Download The First Warlords

The First Great Warlords
C. Marius and L. Cornelius Sulla
The Paradox of Roman Imperial Success
Social and Economic Turbulence in Roman
Society
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Increased Social and Economic Differentiation
(insufficient “trickle-down” effect)
State-Subsidized Grain for the Populace of Rome
(seen as a radical, demagogic maneuver on the part
of individual Roman statesmen in the historiography
of the earlier Republic)
New Magnificence in Public Buildings, Games, and
Triumphs
Electoral Bribery (ambitus) and Legislation Against
It
Sumptuary Legislation
Keith Hopkins’ Analysis
Conquerors and Slaves
Continuous Warfare
 Influx of Booty
 Investment in Land
 Formation of Large Estates
 Impoverishment of Peasantry
 Emigration to Towns and Provinces
 Growth of Urban Markets
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The Problem
Assidui and Property Qualification
for Eligibility for Military Service
The Gracchan Challenge
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Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus
Aristocratic Background
 Father T. Sempronius Gracchus, consul and
patron of Spain
 Mother Cornelia, daughter of Scipio
Africanus, conqueror of Hannibal
Revive the Original Function of the Tribunate
as the Defender of Plebeian Interests
Creators of the Popularis Tradition for the Late
Republic
The Tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus
(133/132 BCE)
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Limitations to Holdings of Public Land (ager publicus)
Land Redistribution: Reestablish the Free Peasantry to
Small Farmsteads
Gracchan Commission for Assigning Land (triumviri
agris iudicandis adsignandis)
Tribunician Obstacles (M. Octavius) and Senatorial
Obstruction
Attalus III of Pergamum’s Legacy (133)
Tiberius’ Direct Appeal to the Popular Assembly
Re-election Bid; Riots and Lynchings
Tiberius and 300 Gracchan Supporters found floating
in the Tiber River
Gaius Gracchus’ Tribunate
(123/122, 122/121 BCE)
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Continues Tiberius’ Land Redistribution
Program (ager publicus)
Overseas Colonization; Junonia (Carthage)
Regular, State-Subsidized Grain for Capital
(lex Sempronia frumentaria)
Reform of Extortion Court (quaestio de
repetundis): equites and publicani
Knights granted rights to exploit the
province of Asia (lex de Asia)
Reserved seats for knights next to senators in
theater
Senatorial Reaction
Gaius Gracchus failed reelection bid for
121 BCE
 The Italian Question
 Unrest and Rioting
 Emergency Decree of the Senate (senatus
consultum ultimum)
 Murder of Gaius and 3,000 Supporters
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Conservative Retrenchment in
the Aftermath of the Gracchi
Occupation of ager publicus
 Thorian Law of 118 BCE
 Agrarian Law of 111 BCE
 Socio-Economic and Military
Recruitment Crises Continue
 Populares and Optimates
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All land, ground, or buildings above mentioned, excluding such
land or ground specially excepted as stated, shall be private land,
and for all such land, ground, or buildings there shall be the same
right of purchase and sale as for other private lands, grounds, or
buildings; and the incumbent censor shall see that such land,
ground, or building made private by this law shall be entered in
the census in the same way as other land, grounds, or buildings…
Abrogation of the Gracchan Land Laws, 111 BCE
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. 1, 2nd ed., no. 585
The sword was never carried into the assembly and
there was no civil slaughter until Tiberius Gracchus,
tribune and law bringer, was the first to fall a victim to
internal commotion; and with him many others, who
were crowded together at the Capitol around the
temple, were also slain. Sedition did not end with that
abominable deed. Repeatedly the parties came into
open conflict…As the evil gained in magnitude, open
insurrections against the government and large warlike
expeditions against their country were undertaken by
exiles, criminals, or persons vying with one another for
some office or military command.
Appian, Civil Wars, 1, Introduction 2
External Developments: New Wars,
New Conquests, New Crises
North: (Ligurnians, Allobroges, Arverni)
and the Conquest of Gallia Narbonensis
(southern France) in the 120s BCE
 South: Jugurtha of Numidia (war with
Rome, 112-106 BCE)
 C. Marius and the Germanic Northmen
(Cimbri and Teutones)
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Marius and the Northmen
Cimbri and Teutones defeat Roman
armies in 105 BCE
 Appointment of C. Marius to consulate
(novus homo): 107, 104-100, 86 BCE
 Marius defeats Cimbri and Teutones in
102/101 BCE
 Land Grants in Africa for Marius’
discharged veterans (tribune Saturninus)
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Coin of C. Fundanius
Ca. 100 BCE
Commemorating
C. Marius’ Triumph
Over Cimbri and
Teutones
Our generals always thought that those peoples [Gallic and
Germanic tribesmen] should be repulsed rather than punished in
war. The famous Gaius Marius himself, whose divine and
extraordinary ability relieved the great affliction and destruction
visited upon the Roman people, checked the enormous force of the
Gauls flowing into Italy but did not himself penetrate to their cities
and abodes.
