Marcus Aemilius Paullus

Marcus Aemilius Paullus was a Roman statesman and general during the middle era of the Roman Republic. He was one of the consuls of 255 BCE, serving with Servius Fulvius Paetinius Nobilior. As consul Paullus led the Republic's forces in the ongoing First Punic War against Carthage; he and Paetinus led a Roman fleet of 350 warships to Africa to rescue the remnants of the army of proconsul Marcus Atilius Regulus, who had been defeated in the Battle of the Bagradas River earlier that year. Onroute they defeated a Carthaginian fleet of 200 warships in the Battle of Cape Hermaeum.

Marcus Aemilius Paullus was the father of Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the consul of 219 and 216 BCE, who was defeated by Hannibal at Cannae. He was also the grandfather of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, the conqueror of Macedon, and the great-grandfather of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the conqueror of Carthage.