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101-896: All the Latini of Italy obtained Roman citizenship as a result of three laws which were introduced during the Social War between the Romans and their allies among the Italic peoples ( socii ) which rebelled against Rome. The Lex Iulia de Civitate Latinis (et sociis) Danda of 90 BC conferred Roman citizenship on all citizens of the Latin towns and the Italic towns who had not rebelled. The Lex Plautia Papiria de Civitate Sociis Danda of 89 BC granted Roman citizenship to all federated towns in Italy south of

202-571: A city senate in the Roman Empire . Decurions were drawn from the curiales class, which was made up of the wealthy middle class citizens of a town society. The emergence of the post of decurion may be found in Rome's decision to allow office-holders in Latin colonies in Italy to become Roman citizens in an attempt to create loyalty in 125 BC. Decurions were the most powerful political figures at

303-486: A "supreme effort" on both sides. For example, Appian reports the need for soldiers was so great that freedmen were for the first time inducted into the army. Edward Bispham, in a Companion to Roman Italy , notes that the republic "never minted more silver denarii than during the conflict", indicating the financial strain imposed on the Roman state in supplying and paying for an unprecedented number of troops. Devastation of

404-465: A Latin colony lost their Roman citizenship and acquired ius Latii . Latin colonies were usually larger than Roman colonies and were populated largely by Latins and other allies. With Roman expansion beyond Italy, Latin colonies were also founded outside Italy, e. g. Carteia (contemporary San Roque ), which was founded in Hispania in 171 BC and was the first Latin colony outside of Italy. In 122 BC,

505-419: A Roman-style community. In AD 123, the emperor Hadrian made a key modification to Latin rights. He introduced Latium maius ("greater Latin [rights]"), which conferred Roman citizenship on all the decurions of a town, as distinguished from Latium minus , which conferred it only on those who held a magistracy. The acquisition of ius Latii was wholly dependent on imperial gift. This beneficence could span

606-491: A confusing non-chronological account. Livy's summaries indicate that Livy wrote chronologically, but the details of the original Livian volumes are lost. Other sources such as Diodorus (via Photius), Florus, and Velleius Paterclus recount events non-chronologically. There were two main theatres of the war, with one in the north and one in the south. There also was an abortive attempt to incite rebellion in Etruria and Umbria, but

707-585: A federal structure; this position was accepted in the first edition of the Cambridge Ancient History in 1932. Later reconstructions have interjected popular elements à la the Roman comitia centuriata . But others, such as Mouritsen, have taken a more critical eye at the evidence and viewed the Italian magistrates and senate as a more formally federal structure without direct popular involvement. Mouritsen reads from Livy's description of

808-429: A long series of secret negotiations between the Italian states, of which Rome was ignorant. The Romans were likely aware of some kind of unrest, even if they did not know of its scope. This is evidenced by Roman garrisons being captured at the start of the war in unfriendly cities. It is likely those garrisons had been dispatched before the start of the war to strategically important locations. Already by late 91 BC,

909-654: A massive force over the winter, allowing the consuls of 90 BC to depart for war immediately. All consuls and praetors that year were assigned to Italy; the provincial governors at the start of the war had their terms continuously prorogued . According to the summary of Livy, Livy included tables of the Latin and foreign communities that sent auxiliaries to join the Romans. Modern estimates of Roman manpower exceed 140,000, split between fourteen legions (two for each consul and one each for ten legates). Rome also conscripted ships and mercenaries from its overseas allies; two triremes , for example, were taken from Heraclea Pontica on

1010-555: A political tactic either to distinguish between free and slave or as an anachronism interjected by his brother Gaius to legitimate Gaius' reform agenda some ten years later. Attempts to actually grant citizenship started in 125 BC with a proposal by Marcus Fulvius Flaccus . Gaius Gracchus is said to have brought similar proposals. These attempts were largely brought because Roman tribunes and magistrates believed that granting citizenship could be traded for Italian elites acquiescing over occupied public lands. Appian similarly frames

