Résumé. – L’article revient sur le problème de la datation de l’ambassade romaine de Scipion Émilien en Orient. L’analyse des sources principales sur la mission (les excerpta Constantiniana de Diodore de Sicile, le Lucullus et le De re publica de Cicéron, ainsi que les œuvres de Plutarque et Strabon) conforte la thèse traditionnelle, défendue notamment par Alan E. Astin, qui situe l’ambassade en 140-139 av. J.-C. (après la censure de Scipion), en écartant celle de Harold B. Mattingly, qui considérait que l’ambassade était antérieure à la censure de Scipion.
Abstract. – This paper provides a new discussion of the date of the Roman embassy led by P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus to the Greek East. Based on an analysis of the main sources on the embassy (the excerpta Constantiniana of Diodorus Siculus, Cicero’s Lucullus and De re publica, as well as the works of Plutarch and Strabo), the paper argues that the traditional reconstruction, which has been defended most of all by Alan E. Astin, who argued that the embassy took place in 140-139 BCE, after Scipio’s censorship, must be considered the right one, forcing us to reject the revisionist attempt of Harold B. Mattingly to date the embassy prior to Aemilianus’ censorship.
Mots-clés. – P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, Diodore de Sicile, excerpta Constantiniana, diplomatie, Ptolémée VIII, Panétius, SEG XVIII 570.
Keywords. – P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, Diodorus Siculus, excerpta Constantiniana, diplomacy, Ptolemy VIII, Panaetius, SEG XVIII 570.
Manfredi Zanin, Historisches Institut, Universität Bern ; manfredi.zanin@gmail.com.
REA, T. 125, 2023, n°1, p. 55 à 72