Following Publius Cornelius Scipio — the Second Punic War

Publius Cornelius Scipio (236 – 183 BC), Rome. Survivor of the Ticinus, Cannae and the Spanish disaster of 211. Took New Carthage in a day, cleared Spain, carried the war to Africa and won it.

Privatus with proconsular imperium in Spain; Consul; Proconsul in Sicily and Africa.

Africanus after Zama; consul again in 194; withdrew to Liternum and died there in 183 BC, the same year as Hannibal.

The itinerary — 18 stops, Winter 210 BC to Winter 201 BC

  1. A private citizen takes command — 210 BC: Father and uncle dead in Spain, no senior man wants the command. Publius Cornelius Scipio, 24, steps forward — and the people vote a privatus proconsular imperium, unprecedented in Roman history. (Livy 26.18–19; Polybius 10.4–6)
  2. Tarraco — Winter 210/209 BC: He rallies the survivors north of the Ebro and quietly interrogates fishermen of the Punic capital’s lagoon. The three Carthaginian armies are each ten days’ march away. He will not fight them — yet. (Polybius 10.6–9; Livy 26.20, 26.41–42)
  3. New Carthage in a day — Early 209 BC: A lightning march, then the lagoon ebbs — “Neptune’s aid” he had promised — and the wall is taken from the water side. Treasury, hostages, shipyards: Punic Spain’s heart, in one day. (Polybius 10.9–19; Livy 26.42–51)
  4. Baecula — 208 BC: Scipio storms the terraced hill in a pincer — but Hasdrubal slips away north with treasury and elephants, bound for Italy. The freed prince Massiva seeds the friendship of Masinissa. (Polybius 10.38–40; Livy 27.18–19)
  5. Ilipa — Spring 206 BC: His masterpiece: days of feigned routine, then a dawn attack with the line reversed — legions on the wings, Spaniards refused in the centre. Carthaginian Spain dies on this field. (Polybius 11.20–24; Livy 28.12–16)
  6. The African gamble begins — 206 BC: After Ilipa, back at New Carthage, Scipio looks past Spain entirely: the war can only end in Africa, and Africa needs Numidian horsemen. Leaving his legates in charge, he embarks with Laelius on two fast quinqueremes for the most dangerous dinner invitation of his life. (Livy 28.16–17)
  7. Dinner with the enemy — 206 BC: With two quinqueremes and Laelius, Scipio sails to the court of Syphax — and drops anchor beside the ship of Hasdrubal Gisco, the enemy commander come on the same errand. The king insists his rival guests dine together: on one couch, the man of Ilipa and the man he will ruin. Hasdrubal leaves saying Scipio frightened him more at dinner than in battle. (Livy 28.17–18)
  8. Mutiny and the pact — Late 206 BC: Back in Spain, rumours of Scipio's deadly illness spark the Sucro mutiny — quelled at New Carthage with 35 ringleaders executed before a stunned, disarmed assembly. Masinissa seals his secret pact with Rome; Gades, Carthage's oldest colony, surrenders in his absence. Punic Spain is finished, and its conqueror sails home to stand for consul. (Livy 28.24–38)
  9. Consul against the Senate — 205 BC: Consul at 31. Fabius fights the African project in the Senate; Scipio gets Sicily, no consular army — and permission to cross “if it be in the interest of the state.” (Livy 28.38–45)
  10. Forging the army in Sicily — 205–204 BC: Cannae’s disgraced survivors, exiled to Sicily, become the core of an invasion force drilled for a year — while the Pleminius scandal at Locri nearly destroys Scipio’s command. (Livy 29.1, 29.6–9, 29.16–22)
  11. Landing in Africa — 204 BC: The fleet anchors off the Fair Promontory. Masinissa arrives with a handful of horsemen — a king without a kingdom. Siege lines go up around Utica; winter camp at Castra Cornelia. (Livy 29.24–28, 29.34–35)
  12. The burning of the camps — Spring 203 BC: Feigned peace talks map the enemy camps of reed and thatch. Then, one night, both are fired and stormed. Polybius: of all the calamities of the war, none more terrible. ~40,000 die. (Polybius 14.1–5; Livy 30.3–6)
  13. The Great Plains — 203 BC: Syphax and Hasdrubal rebuild an army in thirty days; Scipio destroys it in an hour with the Italian infantry’s double envelopment. Laelius and Masinissa hunt Syphax to Cirta — and Sophonisba drinks her poison. (Polybius 14.7–9; Livy 30.8–15)
  14. Before the walls of Carthage — 203–202 BC: Scipio camps at Tunis in sight of Carthage, beats off the fleet’s raid on his ships, grants an armistice — which Carthage breaks by plundering his storm-wrecked convoy as Hannibal lands. (Polybius 14.10, 15.1–2; Livy 30.16, 30.24–25)
  15. Zama — 19 October 202 BC: The lanes swallow the elephants, the lines grind, and Masinissa’s returning cavalry ends seventeen years of war. Scipio has beaten the unbeaten. (Polybius 15.9–16; Livy 30.32–35)
  16. Peace and the name Africanus — 201 BC: Five hundred warships burn in the gulf — “a sight as grievous to the Carthaginians as the burning of their city.” Carthage lives, disarmed. Scipio triumphs and takes a continent for a name. (Polybius 15.17–19; Livy 30.36–45)
  17. Lilybaeum — Summer 201 BC: Crossed to Sicily with the army; the fleet dismissed. (Livy 30.45)
  18. Rome — Summer 201 BC: The triumph over Hannibal and Carthage; Syphax dead at Tibur shortly before. Month of the triumph unattested. (Livy 30.45)

Battles fought

  • Battle of the Ticinus — Autumn 218 BC — defeat
  • Battle of Dertosa (Ibera) — Spring 215 BC — victory
  • Recapture of Saguntum — Summer 212 BC — victory
  • Battles of the Upper Baetis — Spring 211 BC — defeat
  • Assault on New Carthage — Spring 209 BC — victory
  • Battle of Baecula — Spring 208 BC — victory
  • Battle of Ilipa — Spring 206 BC — victory
  • Siege of Utica — Summer 204 BC — inconclusive
  • Burning of the Camps — Spring 203 BC — victory
  • Battle of the Great Plains — Spring 203 BC — victory
  • Battle of Zama — Autumn 202 BC — victory