1111-410: A provincial who had been granted citizenship by Pompey . Citizenship was linked to territories: a person who received Roman citizenship gave up their local citizenship; losing local citizenship and living outside of Roman territory meant a local reduction in socio-economic status. The "Italian question" refers to the relationship between Rome and her Italian allies. It is still not entirely clear what

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1212-531: A real power-sharing arrangement where magistracies and senatorial seats were to be set aside for the Latins in proportion to military contributions. If the Italians had similar aims in 91 BC, they would have been incompatible with a centralised Roman state and the supremacy of Rome's urban elite. However, beyond Diodorus' summarised description of the Italian government, there few other sources which describe

1313-479: A relatively uniform quattorvirate of city magistrates and more rarely with a duovirate . The dating of this municipalisation process is not entirely straightforward: the formation of the quattorvirates likely dates to the Cinnanum tempus ; a uniform and generalised lex municipalis came only during the time of Caesar and Augustus. One of the main issues in 88 BC (the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla )

1414-485: A short civil war that year. At various stages of the war, Romans brought legislation allowing Italian towns to elect Roman citizenship if they had not revolted or would otherwise put down arms, draining support from the rebels. Views differ as to the causes of the war, primarily on whether Roman citizenship was already a coveted status whose extension was the goal of the Social War or not. The main ancient source for

1515-633: A triumph on 25 December over Asculum and Picenum. Strabo, however, infamously refused to give any of the plunder to the state, even though the public treasury was empty. Further legislation was enacted to extend the citizenship with the passage of the lex Plautia Papiria (though the Samnites and Lucanians, still under arms, were excepted). New legislation was also brought by Pompey Strabo to incorporate new colonies in Transpadane Gaul with Latin rights. The reorganisation of Italy also required

1616-429: Is highly anachronistic. For writers in the imperial period, Roman citizenship was highly desirable. Those writers then retrojected that desirability onto the Italians who lived centuries before their time. His analysis of the evidence also concludes that before the Social War, there was little agitation for citizenship, multiple citizenships still being invalid, which would have been incompatible with local autonomy. As to

1717-532: Is not widely accepted since the Italians who were most exposed to the Greek East were not those who led the revolt and had to be coerced into joining it. Similarly, A N Sherwin-White believed that the Italians wanted Roman citizenship to secure legal equality. Less convincingly, D B Nagle argued that economic factors could explain the start of the war. Henrik Mouritsen, in the influential 1998 book Italian Unification , argues that Appian's citizenship narrative

1818-587: The Latin War (when Rome's Latin allies rebelled c.  340 BC ) possible hints for the lost portions of Livy's narrative on the Social War. Because much of Livy's work on early history has long been recognised to be anachronistic, Mouritsen believes that the narrative on the Latin War may anachronistically reflect Social War-era realities. In the Livian Latin War, the Latin allies demanded

1919-519: The Marsi when his undertrained men were routed during the crossing. After this battle, when the huge number of bodies returned to Rome caused a panic, the senate decreed that war dead should in the future be buried on the field. In this same engagement, Gaius Marius , another of Rutilius' legates and hero of the Cimbric wars , was able to pull off a decisive victory by forcing the river when alerted to

2020-490: The Second Punic War . With each victory, the Romans demanded and received from the Italians a latent title to lands the Italians still occupied. For centuries, Roman claims on those lands were unenforced. After the start of the land reform process in 133 BC with Tiberius Gracchus 's lex Sempronia , Italians started to complain about Roman magistrates illegally encroaching on their land holdings; in 129 BC,

2121-604: The Second Punic war after the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, the defectors were defeated and harsh terms applied. Over time, the Romans started to interfere in the internal affairs of their allies, though historians differ as to its extent. For example, when the senate acted to suppress the Bacchanalia in 186 BC, historians differ as to whether this applied only to Roman land or was extended extraterritorially to

