and Pyrrhus as the second. Livy continues, "On Scipio's again asking him whom he regarded as
2829-507: The final blow against Carthage; the consuls of 202 BC coveted the African command for the same reason – Scipio refused peace terms at a parley with Hannibal in 202 BC. With the support of Masinissa's Numidian cavalry, the Battle of Zama was fought shortly after; the Romans won and Carthage then again sued for peace. In the new year, 201 BC, Scipio remained in Africa to conclude negotiations, which saw Carthage's territory kept to
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2898-491: The fine, claiming poverty, and was only saved from prison when one of the plebeian tribunes, usually identified as Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus , interceded. Africanus was around the same time challenged in the senate. A senator demanded that he produce his account-books for the Antiochene campaign and account for the monies allotted to pay his troops. He responded with indignation and declared that he owed no reckoning. Securing
2967-462: The first century AD, alleged that Scipio Africanus had a weakness for beautiful women, and knowing this, some of his soldiers presented him with a beautiful young woman captured in New Carthage. The woman turned out to be the fiancée of an important Iberian chieftain and Scipio chose to act as a general and not an ordinary soldier in restoring her, virtue and ransom intact, to her fiancé. This episode
3036-431: The kingdom. The Carthaginians reacted to the defeat by recalling their generals Hannibal and Mago from Italy and launching their fleet against Scipio's to cut off their supply lines. Scipio was forced into a naval battle near Utica, but was able to avert disaster, losing only some sixty transport ships. Another set of peace negotiations occurred, with the Carthaginians eventually agreeing to abandon all territorial claims in
3105-489: The later historian Valerius Antias reported that he died in 187 BC. Livy , arguing against both dates in his history, believed Scipio died c. 185 BC , rejecting both dates with the argument that if Scipio lived to 183 he would be noted as princeps senatus and that Scipio had to have lived to 185 BC to have been prosecuted by the Naevius who was tribune in that year. However, most modern sources, such as
3174-454: The leading role in the fighting and returned to Rome to hold the consular elections. In 193 BC, Scipio is said to have taken part in two embassies. The first was to Africa, where he was one of three sent to arbitrate a boundary dispute between Carthage and Masinissa: the commission left the matter undecided, possibly on purpose. The second embassy is said to have been to Asia and, on the basis of travel time, could not have happened. During
3243-461: The matter to the popular assemblies if it refused to do so. Despite fierce opposition from the princeps senatus, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , the senate bowed to his pressure and he received Sicily with permission to cross into Africa if he wished. Fabius' opposition may have been related to jealousy of Scipio's popularity, but also was likely informed by the failed African campaign c. 255 BC under Marcus Atilius Regulus during
3312-434: The ordinary run of military captains as an incomparable commander." Metellus Scipio , a descendant of Scipio, commanded legions against Julius Caesar in Africa until his defeat at the Battle of Thapsus in 49 BC. Popular superstition was that only a Scipio could win a battle in Africa, so Julius Caesar assigned a distant relative of Metellus to his staff in order to say that he too had a Scipio fighting for him. Scipio
3381-448: The peace so that he could continue the war in Scipio's place, the peace terms were ratified by the assembly in Rome, bringing the war to a final close. On his return, Scipio celebrated a triumph over Hannibal, the Carthaginians, and Syphax. There, he took the agnomen Africanus ('the African'), for his victories. By this point, Scipio's career reached far beyond his peers even though he
3450-451: The plebs accompanying Cato (it may or may not be significant that years later, as censor , Cato degraded Scipio's brother Scipio Asiaticus from the Senate. It is certainly true that some Romans of the day viewed Cato as a representative of the old Romans, and Scipio and his like as Graecophiles). He often visited the temple of Jupiter and made offerings there. There was a belief that he was
3519-430: The same abilities as his grandfather. The elder Scipio was a spiritual man as well as a soldier and statesman, and was a priest of Mars . The ability which he is supposed to have possessed is called by the old name, "second sight", and he is supposed to have had prescient dreams in which he saw the future. Livy describes this belief as it was perceived then, without offering his opinion as to its veracity. Polybius made
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#17328588209083588-476: The status quo ante bellum, Carthage restore to the Romans all captured goods and persons, Carthaginian disarmament of all but ten triremes, and Carthage needing to ask for Roman permission to make any war. Massinissa's territory in Numidia was to be confirmed; and a war indemnity of 10,000 talents was to be paid over the next fifty years. Although the consul of 201 BC, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus attempted to oppose
3657-498: The surviving histories of Appian and Cassius Dio , and the odd anecdote in Valerius Maximus. Of these, Polybius was the closest to Scipio Africanus in age and in connections, but his narrative may be biased by his friendship with Scipio's close relatives and that the primary source of his information about Africanus came from one of his best friends, Gaius Laelius . Scipio is considered by many to be one of Rome's greatest generals. Skillful alike in strategy and in tactics, he had also
3726-456: The third, Hannibal, without any hesitation, replied, 'Myself.' Scipio smiled and asked, 'What would you say if you had vanquished me?' 'In that case,' replied Hannibal, 'I should say that I surpassed Alexander and Pyrrhus, and all other commanders in the world.' Scipio was delighted with the turn which the speaker had with true Carthaginian adroitness given to his answer, and the unexpected flattery it conveyed, because Hannibal had set him apart from
3795-461: The toe of Italy that year, and left one Pleminius in command there. After Pleminius assumed command, he robbed the city's temple and tortured and killed two military tribunes. For these crimes, the senate had Pleminius placed under arrest; Scipio was also implicated but was cleared the next year. His imperium was prorogued into 205 BC and in that year, he crossed with his men into Africa and besieged Utica before withdrawing and pretending in
