Not many remember who Consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbato was. Yet there is a very good reason why we should remember him, in fact, besides being a member of the distinguished
gens Cornelia, he was the founder of one of ancient Rome’s most illustrious clans, the father of Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina, and, what is most important, the great-grandfather of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–183 BC), also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, i.e. the man who defeated Hannibal at the final battle of the Second Punic War at Zama—a watershed event in the history of the world—and one of the finest commanders in military history.
History, however, is not the focus of this post. Rather, the focus is on archaeology and …tourism. In fact, a few days ago, for the first time in two decades, the tomb of the Scipios has been reopened to the public (Via di Porta San Sebastiano 9, Rome). It’s a great opportunity—among the Scipios entombed there were both Scipio the Elder and Scipio the Younger, who destroyed Carthage and ended the Third Punic War!—for those who live in Rome or are just visiting. To book a visit, call +39060608.
See
here for some more info in English, and
here for a thorough description and history of the site in Italian.
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| Photo courtesy of Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali, Rome |
1 comment:
Thanks for the post Rob. Of course now I'm thinking I've got to study the Punic Wars, and the Scipio's. It's amazing Rome was such a double edge culture. Brilliant in military, economics, art, etc., yet an extraordinarily brutal dictatorship. I read an observation that Rome was such an overwhelming socialist State for so long, socialism is ingrained European political thought and practice to this day; explaining why Europeans so readily accept Communism, Fascism, Socialism, Nazism.
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