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2222-413: The ius Latii was used more as a political instrument that aimed at integration of provincial communities via their local leadership. Latin status included the acquisition of Roman citizenship upon the holding of municipal magistracy ( ius adipiscendae civitatis per magistratum ), which presumed a trajectory of development that would carry at least the local magistrates along the path to the institution of

2323-477: The Black Sea and returned eleven years later. The initial Italian offensive struck in late 91 and early 90 BC. It was clearly planned with full knowledge of typical Roman strategy and operations. There was a policy of mercy toward pro-Roman combatants in the southern theatre commanded by Gaius Papius Mutilus ; the war also assumed a "distinctive character" in the extent to which Roman soldiers defected to

2424-527: The Italian allies were fighting for. There are two threads in the ancient accounts: one depicting the struggle as one for Roman citizenship and another as one against Roman domination. Edward Bispham, writing in the 2016 Companion to Roman Italy , concludes that "it seems certain that the Social War is best understood as a revolt from Rome" but synthesises the approaches in that the desires for citizenship and independence are themselves expressions of an underlying desire for equality and freedom, inside or outside

2525-505: The Italian coalition's internal politics or offices. Instead, they refer to various tribal and ethnic leaders without distinction of office. Florus , for example, mentions no Italian senate or magistrates, but instead says that the Italians served each under their own standards. Coinage, along with Livy, seem to refer to a number of imperatores ( Oscan sg. embratur ), which may have been appointed by each ethnic group. They did not seem to have been replaced after death in battle, implying

2626-674: The Italians still controlled large tracts of territory. The Italians reorganised around Quintus Poppaedius Silo and designated him supreme commander; according to Diodorus, Silo command a force of some 50,000 men, which would have been hopelessly insufficient to fight the Romans. Regardless, Silo was able to reverse Roman advances in Samnium and also recapture Bovianum. He then crossed the Apennines and engaged Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius in Apulia, where his forces were badly defeated and Silo

2727-536: The Italians to transfer their capital to Bovianum . The Romans also subjugated the Vestini and the Marrucini . By summer, the Romans had pacified the northern theatre, except for Asculum, which was still under siege. Rome also took the offensive in the south. Sulla, commanding an army and supported by a fleet, besieged Nola and took Pompeii , defeating an attempt to relieve the cities by Lucius Cluentius . After

2828-405: The Italians to war. Mouritsen writes of the court, "such stab-in-the-back theories are plausible only when no other explanation is at hand; apparently the Romans did not see any direct connection between the franchise question and the outbreak of the war". It is possible that in the early winter of 90 BC there was an abortive attempt to negotiate a peace before fighting started; if it occurred,

2929-567: The Italians went to war to secure the citizenship and legal equality denied to them in peace. The most convincing theme which Appian presents, however, is an Italian desire for political equality: he says the Italians aspired to be "partners in rule rather than subjects". However, it is likely that poor and rich Italians sought different goals: poorer Italians were likely seeking freedom from unfair treatment by Roman magistrates; it would have been their richer compatriots that would benefit from direct access to Roman politics. More modern versions of

3030-503: The Italians were in Campania and Picenum. In Campania, Mutilus took Nola , Herculaneum , and Salernum , before being stopped at Acerrae from advancing on Capua. In Picenum, Gaius Vidacilius , Titus Lafrenius , and one Publius Ventidius defeated Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo and forced him into Firmum . Vidacilius took the opportunity then to advance into down the eastern Italian coast into Apulia, taking Canusium . Aesernia fell later in

3131-545: The Italians. For example, when Nola was captured, the Italians were able to induce the defection of most of the Roman soldiers (the officers refused and were starved to death). In the initial offensive, the colony of Aesernia was put under prolonged siege: the consul Lucius Julius Caesar moved to break it but was unsuccessful; the Romans suffered further reverses, losing Venafrum , Grumentum in Lucania, and suffering defeat near Alba Fucens . The most important victories for

