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Scipio Africanus
This article deals with the Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (Latin: P·CORNELIVS·P·F·L·N·SCIPIO·AFRICANVS¹) (235–183 BC) was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic. He was best known for defeating Hannibal of Carthage, a feat that earned him the surname Africanus, the nickname 'the Roman Hannibal' and recognition as one of the finest commanders in military history.
Biography
Early years
Scipio (L., rod or staff) was born in 236 BC in Rome into the Scipio branch of the Cornelii family. Several ancestors had been consuls successively, and his great-grandfather, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, had been patrician censor in 280 BC. The Cornelii were counted among the five major patrician families —the others being the Fabii, the Aemilii, the Claudii, and the Valerii — and at the time Scipio Africanus lived, the Scipiones were probably its most prominent branch.
Scipio was the elder son of Publius Cornelius Scipio, praetor and consul, by his wife Pomponia, who was apparently of a prominently knightly and plebian family. Scipio was known to have visited the temple daily as he took dreams about gods and omens seriously. He is also thought to have consulted with, or at least informed his mother before deciding to run for curule aedile, the most junior magistrate who was entitled to enter the Senate. Scipio ran for this office at the age of 24. His younger brother was Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. Little else is known about his childhood.
Early Military Service
At an early age, Scipio joined the Roman struggle against Carthage in the Second Punic War. At some point he is said to have promised his father to continue the struggle against Carthage all his life, showing similar dedication to that of his enemy, Hannibal.
The young Scipio survived the disastrous battles at Ticinus, Trebia and Cannae. According to one tradition, he saved his father's life when he was 18, at the Battle of Ticinus. Scipio's would-be father-in-law Lucius Aemilius Paullus was killed in 216 BC at the third of these battles, the Battle of Cannae. Despite these defeats at the hands of the Carthaginians, Scipio remained focused on securing Roman victory.
On hearing that Lucius Caecilius Metellus and other politicians were at the point of surrender, Scipio gathered what his follower and stormed into the meeting, where at sword-point he forced all present to swear that they would continue in faithful service to Rome. Fortunately, the Roman Senate was of like mind and refused to entertain thoughts of peace despite the great losses Rome had taken in the war (approximately one-fifth of the men of military age had died within a few years).
Scipio offered himself as a candidate for the curule aedileship in the year 212 BC, apparently to assist his less popular cousin, Lucius Cornelius, who was also standing for election. The Tribunes of the Plebs (elected representatives from the Plebian Assembly) objected to his candidacy, saying that he could not be allowed to stand because he had not yet reached the legal age - curule aediles were automatically entitled to enter the Senate and the legal age for Senate membership was 30. Scipio's reply was, "If the quirites (the Roman citizens) are unanimous in their desire to appoint me Aedile, I am quite old enough..."[citation needed] Scipio, already known for his bravery and patriotism, was elected unanimously and the Tribunes abandoned their opposition.
Campaign in Hispania
Nicholas Poussin's painting of the Continence of Scipio, depicting his return of a captured young woman to her fiancé, having refused to accept her from his troops as a prize of war.In 211 BC both Scipio's father, Publius Scipio, and uncle, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, were killed in battle against Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal Barca. In the following year Scipio offered himself for the command of the new army which the Romans resolved to send to Hispania. In spite of his youth, his noble demeanor and enthusiastic language had made so great an impression that he was unanimously elected to be sent there as proconsul. In the year of Scipio's arrival (210 BC) all of Hispania south of the Ebro river was under Carthaginian control. Hannibal's brothers Hasdrubal and Mago, and Hasdrubal Gisco were the generals of the Carthaginian forces in Hispania, and Rome was aided by the inability of these three figures to act in concert. The Carthaginians were also preoccupied with revolts in Africa.
Scipio landed at the mouth of the Ebro and was able to surprise and capture Carthago Nova, the headquarters of the Carthaginian power in Hispania. He obtained a rich cache of war stores and supplies, and an excellent harbor and base of operations. Scipio's humanitarian conduct toward prisoners and hostages in Hispania helped in portraying the Romans as liberators as opposed to conquerors. Livy tells the story of the capture of a beautiful woman by his troops, who offered her to Scipio as a prize of war. Scipio, astonished by her beauty, thanked his troops but discovered that the woman was betrothed to a local chieftain. He returned her to her fiancé, along with the money that had been offered by her parents to ransom her. While Scipio was long known for his great chivalry, Scipio doubtless also realized that the Senate's first priority was the war in Italy, and in the midst of the Carthaginian base in Hispania, he was to be outnumbered without much hope of reinforcement. It was paramount therefore that Scipio cooperate with local chieftains to both supply and reinforce his small army. The woman's fiance (who soon married her) naturally brought over his tribe to support the Roman armies.
