Scipio Africanus (236–183 BCE)

Abstract

Abstract Publius Cornelius Scipio belonged to one of the leading patrician families in Rome during the third century BCE. His father was Publius Cornelius Scipio, consul in 218, and his mother was Pomponia. There is little reliable information about his early life, which was soon obscured by legend. He saved his father at the Battle of the Ticinus against Hannibal in 218 at the start of the Second Punic War (218–201). He then saw service as a military tribune at the Battle of Cannae in 216 and helped rally the survivors at Canusium.