Sulla's first civil war
Encyclopedia
Sulla's first civil war was one of a series of civil war
s in ancient Rome
, between Gaius Marius
and Sulla, between 88 and 87 BC.
–87 BC
) was fought against the Socii, Roman allies in Italy, and was the result of Rome's intransigence in regarding the civil liberties of its own citizens (Romans) as superior to those of the citizens of the rest of Italy. Subjects of the Roman Republic, these Italian provincials might be called to arms in its defence or might be subjected to extraordinary taxes, but they had no say in the expenditure of these taxes or in the uses of the armies that might be raised in their territories. The Social War was, in part, caused by the assassination of Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger
. His reforms were intended to grant to the Roman allies in Italy full Roman citizenship
, which would have given the provincials a say in the external and internal policies of the Roman Republic
. When Drusus was assassinated, most of his reforms addressing these grievances were declared invalid. This declaration greatly angered the Roman provincials, and in consequence, most allied against Rome.
At the beginning of the Social War, the Roman aristocracy and Senate began fearing Marius' ambition, which had already given him six consulships from 104 BC
to 100 BC
. They felt determined that he should not have overall command of the war in Italy. In this last rebellion of the Italian allies, Sulla served with brilliance as a general. He outshone both Marius and the consul Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo (the father of Pompey Magnus). For example, in 89 BC
Sulla captured Aeclanum
, the chief town of Hirpini
, by setting the wooden breastwork on fire. As a result of his success in bringing the Social War to a successful conclusion, he was elected consul
for the first time in 88 BC
, with Quintus Pompeius Rufus (soon his daughter's father-in-law) as his colleague.
, a command that Marius (now an old man) had coveted. Marius convinced the tribune
Publius Sulpicius Rufus
to call an assembly
and revert the Senate's decision on Sulla's command. Sulpicius also used the assemblies to eject Senators from the Roman Senate
until there were not enough senators to form a quorum. Violence in the Forum ensued and the efforts of the nobles to effect a public lynching similar to that which had happened to the brothers Gracchi
and Saturninus
were smashed by the gladiator
ial bodyguard of Sulpicius. Sulla was forced to take refuge in Marius' house, and possibly made a personal plea to stop the violence, which was ignored. Sulla's own son-in-law was killed in those riots.
s and marched on Rome. This action was an unprecedented event. No general before him had ever crossed the city limits, the pomoerium
, with his army. It was so unethical that most of his commanders (with the exception of one, probably Lucullus
) refused to accompany him. Sulla justified his actions on the grounds that the Senate had been neutered and the mos maiorum
("The way things were done", or "the custom of the ancestors", which as a reference amounted to a Roman constitution although none of it was codified as such) had been offended by the negation of the rights of the consuls of the year to fight the wars of that year. A force of armed gladiator
s raised by the Marians (Marius offered freedom to any slave that would fight with him against Sulla) failed to resist Sulla's organized military force and Marius and his followers fled the city.
Sulla and his supporters in the Senate passed a death sentence on Marius, Sulpicius and a few other allies of Marius. A few men were executed, but (according to Plutarch) Marius narrowly escaped capture and death on several occasions and eventually found safety in Africa.
Sulla consolidated his position, declared Marius and his allies hostes (public enemies
) and addressed the Senate in harsh tones, portraying himself as a victim, presumably to justify his violent entrance into the city. After restructuring the city's politics and with the Senate's power strengthened, Sulla returned to his camp and proceeded with the original plan of fighting Mithridates in Pontus
(in what became the First Mithridatic War
).
Fighting broke out between the conservative supporters of Sulla, led by Gnaeus Octavius
(consul of 87), and the popularis supporters of Cinna. Marius along with his son then returned from exile in Africa with an army he had raised there and by the end of 87 BC
combined with Cinna and the Roman war hero
Quintus Sertorius
to enter Rome, oust Octavius and take control of the city. Based on the orders of Marius, some of his soldiers (who were former slaves) went through Rome killing the leading supporters of Sulla, including Octavius. Their heads were exhibited in the Forum. After five days, Quintus Sertorius
and Cinna ordered their more disciplined troops to kill Marius's rampaging slave army. All told some 12 Roman nobles had been murdered.
Marius declared Sulla's reforms and laws invalid, officially exiled Sulla and had himself elected to Sulla's eastern command and himself and Cinna elected consuls for the year 86 BC
. Marius died a fortnight after and Cinna was left in sole control of Rome. Sulla's second civil war
would soon result
.