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3232-595: The Latin alphabet. On the whole, Italian tribes and peoples on the eve of the Social war still held themselves distinct from Rome, just as they had in previous centuries. Also importantly, before the 1st century AD, it was not possible for a person to hold more than one citizenship. Nor, before the empire , were allied soldiers granted Roman citizenship at the close of their service. For example, Cicero deliberately contrasts Italic single citizenship against Greek multiple citizenship in his speech for Lucius Cornelius Balbus ,

3333-443: The Latins deserting Rome, the balance of military power would shift into the Italians' favour. After secret negotiations, the Italians then launched their bid to throw off Roman hegemony. As evidenced by the destruction of Fregellae after an attempted revolt in 125 BC, it was an enormous risk to rebel against Rome. The Italians, in planning their war, would have to form reliable alliances secured with hostages. Appian describes

3434-642: The Latins) which was allied with Rome, rebelled in what has been called the Latin War . The Romans won the war and dissolved the Latin League. Many of the city-states of Latium were fully incorporated into the Roman Republic, while others were given limited rights and privileges which could be exercised in dealings with Roman citizens. These came to be known as ius Latii . The ius Latii was given to some Roman colonies which were founded around Italy in

3535-514: The Marsi attempted to support the rebellions in Etruria and Umbria. The two consuls moved to intercept the Marsi, who were commanded by Titus Vettius Scato . Strabo defeated the Marsi near Asculum, forcing them into retreat across the snowy mountains. Cato, taking command from Marius, defeated the Marsi near the Fucine lake, but was himself killed in battle. It is likely that Cato was killed early in

3636-612: The Marsic war; Velleius Paterculus , Asconius Pedianus , and Julius Obsequens call it the bellum Italicum . An official senatus consultum dated to 22 May 78 BC calls it bellum Italicum and the Augustan-era fasti consulares call it bellum Marsicum . The Italian peninsula during the second century BC was dominated by the Roman Republic , which was allied in a collection of bilateral treaties with

3737-539: The River Po (in northern Italy). The Lex Pompeia de Transpadanis of 89 BC granted the ius Latii to the communities of Transpadania, a region north of the Po, which had sided with Rome during the Social War. It also granted Roman citizenship to those who became officials in their respective municipia (cities). The exact content of the ius Latii , under Roman law, varied from city to city. It could include some or all of

3838-470: The Roman political system. Appian 's Civil Wars is the main source for much of this period. It provides three themes for the Italians: support for agrarian reform, votes for land, and demands for political equality. According to Appian, the agrarian reforms of Tiberius Gracchus were meant to support the Italians. However, there is no good evidence to verify this claim and most historians reject it as

3939-400: The Romans had sent praetors with levied troops around the peninsula to investigate rumours of a plot. But by the time the investigations completed (or as a result of those investigations), the war had started. Regardless, preparations for a revolt likely were brewing before Drusus' tribunate in 91 BC. At the outbreak of the war, the Italians levied forces and formed up armies to oppose

4040-476: The Romans moved quickly and brutally to suppress it. The northern theatre was centred on Asculum (in the lands of the Piceni and Marsi) with the southern theatre in Samnium, Lucania, Apulia, and Campania. The immediate reaction in Rome to the rebellion was one of confusion. After the war's start, Quintus Varius Hybrida , then a plebeian tribune, set up a permanent court searching around for conspirators who incited

4141-418: The Romans openly, the Italians revolted as one. This sequence is at odds with Appian's account, which paints Asculum as rioting in late 91 BC in response to Marcus Livius Drusus ' assassination in Rome and Roman prosecution of Italian allies. In this narrative, Drusus, whose political star was waning since the death of his influential supporter Lucius Licinius Crassus , had his legislation invalidated by

