Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence. However, in some cases, paintings are considered secondary sources. Plutarch states in his Life of Sulla that he retired to a life spent in dissolute luxuries, and he "consorted with actresses, harpists, and theatrical people, drinking with them on couches all day long." Of those who contracted the bubonic plague, 4 out of 5 died within eight days. Pompey ambushed eight legions sent to relieve Praeneste but an uprising from the Samnites and the Lucanians forced Sulla to deploy south as they moved also to relieve Praeneste or join with Carbo in the north. He then revived the office of dictator, which had been inactive since the Second Punic War, over a century before. Proscribing or outlawing every one of those whom he perceived to have acted against the best interests of the Republic while he was in the east, Sulla ordered some 1,500 nobles (i.e. After one of the other legates was killed by his men, Sulla refused to discipline them except by issuing a proclamation imploring them to show more courage against the enemy. This, of course, meant that many cases were never heard at all, as poorer clients did not have the money for the sponsio. He then sailed for Italy at the head of 1,200 ships. Sulla, meanwhile, had to allow matters to unfold beyond his control. Wikipedia entry + Cornelius , Epaphroditus , Sylla 138/31 The birth of L.Sulla. Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied. [61] Pompeii was taken some time during the year, along with Stabiae and Aeclanum; with the capture of Aeclanum, Sulla forced the Hirpini to surrender. Campaigning on his military record, the people were unwilling to hear tales of military bravado from a mere junior officer after two triumphs. He was also notorious for his personal relationships . Sulla almost certainly received a normal education for his class, grounded in ancient Greek and Latin classics. While Sulla's laws such as those concerning qualification for admittance to the Senate, reform of the legal system and regulations of governorships remained on Rome's statutes long into the principate, much of his legislation was repealed less than a decade after his death. His son, Faustus Cornelius Sulla, issued denarii bearing the name of the dictator,[151] as did a grandson, Quintus Pompeius Rufus. It is intended to serve the needs of teachers and students in college survey courses in modern European history and American history, as well as in modern Western Civilization and World Cultures. [6] He also disbanded his legions and, through these gestures, attempted to show the re-establishment of normal consular government. Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BCE) was a ruthless military commander, who first distinguished himself in the Numidian War under the command of Gaius Marius.His relationship with Marius soured during the conflicts that would follow and lead to a rivalry which would only end with Marius' death.Sulla eventually seized control of the Republic, named himself dictator, and after eliminating his . Church and W. J. Brodribb. Sulla then left for Capua before joining an army near Nola in southern Italy.[74]. [38] The next year, Sulla was elected military tribune and served under Marius,[39] and assigned to treat with the Marsi, part of the Germanic invaders, he was able to negotiate their defection from the Cimbri and Teutones. [141][140][142][143][144] Accounts were also written that he had an infestation of worms, caused by the ulcers, which led to his death. Primary Sources Sallust. They are original research, thinking, or discovery on a topic or event, and are written or created by people who actually experienced the event . [27], When Marius took over the war, he entrusted Sulla to organise cavalry forces in Italy needed to pursue the mobile Numidians into the desert. As such, he sought to strengthen the aristocracy, and thus the Senate. [95], Mithridates' successes against the Romans incited a revolt by the Athenians against Roman rule. He married again, with a woman called Aelia, of which nothing is known other than her name. Making of America. After the battle, Marius withdrew to Praeneste and was there besieged. He was awarded the Grass Crown for his bravery at the Battle of Nola. Helping or sheltering a proscribed person was punishable by death, while killing a proscribed person was rewarded with two talents. Sulla, undeterred, stood again for the praetorship the next year, promising he would pay for good shows; duly elected as praetor in 97BC, he was assigned by lot to the urban praetorship. Resigning his dictatorship in 79 BC, Sulla retired to private life and died the following year. His third wife was Cloelia, whom Sulla divorced due to sterility. was the first man to use the army to establish a personal autocracy at Rome.. Sulla first came into prominence when he served as quaestor (107-106 B.C.) Secondary sources are a step removed from primary sources. Essentially, they're sources about primary sources. [52] He may have stayed in the east until 92BC, when he returned to Rome. Sulla was the first Roman magistrate to meet a Parthian ambassador. Sulla and Pompeius Rufus opposed the bill, which Sulpicius took as a betrayal; Sulpicius, without the support of the consuls, looked elsewhere for political allies. Sulla's descendants continued to be prominent in Roman