Sulla the Dictator Flashcards
Lex Caecilia Didia 98 BCE
Prevented bills that tied together multiple separate ideas. It was used to annul Drusus’ laws before the Social War.
Early career of Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, born 138 BCE
Patrician family, but not well known
Marius’ quaestor in Numidia, 107 bce
Secured surrender of Jugurtha through king Boccha
Fought the Germans in 104-03.
Sulla’s Social War
Praetor urbanus in 97 bce
Sent to Cilicia as proconsul, returned to Rome in 92
Fought on southern front of social war (very successful commander)
Plutarch, Life of Sulla
“Sulla did much that was memorable and achieved a reputation as a great leader”.
Aftermath of the Social War
Sulla elected consul 88 BCE through social war and support of Metelli
Threat of Mithridates VI
Attempted to limit new citizens voting rights
Tribune (P Sulpicius) proposes to spread citizenship which is not popular with the senate, so he turns to Marius.
Sulla marches on Rome!
88 BCE
He was received as an enemy, but he had an army
Marius and eleven others driven and declared hostes
Sulla arranges consular elections and leaves for army
Mithridatic War in brief
Sulla defeats, his general; Archelaus twice in Greece in 85 bce.
He sacked Piraeus and Athens
Made peace with Mithridates and returned to Rome in 83
The ‘domination of Cinna’ (consul 87-84)
L Cornelius Cinna was an enemy of Sulla - he pushes for equal voting rights for new citizens
Cinna was stripped of consulship, returns to Marius, Sulla is declared hostes.
Marius dies, Flaccus passed debt relief law
84 - Cinna grants new citizens voting rights
Civil War! 83-82
Sulla enters Italy in 83
Massive mobilization and casualty rates - Appian estmates about 10,000-20,000
Battle of the Colline gate
Massacre of the Samnites
Proscriptions
list of men declared as hostis - allowed others to kill them without punishment
property then auctioned at a low price
Descendants banned from office for two generations
Sulla as dictator 82-81
Indefinite period,
‘to make laws and put the state in order’
Reforms of the tribune
Senate approval of tribunician bills - cannot go straight to the
Limited tribune veto
Tribunes debarred from further office
Reforms of senate and equestrians
Quaestors increased to 20 - supply of new senators
Senate increased to 600
Transfers judicial power back to the senate
Legacy
Resigns as dictator
Syme “Sulla could not abolish his own example” = he marched on Rome, changed the nature of politics, rise of Pompey and Crassus, proscriptions and dictatorship