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4242-537: The Romans. To have done this so quickly, agreements must have been reached on power-sharing and command before the outbreak of the war. According to Photius' summary of Diodorus Siculus , which is accepted by most modern scholars, the Italians established at Corfinium a new capital with a forum and five-hundred-man senate. The senate then appointed two consuls and twelve praetors, dividing them evenly between northern and southern fronts (with Italian consuls Quintus Poppaedius Silo and Gaius Papius Mutilus assigned to

4343-503: The Samnites a number of wars during the conquest of Italy; even afterwards, these allies retained their cohesiveness, having defected from Rome as a single bloc during the Second Punic war. Romanisation through to the second century proceeded with considerable heterogeneity: in Apulia and Samnium, Latin influence was largely absent in both the archaeological and literary sources, while in Marsic lands inscriptions indicate adoption of

4444-591: The Sicilians in 44 BC. This status was later given to whole towns and regions: Vespasian granted it to the whole of Hispania and the emperor Hadrian gave it to many towns. The ius Latii or Latinitas persisted to the reign of Justinian I in the sixth century AD. Rome was one of the many Latin cities of Italy. From 340 to 338 BC the Latin League , a confederation of circa 30 towns in Latium (land of

4545-421: The Social war itself, were merely to expand the number of tribes and to allot the Italians to those new tribes. This solution was also elegantly traditional: Rome's tribes had in the past been adduced to represent citizens living in new territories, though the last time this had been done was in 242 BC. Plans were made to create possibly two or eight new tribes, pursuant to the lex Julia , which would deprive

4646-416: The allies also redrew the political and legal maps of Italy. In place of the former sovereign and autonomous Italian communities, there was a sea of Roman citizen municipia . Municipal constitutions dating from time immemorial over the next decades were replaced by laws and charters passed under the auspices of the comitia in Rome. The varying magistrates of the Italian city-states were largely replaced by

4747-472: The allies" (from Latin socius , meaning "ally"). Today, the name is used more generally in classics scholarship to refer to any war between allies. The name bellum sociale was first used in the second century AD by the historian Florus , and only became common during the imperial period. The Romans of the time called it the Marsic war named for the Marsi , an Italian tribe located east of Rome who during

4848-602: The allies' protests. Their anger increased when the law passed over their objections and Rome started seizing allied lands; the allies therefore started preparations for an insurrection by late summer 91 BC. Amid this distrust, Drusus was blamed for breaking down relations with the allies, which led to a confrontation between Drusus and the consul, Lucius Marcius Philippus , in the senate some time in September. Rome responded to these rumours of Italian unrest by sending garrison forces into Italy, which explains their capture at

4949-538: The allies. By the time of the Social War, the allies were mainly located in the following regions: two northern ones (Etruria and Umbria) and more further south (Lucania, Apulia, and Magna Graecia). As far back as the fifth century, the Oscan and Umbrian-speaking communities in southern Italy had formed a flexible confederal league; the most powerful of these were the Samnites and Lucanians . The Romans had fought with

5050-562: The army for the first time. With a collapsing northern front and the division of the Italians into two, Italian defeat became largely inevitable. The Italians attempted opening negotiations, inviting Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus to invade, but Mithridates responded equivocally. As Rome started to gain the upper hand, the senate decreed some time around October that consul Lucius Julius Caesar should bring legislation allowing any Italian community that had not revolted or otherwise promptly laid down their arms to elect Roman citizenship. This

5151-679: The capture of Pompeii, Sulla quickly took Stabiae and Herculaneum by June. Sulla then moved into Samnium, subjugating the Hirpini and giving gentle terms, before taking Bovianum by September after a bitter struggle, forcing the Italians to move their capital again to Aesernia (now under their full control). That year, Sulla stood for and won the consulship of 88 BC, with Quintus Pompeius Rufus as his colleague. Asculum surrendered in November 89 BC after its commander, Vidacilius, committed suicide. For this victory, Pompey Strabo celebrated

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5252-408: The cities. Not only were the curiales squeezed from the 4th century, but also the cities were hard put to maintaining their public infrastructure and public amenities even with help from the imperial government. The curiales were also responsible for the collection of Imperial taxes, provide food and board for the army (the assignments were under the control of the civilian administration), and support

