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The First Great Warlords

The First Great Warlords. C. Marius and L. Cornelius Sulla. The Paradox of Roman Imperial Success Social and Economic Turbulence in Roman Society. Increased Social and Economic Differentiation (insufficient “trickle-down” effect)

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The First Great Warlords

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  1. The First Great Warlords C. Marius and L. Cornelius Sulla

  2. The Paradox of Roman Imperial SuccessSocial and Economic Turbulence in Roman Society • 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

  3. Keith Hopkins’ AnalysisConquerors 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

  4. The Problem Assidui and Property Qualification for Eligibility for Military Service

  5. The Gracchan Challenge • 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

  6. The Tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus (133/132 BCE) • 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

  7. Gaius Gracchus’ Tribunate(123/122, 122/121 BCE) • 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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)

  13. 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)

  14. Coin of C. Fundanius Ca. 100 BCE Commemorating C. Marius’ Triumph Over Cimbri and Teutones

  15. 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

  16. Marius and the Jugurthine War • 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”)

  17. The Italian Question and the Social War of 90-87 BCE • 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?)

  18. Italian Bull Gorging Roman Wolf

  19. The East: Mithridates VI of Pontos • 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

  20. Green = Roman Empire ca. 100 BCE Yellow/Orange Verticals = Areas under Mithridates’ Influence Yellow = Kingdom of Pontos Under Mithridates VI

  21. Revolutionary Violence in Roman Republican Political Life:Sulla’s March on Rome (88 BCE) • 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

  22. Sulla’s Return (83 BCE) and Dictatorship (81-79 BCE) • 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

  23. 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)

  24. A Deadly Formula • 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

  25. 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

  26. Questions for Reading • 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?

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