Marius and Sulla

Abstract

Gaius Marius (b. 158/157–d. 86 bce) and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (b. 138–d. 78 bce) were the most prominent, and in several respects defining, figures of a phase of Roman Republican history that lasted roughly three decades: from 107, when Marius was elected to his first consulship, to 78 bce, the year of Sulla’s death. Much of that period was marked by the relationship between the two men, who first cooperated very effectively and then engaged in a fierce struggle for power that eventually led to years of civil strife and political violence on an unprecedented scale. Marius held the consulship on seven occasions, while Sulla did so twice, as well as holding a dictatorship that enabled him to enact a set of wide-ranging, far-reaching, and controversial measures. This bibliography seeks to achieve a workable balance between chronological and thematic approaches, and between narrative and interpretation. Speaking of an “age of Marius and Sulla” risks failing to do justice to the complexity of a period that was marked by other major developments, such as the initiatives of Saturninus and Glaucia (104–100 bce); the Social War (91–88 bce), which ended with the inclusion of the Italian communities south of the Po River into the Roman citizen body; and the first war against King Mithridates in the Greek East (88–85 bce). These events are covered in what follows only insofar as they are relevant to the study of Marius and Sulla; yet these two men are central to any of the main developments of this historical period, and readers who seek general guidance on these topics will find some orientation in this bibliography.