5353-474: The citizenship that followed the Social War remained a politically-charged topic, especially in terms of how they would be allocated into voting blocks. Disputes over enfranchisement played a role in Sulla's march on Rome in 88 BC to depose plebeian tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus . Fears of Sulla rolling back hard-won Italian rights contributed to resistance during Sulla's civil war . The conflict also blurred

5454-464: The citizenship thesis have been advanced by Emilio Gabba, arguing that Italian commercial classes (the publicani ) drove romanisation in an attempt to share in the rewards of empire. The exalted position of Italian businessmen in the provinces may have absolved their status inferiority at home; combined with a desire to influence Roman provincial policy, they may have sought to secure their business rights by becoming Roman citizens. This thesis, however,

5555-748: The city of Rome. Their roles were both civil and sacred. Each gens curialis had a leader, called a curio. The whole arrangement of assemblies was presided over by the curio maximus . The Roman civic form was replicated in the towns and cities of the empire as they came under Roman control. By the Late Empire , curiales referred to the merchants, businessmen, and mid-level landowners who served in their local curia as local magistrates and decurions . Curiales were expected to procure funds for public building projects, temples, festivities, games, and local welfare systems. They would often pay for these expenses out of their own pocket, to gain prestige. From

5656-489: The community with temples, baths, and other public facilities. Under the Dominate (284 and later), when the empire's finances demanded more draconian tax collection measures, the position of decurion ceased being a status symbol and became an unwanted civil service position. It was still limited to the aristocracy, but the primary emphasis was clearly on tax collection, and decurions were expected to make up any shortfall in

5757-471: The councils. The Emperor Julian tried to combat this development by increasing the size of curial councils, spreading the burden more evenly to make the position less costly. This attempt was not successful, and Julian himself died before he had time to see the policy through. Other efforts to remedy the situation failed as well, and the councils dwindled in importance through the Late Roman period. In

5858-401: The course of the 5th century the governance of the cities fell into the hands more and more of an outside group of 'Notables' made up of persons who did not have to belong to the councils: senators, magnates, ex-military officers with estates, the richer former curiales, bishops, ex-imperial officials of higher standing and certain exempted professional classes. A decurion was a member of

5959-667: The disaster by the bodies that flowed downstream; he eventually assumed command after Rutilius' replacement was assassinated at false surrender negotiations. Marius, assisted by a flanking manoeuvre by Lucius Cornelius Sulla , then inflicted a victory over the Marsi near the Fucine lake , which split the Italians in two. Sextus Julius Caesar , consul in 91 BC and promagistrate this year, moved to relieve Firmum some time in October. Between Sextus' army and Pompey Strabo's forces, Labrenius' forces were routed and forced into Asculum, which

6060-408: The distinction between Romans and their enemies; the presence of large armies in Italy during the war also provided opportunities for generals to seize power extralegally. For these reasons and others, some historians believe the conflict played an important role in setting up the collapse of the republic. The name Social war is an improper English translation of bellum sociale , which means "war of

6161-415: The east, assigned neither consul to commands against the Italians; Sulla by lot was assigned the command against Mithridates. Early in the year, Pompey Strabo's command in the northern theatre was prorogued and he quickly accepted the surrender of multiple Italian towns and communities, putting an effective end to the war in the north. The remaining northern insurgents fled south to Samnium and Apulia, where

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6262-459: The east, this rebel force unsuccessfully attacked Isiae and Rhegium near the Strait of Messina . The outbreak of a short civil war at Rome in 87 BC allowed them to nonetheless reach a negotiated settlement with the weakened Roman government; the rebels sided with the faction of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius after being promised citizenship, the return of hostages and deserters and

6363-407: The field for every two Romans. This made allied manpower indispensable for Roman military superiority. Cities cooperated with Rome for various reasons. They received shares of the war spoils and land assignments. Rome also supported allied elites against popular revolts (eg at Arretium , Lucania , and Volsinii in 302, 296, and 264 BC, respectively). While some of the cities defected during

