Publius Cornelius Scipio (born 48 BC) was a Roman senator active during the Principate. He was consul in 16 BC as the colleague of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.^[1] He was also proconsular governor of Asia, probably around the years 8/7 BC.^[2]

Little is known about Scipio's ancestry, beyond his father's praenomen Publius. The latest securely documented members of the Cornelii Scipiones was Metellus Scipio and his daughter Cornelia; there were still several Scipiones during the Principate, but how they are related is a subject of conjecture. The use of Publius, primarily used by the Scipiones Nasicae, could indicate that he was the grandson of Metellus Scipio, but he could have also been a son (or grandson) of Scipio Salvito.^[3]

It was long believed the consul of 16 BC was the son of a hypothesized Publius Cornelius Scipio, the first husband of Scribonia, later the wife of Octavian.^[4] Suetonius only mentions children from Scribonia's second marriage.^[5]

At least two people have been identified as his children by an unidentified woman:

• Cornelius Scipio, who was accused of and punished for adultery with Julia the Elder in 2 BC.^[6] While Ronald Syme believes this man is different from the consul,^[7] Henri Etcheto believes he could be the same as the consul of 16 BC.^[8]
• Publius Cornelius Scipio, quaestor in Achaea circa AD 2.^[9] Another suggestion by Syme; however Etcheto argues this man could have been adopted from the plebeian Aurelii Orestides, because this Scipio was tribune of the plebs, a magistracy only held by the plebeians and the Scipiones were patricians.^[10]

Syme also suggests possible third child, the "Cornelia Scipionum gentis" wife of the long-lived Lucius Volusius Saturninus, consul in AD 3.^[11] However, in another part of his book Syme notes this Cornelia is mentioned in an inscription as "L.f."^[12] and suggests Scipio's possible daughter was the mother of Volusius' wife by Lucius Cornelius Lentulus consul of 3 BC.^[13] Etcheto rejects this connection with the Corneli Lentuli, and considers that she was a direct heir of the Scipiones, but does not attempt to identify her father.^[14]

• List of Roman consuls

• Alison E. Cooley, The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy, Cambridge: University Press, 2012.
• Henri Etcheto, Les Scipions. Famille et pouvoir à Rome à l’époque républicaine, Bordeaux, Ausonius Éditions, 2012
• R.A. Billows, "The Last of the Scipios", American Journal of Ancient History, 7 (1982), pp. 53–68.
• Ronald Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.