Allucius

Who is Allucius?

Allucius was a prince of the Celtiberi people of northern Europe around the 3rd century BC. The story told of him by Livy and other writers was that he was betrothed to a beautiful virgin who was taken prisoner by Scipio Africanus in Spain in 209 BC. The woman's fiance, who soon married her, naturally brought over his tribe to support the Roman armies. Scipio returned her to Allucius, and refused the presents her parents offered him.

This episode was a popular motif for exemplary literature and art during the Renaissance up through the 19th century. Numerous versions of The Continence of Scipio were created, depicting the mercy and sexual restraint of Scipio while he had Allucius's fiancee in his power, by artists such as Andrea Mantegna, Nicholas Poussin, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, Frans Floris, Baciccio, and Karel van Mander.