In 209 BC Scipio fought his first set piece battle, driving back Hasdrubal Barca from his position at Baecula on the upper Guadalquivir. Scipio feared that the armies of Mago and Gisco would enter the field and surround his small army. Scipio's objective was, therefore, to quickly eliminate one of the armies to give him the luxury of dealing with the other two piecemeal. The battle was decided by a determined Roman infantry charge up the center of the Carthaginian position. Roman losses are uncertain but may have been considerable in light of an effort by the infantry to scale an elevation defended by Carthaginian light infantry. Scipio then orchestrated a frontal attack by the rest of his infantry to draw out the remainder of the Carthaginian forces.
Hasdrubal had not noticed Scipio's hidden reserves of cavalry moving behind enemy lines, and a Roman cavalry charge created a double envelopment on either flank led by cavalry commander Gaius Laelius and Scipio himself. This broke the back of Hasdrubal's army and routed his forces -- an impressive feat for the young Roman versus the veteran Carthaginian general. Despite a Roman victory, Scipio was unable to hinder the Carthaginian march to Italy. Much historical criticism has been leveled at his inability to effectively pursue Hasdrubal, who would eventually cross the Alps only to be defeated by Gaius Claudius Nero at the Battle of the Metaurus.
One popular theory for Scipio's failure to pursue Hasdrubal is that Scipio merely wanted the glory of securing Spain, and an extended mountain campaign would have endangered that. Others cite the Roman soldiers' appetite for plunder as preventing him from rallying in pursuit. The most probable explanation from a strategic standpoint is Scipio's unwillingness to risk being trapped between Hasdrubal's army on one side and one or both of Gisgo's and Mago's armies, both of superior numerical strength. Mere days after Hasdrubal's defeat, Mago and Gisgo were able to converge in front of the Roman positions, bringing into question what would have happened had Scipio pursued Hasdrubal.
After winning over a number of Hispanian chiefs Scipio achieved a decisive victory in 206 BC over the full Carthaginian levy at Ilipa (now the city of Alcalá del Río, near Hispalis, now called Seville), which resulted in the evacuation of Hispania by the Punic commanders.
After his rapid success in conquering Spain, and with the idea of striking a blow at Carthage in Africa, Scipio paid a short visit to the Numidian princes Syphax and Massinissa. Numidia was of vital importance to Carthage, supplying both mercenaries and allied forces. In addition to supplying the Numidian cavalry (on which see the Battle of Cannae), Numidia operated as a buffer for vulnerable Carthage. Scipio managed to receive support from both Syphax and Massinissa. Syphax later changed his mind, marrying the beautiful Carthaginian noblewoman Sophonisba, daughter of Hasdrubal the son of Gisco, and fighting alongside his Carthaginian in-laws against Massinissa and Scipio in Africa.
On his return to Hispania, Scipio had to quell a mutiny which had broken out among his troops. Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal had meanwhile marched for Italy, and in 206 BC Scipio himself, having secured the Roman occupation of Hispania by the capture of Gades, gave up his command and returned to Rome.
African Campaign
In the following year, 205 BC, Scipio was unanimously elected to the consulship at the age of 31. Scipio wanted to go to Africa, but his jealous enemies in the Roman senate only allowed him to go as far as Sicily and did not grant him an army. Nevertheless, Scipio raised and trained a volunteer army while in Sicily.
By this time Hannibal's movements were restricted to the southwestern toe of Italy. Scipio was intent on transferring the war to Africa, and his great name drew to him a number of volunteers from all parts of Italy. Interestingly, among these volunteers were the shamed survivors of the fiasco at the Battle of Cannae, anxious to once again prove their worth as soldiers. Scipio began creating Sicily as a training camp and a staging point for his conceived invasion.
Scipio realized that the Carthaginian, and especially Numidian superiority in cavalry would prove decisive against the largely infantry forces of the Roman legions. In addition, a large portion of Rome's cavalry were allies of questionable loyalty, or noble equites exempting themselves from being lowly foot soldiers. One anecdote tells of how Scipio pressed into service several hundred Sicilian nobles to create a cavalry force. The Sicilians were quite opposed to this servitude to a foreign occupier (Sicily being under Roman control only since the First Punic War), and protested vigorously. Scipio assented to their exemption from service providing they pay for a horse, equipment, and a replacement rider for the Roman Army. In this way, Scipio created a trained nucleus of cavalry for his African campaign.
