Publius Cornelius Scipio

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Publius Cornelius Scipio

Roman general [died 211 bce]

Written by E. Badian

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Died:: 211 bc, at the Baetis River [now Guadalquivir River, Spain]

Title / Office:: consul (218BC), ancient Rome

Role In:: Battle of the Trebbia River; Punic Wars; Second Punic War

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Publius Cornelius Scipio (died 211 bc, at the Baetis River [now Guadalquivir River, Spain]) was a Roman general, consul in 218 bc. From 217 to 211 bc he and his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus (consul in 222 bc) were proconsuls (provincial governors) and commanders of the Roman expeditionary force in Spain. Publius was the father of Scipio Africanus the Elder.

As consul in 218 bc, Publius was sent to Spain to stop the Carthaginian general Hannibal. Delayed by a Gallic revolt in Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy), Publius arrived at the Rhône River too late to prevent Hannibal’s crossing (September 218). He sent his brother on to Spain with the bulk of his forces to keep reinforcements from reaching Hannibal, and he returned to Italy. After losing a cavalry skirmish near the Ticinus (now Ticino) River, in which he was wounded, he retreated to Placentia (now Piacenza) to await his colleague Tiberius Sempronius Longus. Their combined forces fought Hannibal at the nearby Trebia River and were soundly defeated, losing half of their men.

In 217 Publius was sent as proconsul to join his brother in Spain. Gnaeus had secured Spain north of the Ebro River for Rome, had defeated the Carthaginian fleet at the mouth of the Ebro, and had attacked the Carthaginian forces as far south as Carthago Nova (now Cartagena) and Ebusus (now Ibiza); with Publius, he moved on Saguntum (now Sagunto). In 216 the Scipio brothers defeated Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal and succeeded in blocking Hannibal’s reinforcements, and in 202 they captured Saguntum and Castulo (now Cazlona).

In 211 Carthage sent three armies to Spain: two under Hannibal’s brothers Hasdrubal and Mago and a third under Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo. The Scipio brothers decided to split their forces to meet the three-pronged attack. Publius was caught and killed by Mago and Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, near the Baetis River, and his army was destroyed. Hasdrubal persuaded Gnaeus’s Spanish allies to desert at a crucial point and thus won at Ilourgeia (near present-day Cartagena) a decisive victory in which Gnaeus died.

Even though they eventually met defeat, the Scipio brothers kept Carthage from reinforcing Hannibal during the crucial early years of his invasion of Italy. They won important naval and land battles and inflicted severe losses on the enemy. It took three armies to defeat them, yet the three victorious Carthaginian generals could not agree on a plan to advance on Italy, so Hannibal remained without reinforcements for years.

E. Badian

Second Punic War

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The western Mediterranean during the Punic Wars

Second Punic War

Carthage and Rome [218 bce–201 bce]

Also known as: Second Carthaginian War

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Also called:: Second Carthaginian War

Date:: 218 BCE - 201

Participants:: Carthage; ancient Rome

Major Events:: Battle of Cannae; Battle of Ilipa; Battle of Zama; Battle of Trasimene; Battle of the Trebbia River

Key People:: Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus; Gaius Flaminius; Hannibal; Gaius Claudius Nero; Publius Cornelius Scipio

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Second Punic War, second (218–201 bce) in a series of wars between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian (Punic) empire that resulted in Roman hegemony over the western Mediterranean.

In the years after the First Punic War, Rome wrested Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage and forced Carthaginians to pay an even greater indemnity than the payment exacted immediately following the war. Eventually, however, under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca, his son Hannibal, and his son-in-law Hasdrubal, Carthage acquired a new base in Spain, whence they could renew the war against Rome.

In 219 Hannibal captured Saguntum (Sagunto) on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Rome demanded his withdrawal, but Carthage refused to recall him, and Rome declared war. Because Rome controlled the sea, Hannibal led his army overland through Spain and Gaul and across the Alps, arriving in the plain of the Po River valley in 218 bce with 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. Roman troops tried to bar his advance but were outmatched, and Hannibal’s hold over northern Italy was established. In 217 Hannibal, reinforced by Gallic tribesmen, marched south. Rather than attack Rome directly, he marched on Capua, the second largest town in Italy, hoping to incite the populace to rebel. He won several battles but still refrained from attacking the city of Rome, even after annihilating a huge Roman army at Cannae in 216. The defeat galvanized Roman resistance. A brilliant defensive strategy conducted by Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator harried the Carthaginians without offering battle. Thus, the two armies remained deadlocked on the Italian peninsula until 211 bce, when Rome recaptured the city of Capua.

Second Punic War events

Battle of the Trebbia River

In 207 Hasdrubal, following Hannibal’s route across the Alps, reached northern Italy with another large army supported by legions of Ligurians and Gauls. Hasdrubal marched down the peninsula to join Hannibal for an assault on Rome. Rome, exhausted by war, nevertheless raised and dispatched an army to check Hasdrubal. Gaius Nero, commander of the southern Roman army, slipped away north also and defeated Hasdrubal on the banks of the Metauros River. Hannibal maintained his position in southern Italy until 203, when he was ordered to return to Africa. Italy was free of enemy troops for the first time in 15 years. During the long mainland campaign, fighting had continued as well on Sardinia and Sicily, which had become Rome’s chief sources of food. Aided by internal upheaval in Syracuse, Carthage reestablished its presence on the island in 215 and maintained it until 210. Meanwhile, in Spain, Roman forces maintained pressure on Carthaginian strongholds. The Roman general Publius Scipio won a decisive battle at Ilipa in 206 and forced the Carthaginians out of Spain.

After his Spanish victory Scipio determined to invade the Carthaginian homeland. He sailed for Africa in 204 and established a beachhead. The Carthaginian council offered terms of surrender but reneged at the last minute, pinning its hopes on one last battle. The massed Carthaginian army, led by Hannibal, was defeated at Zama. The Carthaginians accepted Scipio’s terms for peace: Carthage was forced to pay an indemnity and surrender its navy, and Spain and the Mediterranean islands were ceded to Rome.