Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus

This article deals with the older Scipio Africanus (Scipio Africanus maior), for the younger Scipio Africanus see Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus .

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (* 235 BC in Rome ; † 183 BC ) was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic . He became known for his victory over Hannibal in the Battle of Zama , which earned him recognition as one of the best commanders in military history and the nickname Africanus .

The rise to consul

The teenage years

Scipio (which means “iron rod” or “rod” in Latin ) was founded in 235 BC. Born in Rome . He came from the patrician dynasty of the Scipions , a branch of the Cornelier . Several ancestors already held the consulate . From the ten consuls who came from 222 BC BC to 218 BC Three were elected to the Scipions. The great-grandfather of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus , who is also considered the ancestor of the Scipions, held the office of Pontifex Maximus and was in 280 BC. Chr. To censor selected. He and his family gained importance primarily through his military successes in the Samnite Wars . Publius Scipio was the eldest son of Publius Cornelius Scipio , who lived in 218 BC. Was to become consul, and his wife Pomponia, who came from a respected plebeian family. It is known about his youth that he enjoyed a religious upbringing from his parents and is said to have visited the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol every day :

Because Scipio was not only admirable because of its real advantages (...). He had worked towards this from the start by never undertaking any public business or personal matter since he put on the men's toga without first going to the Capitol, where he entered the temple, sat down, and mostly alone stayed for a while in a secluded place.

Early military service

The oath of Scipio in Canusium , immediately after the defeat at Cannae. Fresco in St. Georgen Monastery around 1515

Scipio's father was for the year 218 BC. In which the Second Punic War broke out, elected consul. The strategy of the Senate saw a double attack on the Carthaginian possessions in Africa and Spain before. The consul Scipio was to lead the attack on Spain. Since his son was now 17 or 18 years old enough to serve in the Roman army , he and his uncle Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus were assigned to his father's army (a Roman citizen was expected to serve in the army for at least ten years serve). The army of the Scipions reached in September 218 BC. Chr. Massilia , but could no longer place Hannibal on the Rhone to prevent his crossing of the Alps . The consul then handed over the supreme command of the Spanish army to his brother and returned to Italy to take over command of the Roman armed forces in the province of Gallia cisalpina in the Po Valley, followed by his son.

The first battle of the war took place on the Ticinus River between Hannibal's cavalry and light troops from Rome. The Carthaginian vanguard was outnumbered by the Roman army. From a hill the young Scipio and the bodyguard watched the process. Most of the light troops fled immediately and Hannibal's Numidian cavalry was able to encircle the remaining Romans. The consul was wounded and fell from his horse. Scipio then asked his bodyguard to save his father. Since this refused, Scipio gave his horse the spurs and, according to a legend, stormed towards the enemy, the bodyguard had to follow him. Since the Carthaginians were completely surprised by this attack and suspected more Roman units behind the hill, they withdrew quickly so that Scipio could save his father. For this unconditional commitment, he was awarded the corona civica, the highest military honor in Rome. At this time he also met Aemilia, the daughter of the Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paullus , his future wife.

Despite the heavy defeats of Roman armies in the battles of the Trebia (December 218 BC) and the battle of Cannae (August 216 BC), Scipio continued to believe in a victory over Carthage. When he heard that some senators around Lucius Caecilius Metellus refused their further support and wanted to make peace, he stormed the meeting with his supporters and swore at his sword to serve Rome faithfully until death. Once again impressed by Scipio's strength of will, the Senate gave up the idea of ​​peace despite the great losses, and the following year (213 BC) the young Scipio was elected aedile , although he was the normal age for this office (legally 37 Years set) had not yet reached. Despite being a minor, he justified his choice with the following words: If all the people of Rome want to make me an aedile, ... then I am old enough .

The Spanish campaign

When in the year 211 BC Chr. Scipio's father Publius Cornelius Scipio as well as his uncle Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus were killed in the fight against Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal Barkas , Scipio offered himself in the following year for the command of an army that was to conquer the Carthaginian possessions in Hispania . Despite his youth, the Senate was again enthusiastic about his behavior, so that he was unanimously elected Commander in Chief of the Spanish Army and at the same time confirmed as proconsul . Scipio left Rome with ten thousand infantry and one thousand cavalrymen transported on 30 quinquerems .

