Scipio Africanus: The First Imperator [Hardcover]

The life story of an early Roman military commander whose brilliance surpassed all of the emperors to come.
 
Scipio Africanus (235–183 BCE) commanded his first army at twenty-five, led a daring invasion of Africa to personally defeat Hannibal, and secured Rome’s dominance over the Mediterranean. In ten years of command, he never lost a battle, employing bold strategies to triumph over six enemy generals. Charismatic, ruthless, and self-confident almost to the point of arrogance, Scipio was the first Roman leader hailed as Imperator, “victorious commander,” a title later adopted by emperors. He drove Carthage’s forces from Spain, annexed its territories, and later imposed terms on Antiochus III, extending Rome’s reach eastward. Yet political jealousy at home led to his bitter exile. This biography explores the fortunes, fame, and fate of a leader who outshone Caesar in military genius.

“Scipio Africanus’ triumph and tragedy was to have been, as Hoyos puts it, 'the greatest general in Roman history,' renowned for never having lost in battle. Invincibility brought Scipio (ca. 235-183 B.C.) laurels, but with them the unease and envy of contemporaries. . . . The contrast between the enduring fame of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who led troops and elephants across the Alps in 218 B.C., and the twenty-first-century obscurity of Scipio, the Roman general who bested him at the Battle of Zama (202 B.C.), is one of antiquity’s strangest twists. InScipio Africanus: The First Imperator, Hoyos gives the victor, whom the Greek historian Polybius once called 'virtually the most outstanding man in history,' his due.”