Scipio’s Cronies: A Prosopographical Attempt at (Re-)Constructing the Numantine Connection
The Jugurthine War (112–105 BC) presented Rome with a surprisingly persistent military and political problem. What might have been expected to constitute a relatively short campaign against the Numidian king instead lasted six years, saw a succession of Roman commanders, and became closely associated in the Roman historical tradition with corruption, aristocratic competition, and the growing political tensions of the late Republic. The obvious question is: how did Jugurtha do it? How did he manage to hold out against Rome for so long? This paper approaches the problem from a somewhat different direction; through the personal connections he may have established during his earlier service with the Roman army in Spain.
Before becoming Rome’s enemy, Jugurtha had fought alongside Roman troops at the siege of Numantia in 134–133 BC, commanding a contingent of Numidian cavalry in the army of Scipio Aemilianus. The Numantine campaign was itself an important point of convergence for a generation of Romans who would subsequently and – given their lineage – inevitably play prominent roles in the political and military history of the Republic. Among those connected with the Celtiberian and Numantine wars were Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius Marius, members of the Metelli, and Scipio Aemilianus and his wider political circle. Jugurtha’s participation therefore placed the future Numidian king within a particularly significant Roman military and aristocratic environment. But these prominent names are only the most visible part of a much larger group of men whose careers and connections are considerably more difficult to trace.
Taking this shared Spanish experience as its starting point, the paper offers a prosopographic schizzo of the individuals and networks (possibly) surrounding the Numantine and Jugurthine wars. It asks whether Jugurtha’s later dealings with Roman commanders, senators, envoys, and political intermediaries can be better understood by reconstructing connections originating during the Spanish campaigns. Particular attention is paid to the less conspicuous figures who appear at the margins of our sources, but who may have provided precisely the sort of personal connections through which Jugurtha could navigate Roman political and military circles.
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Gregor Pobežin is Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Cultural History, ZRC SAZU, which he has headed since 2017, and at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska. His principal research interests include Greek and Roman historiography, particularly Sallust, ancient history, classical philology, narratology and the use of sources by ancient historians. His research also extends to the reception of classical culture, Neo-Latin historiography and literature, epigraphy, and the intellectual and cultural history of the northern Adriatic and Slovenian historical space. He is the author and co-author of several monographs and numerous scholarly articles, as well as translations and critical editions of Greek and Latin texts.
Since 2023 he has headed the ZRC SAZU research programme (New) Cultural History of Intellectual Heritage: The Slovenian Historical Space in a European Context (P6-0440). At the University of Primorska he coordinates the humanities component of AID HCH – Advancement in the Development of Humanities and Cultural Heritage through Artificial Intelligence (J7-60128). He is also the initiator and organiser of Divina – Days of Andreas Divus of Justinopolis, an annual international symposium devoted to Neo-Latin culture and the classical tradition.
E-mail: gregor.pobezin@zrc-sazu.si
