Publius Cornelius Scipio (flamen Dialis)

Publius Cornelius Scipio (c. 195 – c. 170 BC) was a priest of the Roman Republic, who belonged to the prominent family of the Cornelii Scipiones.

He is only known from an inscription found in the Tomb of the Scipios, which tells that he was flamen Dialis, the prestigious priest of Jupiter.

His early death left his father childless and prompted the adoption of a son of Aemilius Paullus, then known as Scipio Aemilianus.

[7][8] The first line mentioning the flamen was added later, perhaps by Scipio Aemilianus when he reorganised the familial tomb in the 130s BC.

Only the broken frontal plate survives, preserving the epitaph, written in Old Latin Saturnian meter: The break obscures a few letters, marked by the brackets.

The so-called "Head of Ennius ", found in the Tomb of the Scipiones , identified by Henri Etchteto as that of Scipio the flamen , now in the Museo Pio Clementino , Vatican . [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
A reproduction of the inscription given in Sandys.