As Scipio 210 BC BC landed in Empúries , all of Hispania below the Ebro was under Carthaginian control. He used the winter of the year to strengthen his army by entering into alliances with the surrounding Spanish tribes and convening a parliament in Tarraco . He also had the surrounding area and larger cities of the Punians spied:

When he came to Spain, he inquired in detail about the situation with the enemy and learned that the Carthaginian army was divided into three parts: Mago stood on this side of the pillars of Heracles in the land of the Konians, Hasdrubal, the son of Giskos, in Lusitania at the mouth of the Tagus, the other Hasdrubal besieged a city of the Carpetans, but none of them is less than ten days' march from Nova Carthago.

Scipio returns his fiancée to the Celtiberian Allucius. Etching by Bernhard Rode 1779.

He used this strategic advantage and was able to 209 BC. Chr. Carthago Nova ( Cartagena ) capture by a surprise attack. According to the ancient historian Livy , Scipio once again proved his chivalry when he took the city and plundered it, as was customary at the time : According to legend, his soldiers took possession of a beautiful woman as well as the treasury, which they offered Scipio as a war prize. Scipio was surprised by her beauty, but heard that the woman was the fiancée of a Celtic chief named Allucius. He then gave her back to her fiancé along with the ransom money her parents had given.

By capturing Carthago Nova and thus the most important port of call for the Punians, Scipio severed the connection between Spain and the Carthaginian motherland. But despite the conquest of the city, three Punic armies were still in Hispania. Nevertheless, the Romans managed to attract more and more tribal princes to their side, so that Hasdrubal was forced to act. Scipio wanted the decision too. On the way from his winter quarters near Tarragona towards the Baetica (Andalusia) Hasdrubal confronted him on a hill near Baecula with 25,000 to 30,000 men. Scipio, who had reinforced his army of only 35,000 to 40,000 men with about 10,000 Spanish mercenaries, saw himself in a strategically worse situation and hesitated at first. However, since the order of battle of the Carthaginians had not yet been established, he decided to attack and surprised them again. Despite the tactically important victory, the frontal attack also cost the Romans substance.

The following year Scipio tried to fight the forces of Mago Barkas, but the latter quickly withdrew. Here the Romans found a young boy of Numidian descent. His name was Massiva, a nephew of the East Numid king Massinissa . True to his chivalry, Scipio had the prisoner treated well and sent the boy back to his uncle, who gave him rich presents. At the same time he visited the West Numid Syphax and renewed the alliance of both peoples with him. After Hasdrubal was withdrawn to Italy, Mago was promoted to commander in chief of the Carthaginian armed forces in Hispania. Mago spent the winter recruiting new troops to prepare for the decisive battle. So he managed to lead an army with 70,000 infantrymen, 4,500 cavalrymen and 32 elephants eastwards towards Cadiz in the spring . Scipio's army, on the other hand, consisted of only 45,000 infantry and about 3,000 mounted men. Again he found himself in a strategically worse position, since the Carthaginians had once again occupied a hill near Ilipa . This time, however, the battle formation was also standing, so Scipio initially remained passive. The Carthaginians then attacked, but could not achieve any success. Since the battle lasted for several days, Scipio recognized the tiredness of all fighters and one morning ordered his men to be ready for battle while the majority of the Punians were still asleep and therefore had to go to battle without the important morning meal. On this day Scipio succeeded in pushing back the Carthaginians, at the same time his cavalry attacked their wings. The elephants stationed there quickly panicked and trampled their own soldiers. In addition, the ranks of Magos got into disarray, so that he ordered the withdrawal. The sources report that Scipio was welcomed as king ( rex ) by the Spanish troops after the victory , but that he forbade himself to be addressed and instead allowed himself to be called imperator ( Livius 27: 19, 3-6).

After the battle, the Carthaginians evacuated Spain and Scipio began subjugating the rest of the cities. He also had some of the tribes that the Romans betrayed in 211 punished. So he subsequently marched against Indibilis and completely defeated a Celtic army here. He was also able to calm a mutiny among his soldiers because wages were paid too late ( Polybios XI.25-30). The victory at Ilipa gave Scipio the opportunity to attack the Punians directly in Africa. At the end of the year he returned to Rome and settled in 205 BC at the age of 31. To elect consul.

Africa campaign

The preparations

In the same year, the newly elected consul called for an army to be set up to conquer the heart of the Barkid region in Africa. However, this plan was rejected by his many enemies in the Senate, whose aversion he aroused primarily because of his popular popularity. Scipio's only option was to recruit a new army in Sicily and wait for the order to attack.

