Summary The consul Manius Aquillius defeats Athenion and ends the Second Servile War on Sicily; The consul Gaius Marius and the proconsul Quintus Lutatius Catulus annihilate the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae; Marius and Catulus hold a joint triumph; Marius works together with Glaucia and Saturninus and is elected…
Summary Gaius Marius annihilates the Teutones and Ambrones at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae; Quintus Lutatius Catulus gives up the Alpine passes; The Cimbri overrun Catulus’ defences at the river Atiso; The praetor Gaius Servilius fails to achieve anything on Sicily during the Second Servile War; The censor Quintus Caecilius…
Summary Gaius Marius celebrates a triumph for his victory over King Jugurtha of Numidia (104 BCE); Marius takes command of the new army raised by Publius Rutilius Rufus and subjects it to a rigorous training programme (104 BCE); Start of the Second Servile War on Sicily (104 BCE); The praetor…
Summary Sulla convinces King Bocchus of Mauretania to betray his son-in-law Jugurtha; Jugurtha is delivered to the Romans in chains and sent to Rome; Much to Marius’ annoyance, Sulla gets most of the credit for capturing Jugurtha; Marius is elected consul for a second time (in absentia); The former suffect…
Summary Quintus Caecilius Metellus celebrates a triumph for his victories in the Jugurthine War and acquires the nickname ‘Numidicus’; Gaius Marius captures an important fort of Jugurtha near the river Muluccha; Marius is joined by his quaestor Lucius Cornelius Sulla; While returning to his winter camp, Marius is attacked by…
Summary The concilium plebis gives command of the Jugurthine War to the consul Gaius Marius; Marius openly recruits part of his soldiers from the class of the proletarii (the ‘Marian’ reforms); Marius captures Capsa by surprise, burns the city to the ground and massacres the male population; The Tigurini, allies…
Summary The consul Hortensius is forced to resign for unspecified reasons; The censor Marcus Aemilius Scaurus is forced to resign when his colleague Marcus Livius Drusus dies; The town of Vaga rebels against the Romans and massacres the garrison; the only survivor is the garrison commander, Titus Turpilius; The proconsul…
Summary Aulus Postumius Albinus suffers a defeat against Jugurtha and is forced to accept a humiliating peace treaty; The treaty is rejected by the Senate and the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus is sent to Numidia to continue the Jugurthine War; A Lex Mamilia sets up a committee of three men…
Summary The consul Lucius Calpurnius Bestia invades Numidia and captures a number of cities (111 BCE); A truce is agreed after Bestia and his legate Marcus Aemilius Scaurus are allegedly bribed by Jugurtha (111 BCE); Jugurtha surrenders and is subsequently summoned to Rome to testify in the assembly after the…
Summary Jugurtha breaks the peace with Adherbal and captures his camp near Cirta; he subsequently puts the city under siege (113 BCE); The Senate sends a committee of three young men to Cirta to force Jugurtha to give up the siege; Jugurtha chooses to ignore them (113 BCE); In Noricum,…
Summary King Micipsa of Numidia dies and leaves his kingdom to his sons Adherbal and Hiempsal and his nephew and adopted son Jugurtha (118 BCE); Jugurtha has Hiempsal murdered and defeats Adherbal on the battlefield (117 BCE); De Senate sends a committee of ten men (decemviri) under Lucius Opimius to…
Summary The people’s tribune Tiberius Gracchus launches a comprehensive land reform program; Gracchus’ proposal for a Lex Sempronia agraria is vetoed by his colleague, the tribune Marcus Octavius; After a second version of his land reform bill is again vetoed by Octavius, Gracchus issues a blanket veto on all public…
Summary The pontifex maximus Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio dies in exile in Pergamum; Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus is elected in his stead (132 BCE); The consul Publius Rupilius ends the First Servile War on Sicily (132 BCE); Scipio Aemilianus returns from Spain and celebrates a triumph for his…
Summary The former censor Appius Claudius Pulcher dies (ca. 130 BCE); The consul Marcus Perperna defeats and captures Aristonikos, but dies soon afterwards (130-129 BCE); The populares Marcus Fulvius Flaccus and Gaius Papirius Carbo become members of the land reform committee (ca. 129 BCE); The Lex Sempronia agraria leads to…
Summary Gaius Gracchus serves on Sardinia as the consul Lucius Aurelius Orestes’ quaestor (126-125 BCE); The consul Marcus Fulvius Flaccus introduces a bill to grant full Roman citizenship to Rome’s Latin and Italian allies, but it is withdrawn after encountering stiff opposition from both the Senate and the people (125…
Summary Gaius Gracchus is elected people’s tribune (124 BCE); The consul and later proconsul Gaius Sextius Calvinus defeats the Salluvii and the Vocontii of Southern Gaul and founds the colony of Aquae Sextiae (124-123 BCE); Gaius Gracchus launches an ambitious legislative program that includes bills about land reforms, grain prices,…
Summary The popular assembly adopts the Lex Sempronia de provinciis consularibus, which stipulates that the Senate selects the consular provinces before the consuls themselves are elected (122 BCE); Gaius Gracchus is opposed by his colleague, the people’s tribune Marcus Livius Drusus (122 BCE); Gaius Gracchus’ proposal to grant citizenship to…
Summary The people’s tribune Quintus Decius puts the former consul Lucius Opimius on trial for executing Gaius Gracchus’ supporters without trial; Opimius is acquitted (120 BCE); Gaius Marius is elected people’s tribune (120 BCE); A law tabled by the people’s tribune Lucius Calpurnius Bestia allows the former consul Publius Popilius…