Scipio Africanus : Rome's greatest general / Richard A. Gabriel.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-289) and index.

1. The Man -- Baptism by Fire -- Cannae -- Public Office -- Selection for Command -- Military Competency -- 2. The Strategic Setting -- Carthaginian Strategy -- The Battle of the Trebia River, 218 BCE -- The Battle of Lake Trasimene, 217 BCE -- The Battle of Cannae, 216 BCE -- Spain -- 3. The Armies -- The Carthaginian Army -- The Roman Army -- 4. Scipio's Spanish Campaign -- The Attack on New Carthage, 209 BCE -- The Battle of Baecula, 208 BCE -- The Battle of Ilipa, 206 BCE -- 5. The Strategist -- Africa -- Spain -- The Battle of the Ebro River, 206 BCE -- Return to Rome -- 6. The African Campaign -- Invasion, 204 BCE -- The Battle at the Tower of Agathocles, 204 BCE -- The Burning of the Carthaginian Camps, 203 BCE -- The Battle of the Great Plains, 203 BCE -- Syphax's Defeat -- Truce -- 7. Scipio and Hannibal -- The Battle of Zama, 202 BCE -- Pax Scipionis -- 8. Triumph and Fall -- Scipio's Political Life -- The Last Campaign -- The Trial of Scipio -- 9. Scipio's Place in Military History.

"The world often misunderstands its greatest men while neglecting others entirely. Scipio Africanus, surely the greatest general that Rome produced, suffered both these fates. He should be heralded and celebrated today; but he is not. So who is Scipio Africanus?" "He is the man who defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama and won the Second Punic War. He is the man who revolutionized Roman military tactics. He is the man who set Rome on her imperial course and extended Roman power into Spain, Africa, and Asia. And he is the man who, upon returning victorious to Rome - one of few generals who never tasted defeat - turned away from the temptation of personal ambition and retired from public life, preserving the institutions of Roman republicanism." "Yet today he is virtually unknown, overshadowed ironically by Hannibal, a man he defeated. Richard A. Gabriel brings Scipio Africanus front and center with this scholarly and heretofore unmatched military biography of the distinguished Roman soldier. Gabriel draws on ancient texts, including those from Livy, Polybius, Diodorus. Silius Italicus, and others, as primary sources and examines a plethora of additional material available to the modern scholar in French, German, English, and Italian. His book offers a comprehensive bibliography of extant sources regarding Scipio's life."--BOOK JACKET.