36 Facts About Scipio Aemilianus

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus, known as Scipio Aemilianus or Scipio Africanus the Younger, was a Roman general and statesman noted for his military exploits in the Third Punic War against Carthage and during the Numantine War in Spain.

Scipio Aemilianus oversaw the final defeat and destruction of the city of Carthage.

Scipio Aemilianus was a prominent patron of writers and philosophers, the most famous of whom was the Greek historian Polybius.

Scipio Aemilianus was the second son of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, the commander of the Romans' victorious campaign in the Third Macedonian War, and his first wife, Papiria Masonis.

Plutarch wrote that Scipio Aemilianus was his favorite son because he "saw that he was by nature more prone to excellence than any of his brothers".

Scipio Aemilianus related that during mopping-up operations after the Battle of Pydna, Aemilius was worried because his younger son was missing.

Scipio Aemilianus was thought to have advised for the prosecution of the war.

Scipio Aemilianus asked the Senate to be sent to Hispania either as a military tribune or a legate, due to the urgency of the situation, even though it would have been safer to go to Macedon, where he had been invited to settle domestic disputes.

Ultimately, Scipio Aemilianus's decision made him popular, and many of those who had been avoiding their duty, ashamed by Scipio Aemilianus's example, began to volunteer as legates or to enroll as soldiers.

Velleius Paterculus wrote that Scipio Aemilianus was awarded a mural crown, which was a military decoration awarded to the soldier who first climbed the wall of a besieged city or fortress and successfully placed the military standard on it.

Scipio Aemilianus was a military tribune and distinguished himself repeatedly.

In 134 BC Scipio Aemilianus was elected consul again because the citizens thought that he was the only man capable of defeating the Numantines in the Numantine War.

Scipio Aemilianus concentrated on restoring discipline by forbidding luxuries the troops had become accustomed to, through regular tough exercises and by enforcing regulations strictly.

Scipio Aemilianus did not proceed along the shorter route to avoid the guerrilla tactics the Numantines were good at.

Scipio Aemilianus was ambushed several times but defeated the enemy.

Scipio Aemilianus saved his men, but some horses and pack animals died of thirst.

Scipio Aemilianus returned to the Numantine territory and was joined by Jugurtha, the son of the king of Numidia, with archers, slingers, and twelve elephants.

Scipio Aemilianus asked the allied tribes in Hispania for specified numbers of troops.

Scipio Aemilianus built a circuit of fortifications which was nine kilometers long.

Scipio Aemilianus built an embankment of the same dimensions as the wall around the adjoining marsh.

Scipio Aemilianus built two towers by the River Durius to which he moored large timbers with ropes which were full of knives and spear heads and were constantly kept in motion by the current.

Scipio Aemilianus sold the rest into slavery, destroyed the city and kept fifty men for his triumph.

Scipio Aemilianus helped his relative Tiberius Gracchus who in 137 BC had served in the Numantine War as a quaestor under the consul Gaius Hostilius Mancinus.

Plutarch wrote that "this disagreement certainly resulted in no mischief past remedy" and thought that if Scipio Aemilianus had been in Rome during the political activity of Gracchus, the latter would not have been murdered - he was fighting the war in Hispania.

Rome's Italian allies complained about lawsuits brought against them and chose Scipio Aemilianus to defend them.

Appian wrote that it could not be known whether Scipio Aemilianus was murdered by Cornelia and her daughter Sempronia, who were worried that the Gracchian law might be repealed, or whether he committed suicide because he saw that he could not deliver on his promises.

Gellius wrote that Scipio Aemilianus "used the purest diction of all men of his time".

Scipio Aemilianus is a central character in Book VI of Cicero's De re publica, a passage known as the Somnium Scipionis or "Dream of Scipio".

Scipio Aemilianus was the patron of the so-called Scipionic circle, a group of 15 to 27 philosophers, poets, and politicians.

Hence, Scipio Aemilianus had a philhellenic disposition.

Yet, Scipio Aemilianus was a supporter of such traditions and mores.

Gellius wrote that when he was censor, Scipio Aemilianus made a speech "urging the people to follow the customs of their forefathers".

Gellius wrote that after he was censor, Scipio Aemilianus was accused before the people by Tiberius Claudius Asellus, a plebeian tribune, whom he had stripped of his knighthood during his censorship.

Scipio Aemilianus added that in those days noblemen started shaving in middle age.

Scipio Aemilianus is portrayed as a young boy in the household of his adopted grandfather in the 1971 film Scipio the African.

The name "Scipio Aemilianus" was used in the animated series, Code Lyoko in reference to the general's destruction of Carthage.