Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbartus was, no doubt, a very interesting and important man in his own lifetime in the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE. His CV is fairly impressive, he comes from a patrician family and served as Aedile, Consul and Censor in his civil career; posts certainly not to be sniffed at. He also appears to have had an active military career, playing a role in the 3rd Samnite War when Rome finally stretched her dominion over most of the Italian Peninsula, defeating the perpetual thorn in the side of the Etruscans, Umbrians, and the Samnites.
His military career doesn’t exactly live up to the expectations of those in his family that came later, certainly not when we think about his Great Grandson Scipio Africanus. He appears to have been a bit part player within the army, trusted to command flanks and carry out the orders of his generals. He must have held a command following his Consulship however nothing is noted.
Barbartus would appear to be the first member of the Cornelii Scipiones of any real importance. There is a fleeting reference to his father, Gnaeus, however we don’t have any real details about the Scipiones pre Barbartus other than some fleeting glimpses of Consul lists or references in much later sources.
So why am I dedicating a blog post to this man? Well, it may just be that Barbartus can tell us more about Roman History and culture in his death than in his scarcely sourced life.
Just off the Via Appia there is a monument to this family, their tomb. No doubt grand in its hayday by the third century CE it was largely forgotten with housing built up around it. Within it however there may have been up to 6 generations of Scipiones with 30 burials. On the back wall, almost directly in front as you enter there is the sarcophagus of Barbartus, the sarcophagus is odd in a few ways.
Firstly, it’s existence is strange. At a time where most of his contemporaries were being cremated he was laid to rest within his sarcophagus. Secondly it is notably Greek in its detailing with Ionic and Doric influences showing a proud and obvious signs that this Roman was taking on Greek ideals from either the south of Italy or the Greek mainland traders at an early point in time.
However, the most intriguing thing about the Sarcophagus is it’s editing. We get the common list of offices held, the mention of his little-known father and a little bit about him being good looking. Above the remaining inscription there is a rough patch of stone, showing clear evidence of an erasure.
We’ll never know what was erased, some have said it was the original, more modist, epitaph that didn’t fit the Scipiones of later years. More modern thinking suggests that actually it’s something that was placed at the same time as the surviving inscription. We can only speculate what was erased. However, it likely happened not all that later than it’s original inscription as by the time of the Late Republic the tomb had fallen out of use when family line died out.
The tomb itself would have been closed to all but close family, which means that the order to remove the inscription would have come from quite a high authority within the family. To me, it would make sense that at a time of widening public importance on family heritage edits or re-writes would have been rife. The Scipiones were on an absolutely rapid rise of prestige from Barbartus forward with the exploits of Scipio Africanus in the late 3rd Century living on until modern times. The Scipiones then held a grip on prestigious consulships and military commands throughout the 2nd Century BCE, the question that may well have been on peoples lips was likely something along the lines of how did the Scipiones accumulate such political clout in such a short space of time.
So, we turn to the idea that the 3rd and 2nd Centuries were the period where Roman history as we know it was solidified. Family records were enshrined to record to provide a collective memory of where Rome came from. If there was anything that under cut that then this was the time for it to be removed, private epitaphs for family members included.
Personally I think the erasure of the first couple of lines of Barbartus’ epitaph was something to help solidify the family narrative of a much older and grander heritage that was being put around in order to support (or even justify) the Scipiones rise to greatness. When you had families that could trace their heritage back to the founders of the Republic it meant that your family must also find these ties or at least not acknowledge how new your family’s prominence was.
All in all, Scipio Barbartus’ legacy as founder (or first high-profile family member at least) was a source of pride, initially. But in a period of formalising history and an increasingly competitive nature of family politics his Sarcophagus fell victim to the self-aggrandisement that we become so familiar with in the later republic. Although it was a private monument to the dead, it still needed to re-enforce the public image the family put on in public. It’s a nice little monument that can encapsulate the political nature of Rome from Barbartus’ death through to the fall of the Republic.
