Scipio Africanus

Scipio Africanus was the Roman general who ultimately defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War. After early Roman disasters, he captured New Carthage, drove Carthaginian forces from Iberia and carried the war into North Africa.

His victory at Zama in 202 BC forced Carthage to accept peace and earned him the name Africanus. Later political attacks and disputes over campaign finances contributed to his withdrawal from public life. Scipio Africanus was born in Rome, Roman Republic and died in Liternum, Roman Republic.

Adrian Goldsworthy’s In the Name of Rome considers how generals such as Scipio Africanus, Caesar, Trajan and others used discipline, logistics, diplomacy and political ambition to win campaigns. In Polybius’ The Rise of the Roman Empire, the surviving books are especially valuable for the Second Punic War, including Hannibal’s invasion, Cannae, Scipio Africanus and Zama, and for Rome’s wars with Macedon and the Greek east. Further fictional perspectives on Scipio Africanus can be found in G. A. Henty’s The Young Carthaginian, Ben Kane’s Cannae, and Ben Kane’s Clash of Empires. For broader historical treatment of Scipio Africanus, see Adrian Goldsworthy’s The Fall of Carthage and Livy’s Hannibal’s War.