Cicero, On the Consular Provinces, 13.32
Marius and the Jugurthine War
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Early Roman Defeats in Africa
Charges of Corruption and Bribery at Home
Marius as “New Man”
 Catonian Politics against Corrupted
Aristocrats
 Supported by the Equestrian Order
 Appointed by Popular Assembly
 Property Qualification Eliminated
 Volunteer Army (“Marius Mules”)
The Italian Question and the Social War
of 90-87 BCE
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Tribunate of M. Livius Drusus, 91 BCE
 Proposes Roman citizenship to all Italians (idea had
been broached in 125 BCE)
 Courts to be shared by equestrians and senators
 Assassination of Drusus
Italian Rebellion
 Establishment of Capital at Corfinium (Italia)
 Italia mints separatist coinage (Italian bull gorging
Roman wolf)
Aftermath
 Romans grant citizenship in 89 BCE
 War winds down by 87 BCE (“Pyrrhic victory” for
Roman aristocracy?)
Italian Bull
Gorging Roman
Wolf
The East: Mithridates VI of Pontos
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Competition for Bithynia as Client State
Mithridates invades Asia Minor and Greece
 Slaughter of 80,000 Italian businessmen
 Occupation of Athens, 88 BCE
Factional Struggle in Rome for Mithridatic
Command
 C. Marius and L. Cornelius Sulla?
 Sulla awarded command (makes his name
in the Social War)
 Sulpicius Rufus proposes transfer of
command to Marius
 Sulla’s march on Rome in 88 BCE
Green = Roman Empire ca.
100 BCE
Yellow/Orange Verticals =
Areas under Mithridates’
Influence
Yellow = Kingdom of Pontos
Under Mithridates VI
Revolutionary Violence in Roman Republican
Political Life:
Sulla’s March on Rome (88 BCE)
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Sulpicius Rufus murdered
Flight of Marius
Sulla wins Mithridatic command
Marius and Cinna retake control of Rome in 87
(proscriptions)
Sulla comes to agreement with Mithridates (85)
Disloyal cities of Asia Minor pay heavy
reparations to Sulla
Sulla’s Return (83 BCE) and
Dictatorship (81-79 BCE)
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Battle at the Colline Gate, 82 BCE
Proscription and Confiscations (10,000 murdered)
The Dictatorship of L. Cornelius Sulla (82-79 BCE)
Conservative Reforms (“Turning Back the Clock”)
 Restoration of Senate’s Authority
 Restrictions on tribunes (ineligible for higher
offices)
 Control of courts returned to Senate
 Senate doubled to 600 members (admission and
incorporation of wealthiest equestrians)
 Minimum age requirements for offices enforced
After crushing Italy by war, fire, and murder,
Sulla’s generals visited the cities and established
garrisons at the suspected places….Sulla himself
called the Roman people together in an assembly
and made them a speech, vaunting his own exploits
and making other menacing statements in order to
inspire terror….he immediately proscribed 40
senators and 1,600 knights. He seems to have been
the first to make such a formal list of those whom
he condemned to death, to offer prizes to assassins
and rewards to informers, and to threaten those
who concealed the proscribed.
Appian, Civil Wars, 1.11.95-12.103
(excerpts)
A Deadly Formula
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Unprecedented and Unconstitutional Measures
 Marius’ consecutive consulships
 Sulla’s extended dictatorship
Use of Armies for Political Ends (Sulla’s March
on Rome)
Commanders Responsible for Land Grants to
Veterans
Charismatic General + Personal Army
Death of Senatorial Government
Readings for Next Meeting
H.H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero,
88-158
 M. Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and
Statesman, 272-333
 J. Patterson, “Military Organization and
Social Change,” in War and Society in
Republican Rome, 92-112
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Questions for Reading
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What factors led to the breakdown of Republican
government in the first decades of the first century
BCE?
How did Caesar exploit the social and economic
consequences of empire differently than the
warlords who preceded him?
How did the social and economic consequences of
empire affect Roman military organization in the
late Republic?