3864-526: The tribune desisted. From the start of the war through to 211 BC, Scipio's father, Publius Cornelius Scipio, and uncle – Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus – were in command of Rome's armies in Spain. They made some headway when the Carthaginians were forced to withdraw a considerable portion of their forces to handle a revolt by Syphax of Numidia . Through the seven years from 218, the brothers had successfully extended Roman control deep into Carthaginian territory. However, disaster struck in 211 BC when
3933-475: The war's start. The consul of 190 BC was Scipio Africanus' brother, Lucius Cornelius Scipio , who was assigned by the senate to Greece with permission to cross into Asia. He appointed his older brother, Scipio Africanus, as one of his legates. While en route, Roman armies and fleets quickly overwhelmed Antiochus' defences, forcing him to retreat from the Hellespont and Abydos ; by October 190 BC, when
4002-496: The winter to negotiate with the Carthaginians. During those pretended negotiations, Scipio mapped out the enemy camps and launched a night attack that was successful in destroying them and killing a large number of the enemy. The armies then fought in the Battle of the Great Plains some time early in the new year (his imperium was prorogued until the war's completion) and after capturing Syphax of Numidia, restored Massinissa to
4071-467: The year 199 BC, Scipio was elected censor with Publius Aelius Paetus as his colleague. Their censorship was largely unremarkable, but saw Scipio named as princeps senatus , a title which he retained for the next two lustra . After this point, the classicist Howard Hayes Scullard believed that Scipio's political position entered an eclipse. This is disputed. After the required ten years between consulships had elapsed, Scipio secured election to
4140-444: The year; according to Livy he was denied a triumph, on the grounds that he was privatus – that is, sine magistratu – and had never been elected to a magistracy with imperium . Scipio was elected unanimously to the consulship of 205 BC amid much enthusiasm; he was 31 and still technically too young to be consul. When he entered into office, he demanded that the senate assign him the province of Africa and threatened to take
4209-439: The younger Scipio joined him in the campaign to stop Hannibal's march on Italy. In a short cavalry engagement between Scipio's father and Hannibal at the river Ticinus near modern Pavia , Polybius claims that the son saved his father's life after the father was encircled by enemy horsemen. Other sources, however, credit an unnamed Ligurian slave. Two years later, in 216 BC, Scipio served as military tribune . He survived
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#17328588209084278-407: Was alive as late as 102 BC. Scipio was a man of great intellect and culture who could speak and read Greek , wrote his own memoirs in Greek and became also noted for his introduction of the clean shaven face fashion among the Romans according to the example of Alexander the Great instead of wearing the beard . This man's fashion lasted until the time of emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138), then
4347-706: Was Africanus' tomb. The third is the pyramidal Meta Romuli which was ahistorically dubbed the Sepulcrum Scipionis during the Renaissance. Scipio married Aemilia Tertia , daughter of the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus who fell at Cannae. She was also the sister of another consul, Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus . Scipio's marriage was fruitful. They had three sons: They also had two daughters. Both were named Cornelia. The elder married Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum . The younger Cornelia married Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and became mother to
4416-516: Was a Roman general and statesman, most notable as one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Carthage in the Second Punic War . Often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders and strategists of all time, his greatest military achievement was the defeat of Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. This victory in Africa earned him the honorific epithet Africanus , literally meaning 'the African', but meant to be understood as
4485-410: Was a major Carthaginian logistics hub and of substantial strategic importance. In the battle , he captured the city by sending a wading party across the lagoon to the city's north when it reached low tide, he told the troops that he had a vision in which the god Neptune had promised aid; this alleged vision played a role in the rapid development of a Scipionic legend around him and his family. Storming
4554-458: Was frequently depicted by painters of the Renaissance and early modern era as the Continence of Scipio. According to Valerius Maximus, Scipio had a relationship from c. 191 BC with one of his own serving girls, which his wife magnanimously overlooked. The affair, if it lasted from circa 191 BC to Scipio's death 183 BC, might have resulted in issue (not mentioned); what is mentioned
4623-808: Was only in his early thirties. On his return, he deposited some 123,000 pounds of silver into the Roman treasury and distributed 400 asses each to his soldiers. His popularity among the plebs was also astonishing – the Scipionic legend, which in later forms depicted him a son of Jupiter – and heralded great political success. This success, however, turned many Roman aristocrats into his enemies, largely to oppose his further aggrandisement or out of jealousy. Even during his consulship, he had been opposed by Fabius Maximus and others, especially after stories circulated of his being saluted as king and god in Spain. His intended role in Roman politics, however, remained traditional. In
4692-513: Was revived by Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) and lasted until the reign of emperor Phocas (r. 602–610) who again introduced the wearing of the beard among Roman emperors. He also enjoyed the reputation of being a graceful orator , the secret of his sway being his deep self-confidence and radiant sense of fairness. To his political opponents, he was often harsh and arrogant, but towards others singularly gracious and sympathetic. His Graecophile lifestyle, and his unconventional way of wearing
4761-523: Was the first Roman general to expand Roman territories outside Italy and islands around the Italian mainland. He conquered the Carthaginian territory of Iberia for Rome, although the two Iberian provinces were not fully pacified for a couple of centuries. His defeat of Hannibal at Zama paved the way for Carthage's eventual destruction in 146 BC. His interest in a Graecophile lifestyle had tremendous influence on
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