politics into the imperial period. [96] Rome unsuccessfully defended Delos from an joint invasion by Athens and Pontus. The collection currently contains . Keep in mind as you use this website, the Web is always changing and evolving. J. . Tools for primary source analysis. The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. Finally, Sulla revoked the power of the tribunes to veto acts of the Senate, although he left intact the tribunes' power to protect individual Roman citizens. [53] Sulla was regarded to have done well in the east: he had restored Ariobarzanes to the throne, been hailed imperator by his men, and was the first Roman to treat successfully with the Parthians. The proscriptions are widely perceived as a response to similar killings that Marius and Cinna had implemented while they controlled the Republic during Sulla's absence. Regardless, if he had immediate plans for a consulship, they were forced into the background at the outbreak of war. Newspaper reports, by reporters who witnessed an event or who quote people who did. porterville unified school district human resources; Tags . Pueblo, CO 81001. [118], For 82BC, the consular elections returned Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, in his third consulship, with the younger Gaius Marius, the son of the seven-time consul, who was then twenty-six. After Sulla had recovered the government by force of arms, everybody became robbers and plunderers. Thus, Sulla was presented with a choice. The Mithridatic War (88 - 85 BC) He left one of his allies, Quintus Lucretius Afella to maintain the siege at Praeneste and moved for Rome. [92] In the summer of 88, he reorganised the administration of the area before unsuccessfully besieging Rhodes. Studying the past supports good citizenship, which is requisite for a fair and effective democracy. [21], This article is about the Roman dictator. The constitutional reforms of Sulla were a series of laws enacted by the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla between 82 and 80 BC, reforming the Constitution of the Roman Republic in a revolutionary way.. His execution in AD 62 on the orders of emperor Nero made him the last of the Cornelii Sullae. Shortly before Sulla's first consulship, the Romans fought the bloody Social War against their . From 133BC and the start of Tiberius Gracchus' land reforms, Italian communities were displaced from de jure Roman public lands over which no title had been enforced for generations. [113] The extra time spent in Asia, moreover, equipped him with forces and money later put to good use in Italy. During these marriages, he engaged in an affair with Nicopolis, who also was older than him. A book from 1877 England would be a primary source about Victorian history. [128], After the battle at the Colline Gate, Sulla summoned the Senate to the temple of Bellona at the Campus Martius. [11], Sulla, the son of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the grandson of Publius Cornelius Sulla,[12] was born into a branch of the patrician gens Cornelia, but his family had fallen to an impoverished condition at the time of his birth. The dictator is the subject of four Italian operas, two of which take considerable liberties with history: Sulla is a central character in the first three, Lucius Cornelius Sulla is also a character in the first book of the, His first wife was Ilia, according to Plutarch. With Sulpicius able to enact legislation without consular opposition, Sulla discovered that Marius had tricked him, for the first piece of legislation Sulpicius brought was a law transferring the command against Mithridates to Marius. 45-120 CE) was a Platonist philosopher, best known to the general public as author of his "Parallel Lives" of paired Greek and Roman statesmen and military leaders.He was a voluminous writer, author also of a collection of "Moralia" or "Ethical Essays," mostly in dialogue format, many of them devoted to philosophical topics, not at all . Primary sources are "first-hand" information, sources as close as possible to the origin of the information or idea under study. [131] The purge went on for several months. 9, The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146-43 BC. [42], Victorious, Marius and Catulus were both granted triumphs as the commanding generals. Sulla is generally seen as having set the precedent for Caesar's march on Rome and dictatorship. [32] After the Senate approved negotiations with Bocchus, it delegated the talks to Marius, who appointed Sulla as envoy plenipotentiary. The hundreds of thousands of men who enlisted . Sulla hurried in full force towards Rome and there fought the Battle of the Colline Gate on the afternoon of 1 November 82BC. Normally, candidates had to have first served for ten years in the military, but by Sulla's time, this had been superseded by an age requirement. Biography Roman military commander and dictator of the Roman republic (81-80 BC). From Book 81 [81.1] [87 BCE] Lucius Sulla besieged Athens, which had been occupied by Archelaus, an officer of Mithridates; [81.2] [86] after much labor he took the city .. note he gave it back the freedom it used to have. The Senate immediately sent an embassy demanding an explanation for his seeming march on the fatherland, to which Sulla responded boldly, saying that he was freeing it from tyrants. [66] Buttressed by success