This article seeks to analyse the memory of the Battle of Magnesia ad Sipylum (189 BC) based on various historical sources (both literary and epigraphic). In particular, it will investigate the actual merits of the Roman commanders (the consul L. Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus, whose role was partly overshadowed by his brother P. Scipio Africanus and by the legate Gn. Domitius Ahenobarbus) in the victory against Antiochus III the Great. The article also aims to highlight the role played by Eumenes II Soter on the battlefield, seeking to emphasise the perspective of Pergamon, the most important ally of the Romans, and attempting to shed light – as far as possible – on the probable lost sources used by the main historians who dealt with the battle, Livy and Appian. As will be seen, this military victory had a large echo, due also to Roman (and Pergamene) propaganda, but it had more than a voice (not only that of the Romans).
La memoria storiografica della battaglia di Magnesia (190/189 a.C.): vittoria alleata e trionfo propagandistico / Parisi, Vincenzo. - 5:(2026), pp. 147-164. ( Semi di Sapienza 2025. Seminario delle Dottorande e dei Dottorandi in Filologia e Storia del Mondo Antico. Shaping the Past. Rappresentazione, uso e manipolazione della memoria nel mondo antico (8-9 maggio 2025) Roma ).
La memoria storiografica della battaglia di Magnesia (190/189 a.C.): vittoria alleata e trionfo propagandistico
Vincenzo Parisi
2026
Abstract
This article seeks to analyse the memory of the Battle of Magnesia ad Sipylum (189 BC) based on various historical sources (both literary and epigraphic). In particular, it will investigate the actual merits of the Roman commanders (the consul L. Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus, whose role was partly overshadowed by his brother P. Scipio Africanus and by the legate Gn. Domitius Ahenobarbus) in the victory against Antiochus III the Great. The article also aims to highlight the role played by Eumenes II Soter on the battlefield, seeking to emphasise the perspective of Pergamon, the most important ally of the Romans, and attempting to shed light – as far as possible – on the probable lost sources used by the main historians who dealt with the battle, Livy and Appian. As will be seen, this military victory had a large echo, due also to Roman (and Pergamene) propaganda, but it had more than a voice (not only that of the Romans).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
