49c Lucius Cornelius Sulla

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Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was born in 138 BCE into a patrician family of Rome, but one with little power and influence. He aspired to a political career but he had little success until 78 BCE when he became quaestor (financial officer) in an army commanded by Gaius Marius. (For more information on the political offices of the Roman government see Roman Governance.) The Senate authorized Marius to go to North Africa to wage ware against the local leader Jugurtha. Jugurtha was a Berber leader that had a turbulent relationship with Rome. Jugurtha was the illegitimate son of a former king of Numidia, which roughly corresponded to what is now Algeria.

While Sulla was hailed as hero by most Roman, his success was recented by his commanding officer, Marius. Sulla moved up in political rank when he became a praestor, a judge. He also had military responsibilities. Non-Roman allies in Italy were demanding Roman citizenship and grants of land. The battles in this dispute (90-89 BCE) were called the Social War. Sulla suppressed the rebellion but allowed the soldiers to retain the land they had already acquired.

At the time there were two major political groupings in the Senate. The two groupings originated from the class structure of Rome. One grouping was of the patrician class, the old land owning families of Rome. Sulla supported that political grouping. The other had its origin in the plebian class but some patrician families, including the family of Julius Caesar, had allied themselves with it. It was known as the popular party.