The Roman Senate sent a commission of inquiry to Sicily and found that Scipio was at the head of a well-equipped and trained fleet and army. Scipio pressed the Senate for permission to cross into Africa. The conservative branch of the Roma
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Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (Latin: P·CORNELIVS·P·F·L·N·SCIPIO·AFRICANVS¹) (235–183 BC) was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic. He was best known for defeating Hannibal of Carthage, a feat that earned him the surname Africanus, the nickname 'the Roman Hannibal' and recognition as one of the finest commanders in military history.
Biography
Early years
Scipio (L., rod or staff) was born in 236 BC in Rome into the Scipio branch of the Cornelii family. Several ancestors had been consuls successively, and his great-grandfather, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, had been patrician censor in 280 BC. The Cornelii were counted among the five major patrician families —the others being the Fabii, the Aemilii, the Claudii, and the Valerii — and at the time Scipio Africanus lived, the Scipiones were probably its most prominent branch.
Scipio was the elder son of Publius Cornelius Scipio, praetor and consul, by his wife Pomponia, who was apparently of a prominently knightly and plebian family. Scipio was known to have visited the temple daily as he took dreams about gods and omens seriously. He is also thought to have consulted with, or at least informed his mother before deciding to run for curule aedile, the most junior magistrate who was entitled to enter the Senate. Scipio ran for this office at the age of 24. His younger brother was Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. Little else is known about his childhood.
Early Military Service
At an early age, Scipio joined the Roman struggle against Carthage in the Second Punic War. At some point he is said to have promised his father to continue the struggle against Carthage all his life, showing similar dedication to that of his enemy, Hannibal.
The young Scipio survived the disastrous battles at Ticinus, Trebia and Cannae. According to one tradition, he saved his father's life when he was 18, at the Battle of Ticinus. Scipio's would-be father-in-law Lucius Aemilius Paullus was killed in 216 BC at the third of these battles, the Battle of Cannae. Despite these defeats at the hands of the Carthaginians, Scipio remained focused on securing Roman victory.
On hearing that Lucius Caecilius Metellus and other politicians were at the point of surrender, Scipio gathered what his follower and stormed into the meeting, where at sword-point he forced all present to swear that they would continue in faithful service to Rome. Fortunately, the Roman Senate was of like mind and refused to entertain thoughts of peace despite the great losses Rome had taken in the war (approximately one-fifth of the men of military age had died within a few years).
Scipio offered himself as a candidate for the curule aedileship in the year 212 BC, apparently to assist his less popular cousin, Lucius Cornelius, who was also standing for election. The Tribunes of the Plebs (elected representatives from the Plebian Assembly) objected to his candidacy, saying that he could not be allowed to stand because he had not yet reached the legal age - curule aediles were automatically entitled to enter the Senate and the legal age for Senate membership was 30. Scipio's reply was, "If the quirites (the Roman citizens) are unanimous in their desire to appoint me Aedile, I am quite old enough..."[citation needed] Scipio, already known for his bravery and patriotism, was elected unanimously and the Tribunes abandoned their opposition.
Campaign in Hispania
Nicholas Poussin's painting of the Continence of Scipio, depicting his return of a captured young woman to her fiancé, having refused to accept her from his troops as a prize of war.In 211 BC both Scipio's father, Publius Scipio, and uncle, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, were killed in battle against Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal Barca. In the following year Scipio offered himself for the command of the new army which the Romans resolved to send to Hispania. In spite of his youth, his noble demeanor and enthusiastic language had made so great an impression that he was unanimously elected to be sent there as proconsul. In the year of Scipio's arrival (210 BC) all of Hispania south of the Ebro river was under Carthaginian control. Hannibal's brothers Hasdrubal and Mago, and Hasdrubal Gisco were the generals of the Carthaginian forces in Hispania, and Rome was aided by the inability of these three figures to act in concert. The Carthaginians were also preoccupied with revolts in Africa.
Scipio landed at the mouth of the Ebro and was able to surprise and capture Carthago Nova, the headquarters of the Carthaginian power in Hispania. He obtained a rich cache of war stores and supplies, and an excellent harbor and base of operations. Scipio's humanitarian conduct toward prisoners and hostages in Hispania helped in portraying the Romans as liberators as opposed to conquerors. Livy tells the story of the capture of a beautiful woman by his troops, who offered her to Scipio as a prize of war. Scipio, astonished by her beauty, thanked his troops but discovered that the woman was betrothed to a local chieftain. He returned her to her fiancé, along with the money that had been offered by her parents to ransom her. While Scipio was long known for his great chivalry, Scipio doubtless also realized that the Senate's first priority was the war in Italy, and in the midst of the Carthaginian base in Hispania, he was to be outnumbered without much hope of reinforcement. It was paramount therefore that Scipio cooperate with local chieftains to both supply and reinforce his small army. The woman's fiance (who soon married her) naturally brought over his tribe to support the Roman armies.