Thanks to donations from allied peoples in Italy, he succeeded in having 30 new ships built within 45 days and thus crossing over to Sicily with the first 7,000 volunteers. While Scipio began to strengthen his army there, Hannibal's movements were restricted to the southwestern toe of Italy. Scipio, who wanted to take the fighting to Africa, began to turn Sicily into a "training camp" and to assemble his army in Lilybaeum . Inspired by its big name, new recruits and mercenaries from all parts of Italy poured into what is now Marsala every day . A majority of these were survivors of the failure of Cannae, who were offended in their honor as soldiers. But despite the strong Roman infantry, he feared the Barkids , especially their cavalry, as well as those of the Numidians allied with Carthage. Since he lacked the financial means to build up a strong cavalry, he made use of a ruse: He forced 300 young Sicilian nobles to serve in the war, who were to accompany him to Africa as cavalry support. Outraged by this measure, the angry parents gathered in front of the camp. Scipio met them kindly and offered the nobles to provide a horse, equipment and a rider as compensation. The Sicilians quickly agreed and Scipio kept his promise.

After his army was trained, the final preparations for the invasion began; old and new ships were mended or repaired and the troops made ready for shipping. In order to receive the longed-for departure order, Scipio asked for a commission to be sent and at the same time took back the small town of Locri on the south-east coast of Calabria with 3,000 soldiers . Enthusiastic about this courage and the well-trained army, the commission returned to Rome and overruled the conservative wing of the Senate around Scipio's arch enemy Fabius Maximus , so that forty warships, 400 barges and several thousand legionaries under Scipio's supervision on a summer day in 204 BC . Could run to Africa.

Landing at Cape Farina and Battle of Utica

After driving through fog for a day, the fleet reached Africa 30 kilometers west of Carthage near Pulcrum (Cape Farina). The Romans had already carried out several military operations and looting there in earlier years. So Scipio sent his officer Gaius Laelius ahead to secure the coast of North Africa. With an army strength of around 35,000 soldiers, he immediately had the coastal area taken. The news of these actions spread fear and terror in Carthage. In the days that followed, there were initially only two skirmishes between the cavalry, in which Scipio was victorious against Hasdrubal , Gisgo's son. He then moved against Utica . When the siege was unsuccessful, however, he retired to winter camp. From there he succeeded in negotiating to get the Numidian king Massinissa on his side. This was offended when Hasdrubal gave Sophonisbe, who was already engaged to Massinissa, to his competitor Syphax .

Strengthened by the successful defense of Utica in their will to win, the Carthaginians under Hasdrubal began to expand their fleet in the winter months and also to greatly expand their land forces. With the newly won ally Syphax, you also got enough strength to kill Scipio in the spring of 203 BC. To ask. When the consul learned from his ambassadors that the enemy had to camp in simple wooden huts, he attacked and looted their camp during the night and thus destroyed the armies of Hasdrubal and Syphax. Livy describes the panic in the Punic camp:

The half-burned people and draft animals had blocked the doorways first by shameful flight, then by the fallen corpses. Those who were not consumed by the fire were devoured by the sword, and both camps were destroyed by the same misfortune. But both generals and so many thousands of armed men escaped, largely wounded and scorched by fire, 2,000 foot soldiers and 500 half-armed horsemen. 40,000 people were cut down or consumed by fire, about 5,000 were captured, many Carthaginian nobles, eleven senators; 174 standards were captured, over 2,700 Numidian horses, six elephants; eight perished by fire and sword, and a great number of weapons were taken; all of this was consecrated and burned by the general to Vulcanus.

Many ancient authors then praised Scipio's tactical behavior, whereas the 19th century military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge described his behavior as cowardly.

The battle of Zama

→ Main article : Battle of Zama

Course of the battle

As a result of the defeat at Utica and a short time later at Cirta , Carthage had to engage in peace deals in order not to be completely destroyed. During the negotiations, Scipio again prevailed over the Senate and dictated a moderate peace: The Carthaginians must withdraw to their African homeland, reduce their fleet to 20 ships and also 5,000 silver talents (one talent equals 26 kilograms), as well as several hostages to Rome Off. In addition, Hannibal also had to leave Italy and translate to Africa, where he lived in the autumn of 203 BC Arrived with only 20,000 soldiers and set up camp at Hadrumetum .

