 The title for the poem "Africa" is based on the nickname of the hero.The adopted grandson of the poem's hero is Scipio Aemilianus, also known as Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus "Africanus" – receiving his like agnomen for destroying Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War.Petrarch's irresistible desire to imitate the ancients was probably influenced by Albertino Mussato's Latin tragic play "Ecerinis", which was modeled on Seneca the Younger's tragedy works.