In 209 BC Scipio fought his first set piece battle, driving back Hasdrubal Barca from his position at Baecula on the upper Guadalquivir. Scipio feared that the armies of Mago and Gisco would enter the field and surround his small army. Scipio's objective was, therefore, to quickly eliminate one of the armies to give him the luxury of dealing with the other two piecemeal. The battle was decided by a determined Roman infantry charge up the center of the Carthaginian position. Roman losses are uncertain but may have been considerable in light of an effort by the infantry to scale an elevation defended by Carthaginian light infantry. Scipio then orchestrated a frontal attack by the rest of his infantry to draw out the remainder of the Carthaginian forces.
Hasdrubal had not noticed Scipio's hidden reserves of cavalry moving behind enemy lines, and a Roman cavalry charge created a double envelopment on either flank led by cavalry commander Gaius Laelius and Scipio himself. This broke the back of Hasdrubal's army and routed his forces -- an impressive feat for the young Roman versus the veteran Carthaginian general. Despite a Roman victory, Scipio was unable to hinder the Carthaginian march to Italy. Much historical criticism has been leveled at his inability to effectively pursue Hasdrubal, who would eventually cross the Alps only to be defeated by Gaius Claudius Nero at the Battle of the Metaurus.
One popular theory for Scipio's failure to pursue Hasdrubal is that Scipio merely wanted the glory of securing Spain, and an extended mountain campaign would have endangered that. Others cite the Roman soldiers' appetite for plunder as preventing him from rallying in pursuit. The most probable explanation from a strategic standpoint is Scipio's unwillingness to risk being trapped between Hasdrubal's army on one side and one or both of Gisgo's and Mago's armies, both of superior numerical strength. Mere days after Hasdrubal's defeat, Mago and Gisgo were able to converge in front of the Roman positions, bringing into question what would have happened had Scipio pursued Hasdrubal.
After winning over a number of Hispanian chiefs Scipio achieved a decisive victory in 206 BC over the full Carthaginian levy at Ilipa (now the city of Alcalá del Río, near Hispalis, now called Seville), which resulted in the evacuation of Hispania by the Punic commanders.
After his rapid success in conquering Spain, and with the idea of striking a blow at Carthage in Africa, Scipio paid a short visit to the Numidian princes Syphax and Massinissa. Numidia was of vital importance to Carthage, supplying both mercenaries and allied forces. In addition to supplying the Numidian cavalry (on which see the Battle of Cannae), Numidia operated as a buffer for vulnerable Carthage. Scipio managed to receive support from both Syphax and Massinissa. Syphax later changed his mind, marrying the beautiful Carthaginian noblewoman Sophonisba, daughter of Hasdrubal the son of Gisco, and fighting alongside his Carthaginian in-laws against Massinissa and Scipio in Africa.
On his return to Hispania, Scipio had to quell a mutiny which had broken out among his troops. Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal had meanwhile marched for Italy, and in 206 BC Scipio himself, having secured the Roman occupation of Hispania by the capture of Gades, gave up his command and returned to Rome.
African Campaign
In the following year, 205 BC, Scipio was unanimously elected to the consulship at the age of 31. Scipio wanted to go to Africa, but his jealous enemies in the Roman senate only allowed him to go as far as Sicily and did not grant him an army. Nevertheless, Scipio raised and trained a volunteer army while in Sicily.
By this time Hannibal's movements were restricted to the southwestern toe of Italy. Scipio was intent on transferring the war to Africa, and his great name drew to him a number of volunteers from all parts of Italy. Interestingly, among these volunteers were the shamed survivors of the fiasco at the Battle of Cannae, anxious to once again prove their worth as soldiers. Scipio began creating Sicily as a training camp and a staging point for his conceived invasion.
Scipio realized that the Carthaginian, and especially Numidian superiority in cavalry would prove decisive against the largely infantry forces of the Roman legions. In addition, a large portion of Rome's cavalry were allies of questionable loyalty, or noble equites exempting themselves from being lowly foot soldiers. One anecdote tells of how Scipio pressed into service several hundred Sicilian nobles to create a cavalry force. The Sicilians were quite opposed to this servitude to a foreign occupier (Sicily being under Roman control only since the First Punic War), and protested vigorously. Scipio assented to their exemption from service providing they pay for a horse, equipment, and a replacement rider for the Roman Army. In this way, Scipio created a trained nucleus of cavalry for his African campaign.
The Roman Senate sent a commission of inquiry to Sicily and found that Scipio was at the head of a well-equipped and trained fleet and army. Scipio pressed the Senate for permission to cross into Africa. The conservative branch of the Roma
This information was taken from: Wikipedia
Send E-Mail to: dori1992@webspawner.com
Copyright © 2006 . All Rights Reserved