| Scorpus | |
| Birth Date: | c. 68 AD |
| Death Date: | c. 95 AD (age 27) |
| Death Place: | Rome |
| Occupation: | Charioteer |
Flavius Scorpus also known as Scorpius (c. 68–95 AD) was a famous charioteer in Roman times who lived at the end of the 1st century AD. Scorpus rode for the Green faction during his lifetime and accumulated 2,048 victories. As one of the most famous drivers in Roman history, he earned extraordinarily large amounts of money; his income surpassing that of professional Roman sponsors. Scorpus died young, at 27 years of age.
Scorpus was a slave, as were many charioteers, and was born at Hispania, the nowadays Iberian Peninsula. He received the laurel wreath many times, which is a symbol of continuous victory. Often at the end of a victorious game, fans threw him money. Eventually, he bought his freedom, becoming a libertus (freed slave).
Martial, a Roman poet, refers to Scorpus twice in Book X of his Epigrams, composed between 95 and 98 AD:[1]
and
Although the cause of Scorpus' death is unknown, it is likely to have been in one of the numerous crashes that occurred during chariot races, known as naufragia ("shipwrecks").[2]