In Rome, Scipio's peace treaty was defended before the Senate. At the same time Scipio recruited new soldiers and had his legions reinforced. In the spring of 202 BC The Senate sent a Carthaginian embassy who had traveled to Rome, accompanied by Quintus Fulvius Gillo, back to Carthage to announce Rome's approval of the peace treaty. Shortly before, however, a fleet with supplies for the Roman army in North Africa got caught in a storm and the 200 cargo ships carried sank in the Gulf of Tunis. The Carthaginians plundered the castaways and thus outraged Rome. Three legates sent by Scipio to Carthage, Lucius Baebius Dives , Lucius Fabius and Lucius Sergius, demanded redress, but on the contrary narrowly escaped an enemy ambush on the way back. That ended the armistice.

The Romans and their Numidian ally Massinissa camped at Naraggara near the city of Zama ; Hannibal, who was chasing them, had to camp six kilometers away with no access to fresh water. Vermina, the son of the captured Syphax , went with the Carthaginian into battle against the Romans, so that the strength of the army is estimated at around 50,000 infantrymen, 3,000 Numidian cavalrymen and 80 war elephants. Scipio had only 34,000 infantry to oppose the clear superiority, but thanks to the Numidian support he had over 8,700 mounted soldiers and thus had a strategic advantage. Before the final battle, the Romans seized some of the Punic general's spies. Scipio again displayed his noble demeanor, made them indulgent, and even showed them his bed. Hannibal, surprised by this act of trust, then asked to meet Scipio. Although the details of this meeting are not known, it is believed that the Carthaginian asked for peace again, but Scipio demonstrated strength and refused. So it came on the morning of October 19, 202 BC. For the last battle of the second Punic War. Since Scipio feared the elephants' attack power, he had his infantry set up in units of two hundred men in order to drive the animals into alleys. Furthermore, both generals rely on the fighting strength of their cavalry and form their heavy infantry behind the lighter ones. After a long preliminary skirmish, Hannibal gave his elephants the order to attack, but the Romans were now prepared and fought back the attack wave. After both main armies received orders to attack, the Roman mounted soldiers and their Numidian allies attacked the pride of the Punic army, the cavalry, and drove the outnumbered ones to flight. When the battle had reached its climax, the Roman mounted soldiers fell in the back of the Punic infantry, so that they left the field in panic.

The Romans, on the other hand, put their losses at only 2,000 soldiers, so that Scipio was able to advance and threaten the Punic capital directly. Now Carthage asked for peace and the Second Punic War was ended. Scipio himself dictated the conditions to Carthage, which, contrary to the demands of some Roman senators, were moderate: Carthage had to pay 10,000 silver talents to Rome, its fleet was reduced to 20 ships and its spheres of interest not only limited to North Africa, but it also had to commit itself to the War trap to adhere to the instructions of the Senate of Rome.

Honors in Rome and conflicts with the Senate

On his acclaimed return, Scipio received the honorary title Africanus . However, due to increasing differences with senior Senate officials, who viewed his fame with concern, he retired from public life for several years. His situation was problematic because he simply had too much prestige and power to be reintegrated into the nobility - the other aristocrats therefore tried to reduce his prestige back to normal. It was not forgotten that the Spanish legions had celebrated Scipio as rex , as "king" (even if he had rejected this title and instead allowed himself to be addressed as imperator ). In the meantime, however, he was named in 199 BC. Appointed censor and clad in 194 BC. Once again the prestigious office of consul. In addition, as chairman in 193 v. The investigation into a border dispute between Carthage and Massinissa, who wanted to constantly expand his Numidian kingdom. (These border disputes were to provide the reason for the last Punic War , which marked the fall of Punic Carthage , decades later, in 150 BC. ) As a result, Scipio planned his final departure from the Roman one because of the growing resistance to his dominant position Politics. However, when Rome in 190 BC The Seleucids Antiochus III. declared war on Syria , he went to war again with his brother Lucius Cornelius Scipio . Scipio Africanus served as the organizer of the legions and at the same time as a tactician. The Senate, on the other hand, did not want to grant him the supreme command that he had demanded, since it was feared that after a victory he would become irrevocable. Nevertheless, he was responsible for actually carrying out the operations. The victory in the Battle of Magnesia , which quickly ended the war in favor of Rome, is mainly due to his quick action .

