Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio was consul in 138 BC. He had a prominent part in the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, so to save him from the vengeance of the populares, he was sent by the Senate on a pretended mission to Asia. He died shortly afterwards in Pergamum. The nickname Serapio was given him by the tribune C. Curiatius from his likeness to one Serapio, a dealer in sacrificial victims.

See Appian, Punica, 80 n.c., i. i6; Valerius Maximus ix. 14; Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus, 21.

This article incorporates material from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.