against Rome's traditional enemies, the Samnites, and general Roman victory across Italy, Sulla stood for and was elected easily to the consulship of 88BC; his colleague would be Quintus Pompeius Rufus. After some days, both sides engaged in battle. [37], Starting in 104BC, Marius moved to reform the defeated Roman armies in southern Gaul. Examples include interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art. [81] He sent his army back to Capua[82] and then conducted the elections for that year, which yielded a resounding rejection of him and his allies. [89] After Octavius induced the senate to outlaw Cinna, Cinna suborned the army besieging Nola and induced the Italians again to rise up. Sulla had his enemies declared hostes, probably from outside the pomerium, and after assembling an assembly where he apologised for the ongoing war, left to fight Carbo in Etruria. [45][46], While governing Cilicia, Sulla received orders from the Senate to restore Ariobarzanes to the throne of Cappadocia. Taking Action: Benefits for students that extend beyond the classroom. Sulla marched to Praeneste and forced its siege to a close, with the younger Marius dead from suicide before its surrender. They are often based on primary sources. Sulla's First Civil War (88-87 BC) was triggered by an attempt to strip him of the command against Mithridates and saw Sulla become the first Roman to lead an army against the city for four hundred years. [127] Sulla himself was defeated and forced to flee into his camp, but his lieutenant Crassus on the right wing won the battle in the night. [73] The consuls, fearful of intimidation of Sulpicius and his armed bodyguards, declared a suspension of public business (iustitium) which led to Sulpicius and his mob forcing the consuls to flee. Plutarch states in his Life of Sulla that "Sulla now began to make blood flow, and he filled the city with deaths without number or limit," further alleging that many of the murdered victims had nothing to do with Sulla, though Sulla killed them to "please his adherents.". This led him to a secret deal with Marius, who had for years been coveting another military command, in which Marius would support Sulpicius' Italian legislation in exchange for a law transferring Sulla's command to Marius. Cinna violently quarrelled with his co-consul, Gnaeus Octavius. The two greatest of these were Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. [76] The troops were willing to follow Sulla to Rome; his officers, however, realised Sulla's plans and deserted him (except his quaestor and kinsman, almost certainly Lucius Licinius Lucullus). Gnaeus Carbo attempted to lift the Siege of Praeneste but failed and fled to Africa. In the natural and social sciences, primary sources are often empirical studies . The two primary sources for this paper are Sallust's [25], The Jugurthine War had started in 112BC when Jugurtha, grandson of Massinissa of Numidia, claimed the entire kingdom of Numidia in defiance of Roman decrees that divided it among several members of the royal family. [76][77] They then killed Marcus Gratidius, one of Marius' legates, when Gratidius attempted to effect the transfer of command. Archives; Correspondence He was devoted to pleasure but more devoted to glory. [59] Sulla served as one of the legates in the southern theatre assigned to consul Lucius Julius Caesar. [6] Keaveney places his departure to 93. History has portrayed them as being emblematic for a generation of chaos in Roman society. Pompey was then dispatched to recover Sicily. be determined. National Library Services to Schools has developed a suite of primary source analysis tools specifically for Aotearoa New Zealand schools. If Plutarch's text is to be amended to "Julia", then she is likely to have been one of the Julias related to Julius Caesar, most likely. "[156], He was said to have a duality between being charming, easily approachable, and able to joke and cavort with the most simple of people, while also assuming a stern demeanor when he was leading armies and as dictator. The Internet Modern History Sourcebook is one of series of history primary sourcebooks. As a result, "husbands were butchered in the arms of their wives, sons in the arms of their mothers. Faced with mobilizing a sufficient fighting force, Congress passed the Selective Service Act on May 18, 1917. [63] All of these victories would have been won before the consular elections in October 89. Marius and Sulla are very curious figures in the late Roman Republic. Encyclopedias. [17] Sallust declares him well-read, intelligent, and he was fluent in Greek. As Sulla viewed the office, the tribunate was especially dangerous, and his intention was to not only deprive the Tribunate of power, but also of prestige (Sulla himself had been officially deprived of his eastern command through the underhanded activities of a tribune). [145], His public funeral in Rome (in the Forum, in the presence of the whole city) was on a scale unmatched until that of Augustus in AD 14. Tweet. He used his powers to purge his opponents, and reform Roman constitutional laws, to restore the primacy of the Senate and limit the power of the tribunes of the plebs. [36] Amid a reorganisation of political alliances, the traditionalists in the Senate raised up Sulla a patrician, even if a poor one, as a counterweight against the newcomer Marius.