On his return, Scipio's political opponents in the Senate who saw the republic threatened by him had gained the upper hand. They tried to overthrow him through politically motivated trials: In the Scipion trials , they accused the Scipio brothers of having received bribes from Antiochus. Lucius, who like his brother had received an honorary title, namely Asiaticus , was sentenced to a heavy fine for this. However, when Scipio Africanus was about to be tried, he publicly tore up the account books:

When one of the senators demanded an account of the money he had received before the conclusion of the peace treaty with Antiochus to pay the army, Scipio declared that although he had the receipts, he did not need to give an account of it to anyone. But when the latter did not give up and asked for the invoice documents to be brought in, Scipio asked his brother to fetch them, and when he had brought them he held them out to the Senate and then tore them up in front of everyone: the applicant should get the information he wanted kindly look for yourself in the tatters. But he asked the others why they wanted information from him about the 3,000 talents and how he had spent them, but not about the 15,000 they were now receiving from Antiochus; Why did they not ask how and by whom these had been acquired or how they had come into possession of Asia, Africa and Spain. These words made a deep impression. Everyone was ashamed and the applicant was silent. ( Polybios 23,14,7f.)

Scipio urged the people to celebrate the anniversary of Zama with him at the Capitol, thereby causing a public uproar in his favor. But this success did not pay off for Scipio in the long term, as he had ultimately only shown his opponents his dangerousness and also publicly shown that he assumed that he was above the law because of his fame. This also offended his friends among the senators. Soon after this temporary defeat of his opponents, Scipio withdrew, politically completely isolated, to Campania, where he lived in "voluntary" exile and in 183 BC. Died in his villa in Liternum. Later generations praised him for sparing the empire an ordeal:

Why should I not admire this greatness of soul with which he finally voluntarily went into exile and freed the res publica from pressure? It had come to the point that either general freedom had to do violence to Scipio or Scipio to freedom. Neither of these were in accordance with divine law. And so he gave up his place for the laws and withdrew to Liternum, so that his own banishment might benefit the res publica as much as that of Hannibal had done. ( Seneca epist. Mor. 86)

The domestic political failure of the war hero Scipio pointed to the future. It had not been possible to reintegrate the individual who had become too powerful into the Roman aristocracy. The processes surrounding Scipio are therefore often seen in research as the beacons of the civil wars that broke out decades later, in which the Senate rulers also found no way to integrate overpowering men like Pompey and Caesar into the state, which ultimately led to the downfall of the republic - because At the latest, Caesar was then, unlike Scipio, no longer willing to sacrifice his political career, but instead went into civil war.

family

Scipio's daughter Cornelia married Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the Elder , with whom she had the daughter Sempronia and the sons Tiberius and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus .

effect

Ancient opinions

In ancient times, Scipio was revered as a hero and a great tactician. For example, Cicero mentioned him in his work De re publica as a folk hero and conqueror of the monster Carthage. He was also portrayed as the savior of Rome in Silius Italicus ' Punica . The ancient historian Livius assigned him the same in his work Ab Urbe Condita . Livy and Polybius (like other ancient authors) praised his noble character as a knight and described his tactical ability as inimitable. Polybius' affection for Scipio's actions is probably also based on the close contact with the Scipion family. Nevertheless, Polybius devoted himself to historical truth, true to his model Thucydides . Livy, on the other hand, felt obliged to instill the values ​​and virtues of the past in Roman society. To make this a reality, he dramatized the events and stylized leading Romans into folk heroes, while reproducing army strengths and basic tactics in great detail and truthfully. In all inter-Italian battles, these are based on the information provided by Polybius.

Modern judgment

In modern literature, Scipio is assessed differently after a differentiated investigation. On the one hand, his battle tactics promoted the image of an extraordinary general. In Italy he was even declared a national hero under Mussolini . The American military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge took the opposite picture of Scipio . The author of a biography of Hannibal saw above all in Scipio's behavior at the Battle of Utica a break with the noble qualities attributed to him.

Many ancient historians (such as Egon Flaig ) consider Scipio more soberly today as the first example of the "great individuals" who came to such enormous prestige and wealth during the establishment of the Roman rule of the Mediterranean that they exceeded the framework of the republic, which was based on approximate equality within the Nobility was threatened. Scipio is often compared to Gaius Iulius Caesar , who 150 years after him was also no longer willing to simply resign, but unlike Scipio, in view of the resistance of the other senators, he was not in favor of exile but for the forcible enforcement of his position in the State decided and thus ultimately ushered in the downfall of the republic.

Music and painting

The history painting “The Grandmother of Scipios” by Nicolas Poussin shows the return of a woman arrested as a war prize to her fiancé

Scipio's deeds inspired George Frideric Handel to write his opera Publio Cornelio Scipione , which made use of ancient material. A reference to Scipio can also be found at the beginning of the Italian national anthem Fratelli d'Italia . The first lines are: Fratelli d'Italia, l'Italia s'è desta, dell'elmo di Scipio s'è cinta la testa.

In painting, too, many artists found inspiration in Scipio's deeds. Several painters such as Francesco Zugno , Giovanni Francesco Romanelli , Nicolas Poussin and Bernhard Rode presented the scene in which Scipio returned the captured beauty to her Celtic fiancé. Scipio was also immortalized in numerous frescoes, for example in the Villa Caldogno Nordera or in the St. Georgen monastery .

Movie

After the annexation of Ethiopia by Italian troops, Benito Mussolini commissioned Carmine Gallone to shoot the lavish epic Scipione l'Africano about the Roman general in Africa, which won an award at the Venice Film Festival in 1937 . In the most expensive film of fascist Italy, Scipio was supposed to symbolize the dream of Italian world domination, but at the same time stood for behavior that respected the enemy. In 1971 Luigi Magni directed the film Scipione detto anche l'africano with Marcello Mastroianni , Vittorio Gassman and Silvana Mangano in the leading roles.

swell

• Titus Livius (approx. 59 BC - approx. 17 AD): ab urbe condita , books 21 to 38.
• Polybios (199–120 BC) - histories , books 10ff.
• Appian (2nd century AD) - Roman history
• Silius Italicus , (approx. 25 - approx. 100 AD) - main work Punica (strongly based on Livius)
• Plutarch (approx. 46 – approx. 125 AD) - Bíoi parálleloi

literature

• Gastone Breccia: Scipione l'Africano. L'invincibile che rese grande Roma (= Profili. Nuova serie, volume 74). Salerno Editrice, Rome 2017, ISBN 978-88-6973-234-8 .
• Leonard A. Curchin: Roman Spain. Conquest and Assimilation. Routledge, London 1991, ISBN 0-415-06451-1 .
• Karl-Ludwig Elvers : Cornelius [I 71]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 3, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01473-8 , column 182 f.
• Laura Muth: Scipio. In: Peter von Möllendorff , Annette Simonis, Linda Simonis (ed.): Historical figures of antiquity. Reception in literature, art and music (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 8). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2013, ISBN 978-3-476-02468-8 , Sp. 869-878.
• Karl-Heinz Schwarte: Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus the Elder - Conqueror between West and East. In: Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp , Elke Stein-Hölkeskamp (ed.): From Romulus to Augustus. Great figures of the Roman Republic. Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-46697-4 , pp. 106-119.
• Howard Hayes Scullard : Scipio Africanus. Soldier and Politician. Thames & Hudson, London 1970, ISBN 0-8014-0549-1 .
• Elena Torregaray Pagola: La elaboración de la tradición sobre los Cornelii Scipiones. Pasado histórico y conformación simbólica (= Publicación de la Institución Fernando el Católico. Volume 1950). Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza 1998, ISBN 84-7820-445-8 .
• Elena Torregaray Pagola: Contribución al estudio de la memoria como instrumento en Historia Antigua. La transmisión de la memoria de los Cornelii Scipiones. In: Latomus . Volume 61, Number 2, 2002, pp. 295-311, JSTOR 41539787 .

Web links

Commons : Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Walter Henze : Cornelius 336 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 1, Stuttgart 1900, Sp. 1462-1471.
• Literature by and about Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus in the catalog of the German National Library
• Analysis of Scipio battles (English)
• Biography of Scipio

Individual evidence

1. ^ Livy 26:19 , 3-5.
2. ↑ Livy 25, 2.
3. ↑ Livy 26:19 .
4. ↑ Polybios 10, 7, 4f.
5. ^ Zonaras , Weltchronik 9, 8.
6. ↑ Livy 28, 48f.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Livius 29, 24-27.
8. ↑ Livy 29: 1-4.
9. ^ Scullard, Scipio Africanus , p. 115.
10. ↑ Appian, Punike 10.
11. ↑ Livy 30, 6, 6-9.
12. ^ Serge Lancel: Hannibal . French original edition Paris 1996, German translation Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-538-07068-7 , pp. 279–284.
13. ^ Polybios, Book 12.