Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus

Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus (died 211 BC) was a Roman general and statesman.

His father was Lucius Cornelius Scipio, son of the patrician censor of 280, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus. His younger brother was Publius Cornelius Scipio, father of the most famous Scipio – Scipio Africanus. Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus served as consul in 222 BC, his co-consul being Marcus Claudius Marcellus, in the first of his five consulships. Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio was nicknamed Calvus (the bald) to distinguish him from his uncle, another Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio nicknamed Asina (or donkey), who had been twice consul during the First Punic War.

Scipio Calvus fought in the Second Punic War in Iberia (Hispania), starting with a victory in the Battle of Cissa in 218 BC until he was killed in the Battle of the Upper Baetis in 211 BC, fighting the Carthaginians that had Indibilis and Mandonius and the Spanish tribemen as their allies, shortly after the similar death of his younger brother. Both Scipios were capable commanders, both were consuls, and both were killed in Hispania after their armies had separated.

Descendants

His son was Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, consul in 191 BC, the first Scipio Nasica (nicknamed Nasica for his pointed nose), who founded the Nasica branch of the Scipiades. Scipio Nasica's son, another Scipio Nasica (nicknamed Corculum, with his full name being Publius Cornelius P.f. G.n. Scipio Nasica Corculum), married his second cousin Cornelia Africana Major, the eldest daughter of Scipio Africanus and thus united the two lines. Their descendants in the male line continued until at least 46 BC, in the person of Metellus Scipio (adopted into the Caecilii Metelli family).

See also

• Scipio-Paullus-Gracchus family tree

Preceded by Gaius Flaminius and Publius Furius Philus

Consul of the Roman Republic with Marcus Claudius Marcellus 222 BC

Succeeded by Publius Cornelius Scipio Asina and Marcus Minucius Rufus and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (Suffect)