12. The Ancient warrior who beat Hannibal
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236 BC – 183 BC) got the “Africanus” honorific because of his military victories in Africa. A formidable warrior, he was one of the Roman Republic’s greatest generals and strategists, best known for his conquest of Carthage’s territories in Iberia during the Second Punic War (218 – 201 BC). He closed the war strong, capping it off by defeating Hannibal on his home turf at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC to end the conflict with a Roman victory.
Scipio’s first mention in the historic record dates to 218 BC, when he led a cavalry charge that saved his father, one of that year’s consuls, from encirclement by Carthaginians. He survived the disaster at Cannae two years later, when Hannibal nearly wiped out a Roman army 87,000 strong. Scipio was one of the few Roman officers to keep their wits about them and cut their way to safety with 10,000 men – the sole survivors, who formed the nucleus of a reconstituted Roman army.