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
s in ancient Rome
Roman civil wars
There were several Roman civil wars, especially during the late Republic. The most famous of these are the war in the 40s BC between Julius Caesar and the optimate faction of the senatorial elite initially led by Pompey and the subsequent war between Caesar's successors, Octavian and Mark Antony in...
, between Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
and Sulla, between 88 and 87 BC.
Prelude - Social War
The Social War (9191 BC
Year 91 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Caesar...
–87 BC
87 BC
Year 87 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Octavius and Cinna/Merula...
) was fought against the Socii, Roman allies in Italy, and was the result of Rome's intransigence in regarding the civil liberties of its own citizens (Romans) as superior to those of the citizens of the rest of Italy. Subjects of the Roman Republic, these Italian provincials might be called to arms in its defence or might be subjected to extraordinary taxes, but they had no say in the expenditure of these taxes or in the uses of the armies that might be raised in their territories. The Social War was, in part, caused by the assassination of Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger
Marcus Livius Drusus (tribune)
The younger Marcus Livius Drusus, son of Marcus Livius Drusus, was tribune of the plebeians in 91 BC. In the manner of Gaius Gracchus, he set out with comprehensive plans, but his aim was to strengthen senatorial rule...
. His reforms were intended to grant to the Roman allies in Italy full Roman citizenship
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....
, which would have given the provincials a say in the external and internal policies of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. When Drusus was assassinated, most of his reforms addressing these grievances were declared invalid. This declaration greatly angered the Roman provincials, and in consequence, most allied against Rome.
At the beginning of the Social War, the Roman aristocracy and Senate began fearing Marius' ambition, which had already given him six consulships from 104 BC
104 BC
Year 104 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marius and Fimbria...
to 100 BC
100 BC
Year 100 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marius and Flaccus...
. They felt determined that he should not have overall command of the war in Italy. In this last rebellion of the Italian allies, Sulla served with brilliance as a general. He outshone both Marius and the consul Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo (the father of Pompey Magnus). For example, in 89 BC
89 BC
Year 89 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Strabo and Cato...
Sulla captured Aeclanum
Aeclanum
Aeclanum was an ancient town of Samnium, southern Italy, c. 25 km east-southeast of Beneventum, on the Via Appia ....
, the chief town of Hirpini
Hirpini
The Hirpini , were an ancient Samnite people of central Italy. While general regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation...
, by setting the wooden breastwork on fire. As a result of his success in bringing the Social War to a successful conclusion, he was elected consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
for the first time in 88 BC
88 BC
Year 88 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sulla and Rufus...
, with Quintus Pompeius Rufus (soon his daughter's father-in-law) as his colleague.
Sulla's Mithridatic command
As the consul of Rome, Sulla prepared to depart once more for the East to fight against King Mithridates VI of PontusMithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...
, a command that Marius (now an old man) had coveted. Marius convinced the tribune
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
Publius Sulpicius Rufus
Publius Sulpicius Rufus
Publius Sulpicius Rufus was an orator and statesman of the Roman Republic, legate in 89 to Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo in the Social War, and in 88 tribune of the plebs....
to call an assembly
Deliberative assembly
A deliberative assembly is an organization comprising members who use parliamentary procedure to make decisions. In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the English Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became the basic term for a body of...
and revert the Senate's decision on Sulla's command. Sulpicius also used the assemblies to eject Senators from the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
until there were not enough senators to form a quorum. Violence in the Forum ensued and the efforts of the nobles to effect a public lynching similar to that which had happened to the brothers Gracchi
Gracchi
The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, were Roman Plebian nobiles who both served as tribunes in 2nd century BC. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. For this legislation and their membership in the...
and Saturninus
Lucius Appuleius Saturninus
Lucius Appuleius Saturninus was a Roman popularist and tribune; he was a political ally of Gaius Marius, and his downfall caused a great deal of political embarrassment for Marius, who absented himself from public life until he returned to take up a command in the Social War of 91 to 88...
were smashed by the gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
ial bodyguard of Sulpicius. Sulla was forced to take refuge in Marius' house, and possibly made a personal plea to stop the violence, which was ignored. Sulla's own son-in-law was killed in those riots.
Sulla's march on Rome
Sulla fled Rome and went to the camp of his victorious Social War veterans, waiting to cross to Greece from the south of Italy. He announced the measures that had been taken against him, and his soldiers stoned the envoys of the assemblies who came to announce that the command of the Mithridatic War had been transferred to Marius. Sulla then took six of his most loyal legionRoman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
s and marched on Rome. This action was an unprecedented event. No general before him had ever crossed the city limits, the pomoerium
Pomerium
The pomerium or pomoerium , was the sacred boundary of the city of Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within the pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory belonging to Rome.-Location and extensions:Tradition maintained that it was the original line ploughed by Romulus around the...
