- Publius Cornelius Scipio
Publius Cornelius Scipio (died 211 BC) was a general and statesman of the
Roman Republic .A member of the Cornelia "
gens ", Scipio served asconsul in 218 BC, the first year of theSecond Punic War , and sailed with an army fromPisa toMassilia (today Marseille), with the intention of arrestingHannibal 's advance onItaly . Failing to meet his enemy he returned toCisalpine Gaul by sea, and sent his army on toHispania under the command of his brotherGnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus with instructions to hold the Carthaginian forces there in check.On his return to Italy, he advanced at once to meet Hannibal. In a sharp
cavalry engagement near the Ticinus, a tributary of the Po river, he was defeated and severely wounded. In December of the same year he again witnessed the complete defeat of the Roman army at the Trebia, when his fellow consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus insisted on fighting against his advice.Despite the military defeats, he still retained the confidence of the Roman people: his term of command was extended and the following year found him in Hispania with his brother Calvus, winning victories over the Carthaginians and strengthening Rome's position in the Iberian peninsula. He continued the Iberian campaigns until 211, when he was killed in the defeat of his army on the upper Baetis river. That same year Calvus and his army were destroyed at
Ilorci nearCarthago Nova . The details of these campaigns are not completely known, but it seems that the ultimate defeat and death of the two Scipiones was due to the desertion of theCeltiberian s, who were bribed byHasdrubal Barca , Hannibal's brother.The son of
Lucius Cornelius Scipio , he was the father ofScipio Africanus Major , whose original name was also Publius Cornelius Scipio, and of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus).----
A later Publius Cornelius Scipio, son of
Scipio Africanus Major and Aemilia Paulla, and grandson of the consul of 218 BC, was the adoptive father ofScipio Aemilianus Africanus . This latter Scipio served aspraetor in 174 BC.ee also
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Scipio-Paullus-Gracchus family tree
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