Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina

Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina (lived 3rd century BC) was a Roman general and statesman who fought in the First Punic War.

Elected consul for the year 260 BC with Gaius Duillius, Scipio Asina had the honour of commanding the first Roman fleet launched onto the Mediterranean Sea.

While patrolling the waters of the Messina strait between Italy and Sicily, Scipio Asina received the information that Lipara, in the Lipari Islands, was about to change to the Roman side.

Without naval warfare experience, the crews panicked and escaped to land, leaving the ships unattended and Scipio Asina to be made prisoner by the Carthaginians.

Neither the humiliation, nor his loss, ended his career; in 254 BC, Scipio Asina was elected consul for the second time and, with his co-consul Aulus Atilius Caiatinus, succeeded in the conquest of Panormus (Palermo, now capital of Sicily).