, with his army. It was so unethical that most of his commanders (with the exception of one, probably Lucullus
Lucullus
Lucius Licinius Lucullus , was an optimate politician of the late Roman Republic, closely connected with Sulla Felix...
) refused to accompany him. Sulla justified his actions on the grounds that the Senate had been neutered and the mos maiorum
Mos maiorum
The mos maiorum is the unwritten code from which the ancient Romans derived their social norms. It is the core concept of Roman traditionalism, distinguished from but in dynamic complement to written law. The mos maiorum The mos maiorum ("ancestral custom") is the unwritten code from which the...
("The way things were done", or "the custom of the ancestors", which as a reference amounted to a Roman constitution although none of it was codified as such) had been offended by the negation of the rights of the consuls of the year to fight the wars of that year. A force of armed gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
s raised by the Marians (Marius offered freedom to any slave that would fight with him against Sulla) failed to resist Sulla's organized military force and Marius and his followers fled the city.
Sulla and his supporters in the Senate passed a death sentence on Marius, Sulpicius and a few other allies of Marius. A few men were executed, but (according to Plutarch) Marius narrowly escaped capture and death on several occasions and eventually found safety in Africa.
Sulla consolidated his position, declared Marius and his allies hostes (public enemies
Public Enemy
Public Enemy is an American hip hop group consisting of Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff and his S1W group, DJ Lord , and Music Director Khari Wynn...
) and addressed the Senate in harsh tones, portraying himself as a victim, presumably to justify his violent entrance into the city. After restructuring the city's politics and with the Senate's power strengthened, Sulla returned to his camp and proceeded with the original plan of fighting Mithridates in Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
(in what became the First Mithridatic War
First Mithridatic War
The First Mithridatic War was a war challenging Rome's expanding Empire and rule over the Greek world. In this conflict, the Kingdom of Pontus and many Greek cities rebelling against Rome were led by Mithridates VI of Pontus against the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Bithynia...
).
Aftermath
Sulpicius was betrayed and killed by one of his slaves, whom Sulla subsequently freed then executed. Marius, however, fled to safety in Africa. With Sulla out of Rome, Marius plotted his return. During his period of exile Marius became determined that he would hold a seventh consulship, as foretold by the Sybil decades earlier.Fighting broke out between the conservative supporters of Sulla, led by Gnaeus Octavius
Gnaeus Octavius
Gnaeus Octavius was a senator and later consul of the Roman Republic. His father, also called Gnaeus Octavius, was Consul in 128 BC.His uncle, Marcus Octavius, was a key figure in opposition to the reforms of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC...
(consul of 87), and the popularis supporters of Cinna. Marius along with his son then returned from exile in Africa with an army he had raised there and by the end of 87 BC
87 BC
Year 87 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Octavius and Cinna/Merula...
combined with Cinna and the Roman war hero
Grass Crown
The Grass Crown or Blockade Crown was the highest and rarest of all military decorations in the Roman Republic and early Roman empire. It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer whose actions saved the legion or the entire army...
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius was a Roman statesman and general, born in Nursia, in Sabine territory. His brilliance as a military commander was shown most clearly in his battles against Rome for control of Hispania...
to enter Rome, oust Octavius and take control of the city. Based on the orders of Marius, some of his soldiers (who were former slaves) went through Rome killing the leading supporters of Sulla, including Octavius. Their heads were exhibited in the Forum. After five days, Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius was a Roman statesman and general, born in Nursia, in Sabine territory. His brilliance as a military commander was shown most clearly in his battles against Rome for control of Hispania...
and Cinna ordered their more disciplined troops to kill Marius's rampaging slave army. All told some 12 Roman nobles had been murdered.
Marius declared Sulla's reforms and laws invalid, officially exiled Sulla and had himself elected to Sulla's eastern command and himself and Cinna elected consuls for the year 86 BC
86 BC
Year 86 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cinna and Marius/Flaccus...
. Marius died a fortnight after and Cinna was left in sole control of Rome. Sulla's second civil war
Sulla's second civil war
Sulla's second civil war was one of a series of civil wars of ancient Rome. It was fought between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius the younger in 82 BC.-Prelude:...
would soon result
Sulla's civil wars
Sulla's civil wars were a series of civil wars in which Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a Roman statesman and general, attempted to take control of the Roman Republic.- Background :...
.