L’Africano Maggiore nella storiografia italiana del primo dopoguerra

This paper aims to analyse the reception of the character of Scipio Africanus in the Italian historiographical production of the Ventennio fascista (1922-1943), comparing the main interpretative lines, mostly centred on Scipio’s political role and on the idea of imperialism. The analysis also attempts to show how the interest in Scipio’s biography during the mid-1930s decreased in the 1940s, after the Italian defeats in Africa and the fall of the fascist regime. In addition to the Italian translation of Liddell Hart's biography of Scipio Africanus, the works of E. Pais, G. Giannelli, S. Maurano, A. Consiglio, E. Ciaceri, F. S. Grazioli and F. Valori will be considered more specifically.