full name Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (234?–183 bc), one of the most famous generals of ancient Rome and a hero of the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome. In 210 bc, after serving in the Roman legions sent against the Carthaginian general Hannibal in northern Italy, Scipio was put in command of the Roman armies in Spain. Arriving there in 209 bc, he led a surprise attack against the headquarters of the Carthaginian army at Nova Carthago (now Cartagena), thereby depriving Carthage of its principal supply base. In 208 bc he had driven the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal from Spain, but had failed to prevent him from crossing the Pyrenees to assist his brother Hannibal in 207 bc. Scipio returned to Rome in triumph in 205 bc and was elected consul for that year. In 204–203 bc, he led an invasion of North Africa, defeating the Carthaginians at Campi Magni (modern Suk al-Khamis, Tunisia). Hannibal was then recalled from Italy, but Scipio won a decisive victory over him in the Battle of Zama (202 bc). For this conquest, which ended the Second Punic War, Scipio was granted the surname Africanus.

In 190 bc Scipio served as tactical adviser to his brother in the war with the Seleucid king Antiochus III; the Syrian force was crushed in the great Roman victory at Magnesia in Asia Minor. On his return to Rome Scipio was accused by his enemy, Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Elder), of accepting bribes from Antiochus. He was acquitted of the charges, but retired from public life to his villa at Liternum in Campania. Scipio Africanus is regarded as the greatest Roman general before Julius Caesar. He was also an accomplished scholar and encouraged appreciation of Greek culture in Rome.