Scipio - Definition and Overview

Scipio (plural, Scipiones) is a Roman cognomen used by a branch of the Cornelii family. The Scipiones were traditional political allies of the Paulii branch of the Aemilius. Their family tomb, dated to the 3rd century BC and rediscovered in 1780, contained one of the earliest collections of Latin inscriptions, and an important historical source for the Roman Republic.

Famous Scipiones include:

• L. Cornelius Scipio, consul 350 BC
• Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, consul 298 BC
• Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina, consul 260 BC, 254 BC
• Lucius Cornelius Scipio, consul 259 BC
• Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, consul 222 BC
• Publius Cornelius Scipio, consul 218 BC
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major, famous general
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, consul 191 BC
• Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, consul 190 BC
• Lucius Cornelius Scipio, praetor 174 BC
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum, consul 162 BC, 155 BC
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus (Scipio the Younger)
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio, consul 138 BC
• Publius Cornelius Scipio, consul 16 BC
• Publius Cornelius Scipio, consul 52
• Ser. Cornelius Scipio L. Saluidienus Orfitus, consul 149
• Ser. Cornelius Scipio Saluidienus Orfitus, consul 178

See also: Scipio-Paullus-Gracchus family tree

Several places have been named after the Scipiones:

• Scipio Township, Michigan
• Scipio, New York
• Scipio, Utah

• In music, the march from the opera Scipio by George Frideric Handel is the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards.