 Sempronia was born in Rome around 170 BC, and was raised and educated there by her mother.Her father died suddenly in 154 BC, and it is probable that she was engaged while he was still alive to her mother’s maternal first cousin Scipio Aemilianus Africanus who was her first cousin by adoption (by her maternal uncle).At her father's death, her young brothers were apparently partly raised and educated in Scipio's household; he was wealthy, rich, and cultivated a circle of literary-minded Romans and foreigners known to history as the Scipionic Circle.