6464-517: The following rights: Some also had, under certain conditions, the Ius suffragii ("right to vote"); this was exercised as part of a single tribe and only if they migrated to Rome (differently from Roman citizens, who could exercise their right to vote, if they were in Rome, as part of their various tribes). Outside of Italy, the term Latinitas continued to be used for other cases. Cicero used this term in relation to Julius Caesar's grant of Latin rights to

6565-497: The formation of new municipia as well as surveying of their lands and establishment of their charters. This longer process would continue until the age of Caesar. By 88 BC, the war was largely over, except for some isolated holdouts. Elections for the consulship of 88 were delayed by Pompey Strabo's late return to the city, but eventually returned Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Quintus Pompeius Rufus . The senate, troubled by news of Mithridates VI Eupator 's invasion of Asia in

6666-435: The fourth and third centuries BC to strengthen Roman control, as Rome expanded its hegemony over the peninsula. They were colonies which were given Latin legal status, and their settlers the ius Latii , instead of the Roman legal status of other colonies whose settlers kept Roman citizenship. Colonies of Latin status were called "Latin colonies" and those of Roman status were called "Roman colonies". Roman citizens who settled in

6767-462: The imperial post ( cursus publicus ) whose expenses and maintenance were laid at the feet of the provincial landowners through whose territory the post moved. In the course of the 4th and 5th centuries, membership in the curial class became financially ruinous to all but the most wealthy among them (who in many cases were able to purchase exemptions from their obligations), especially in the West, which

6868-580: The initial grant. Social War (91%E2%80%9388 BC) The Social War (from Latin bellum sociale , "war of the allies"), also called the Italian War or the Marsic War , was fought largely from 91 to 88 BC between the Roman Republic and several of its autonomous allies ( socii ) in Italy . Some of the allies held out until 87 BC. The war started in late 91 BC, with

6969-505: The lack of any Italian elections. Christopher Dart suggests that the Italians converted the victory title imperator into an official magisterial title, in the same way imperator later turned into the title of the Roman emperor in the Flavian era. In late 91 or early 90 BC, a rumour was heard that Asculum was exchanging hostages with another city. Such an exchange was customary in

7070-410: The land commission's infringements on their property, which was guaranteed by treaty. The objections brought the redistributive process quickly to a halt. Mouritsen proposed instead the following reconstruction for the start of the war in the late 90s BC. Drusus, seeking to placate the plebs in exchange for a change in the jury courts, proposed a law to do more widespread land distributions against

7171-597: The local level. They were responsible for public contracts, religious rituals , entertainment , and ensuring order. Perhaps most importantly to the imperial government, they also supervised local tax collection. Early in the imperial period, aristocratic citizens actively sought the post as a mark of prestige. They would gain seats in the front row of the theatre and be accepted into the class of honestiores (honourable men). Once elected, they were expected to pay large sums of their own money to perform public works; decurions would typically compete with each other to furnish

7272-423: The many city-states on the peninsula. In general, those cities received guarantees of territorial integrity and internal self-government in exchange for supporting Rome with men during its many wars. Allied contingents made up an increasing portion of Roman manpower: by 295 BC, the allied contingents of Roman-led armies as a whole outnumbered the Romans on the field and, by 218 BC, there were three allies on

7373-513: The mid-third century, this became an obligation, as Constantine I confiscated the cities' endowments, local taxes and dues, rent on city land and buildings. Julian returned these, but Valentinian I (363-375) and Valens (364-378) confiscated the resources. They did return one-third to the cities which was paid out by the Crown Estates which set aside city assets as separate line-items in the budget. Eventually management of these were returned to

7474-423: The north and south, respectively). Reconstructions have differed over the Italian state's organisation. Theodor Mommsen in 1854 proposed that the Italians self-organised basically along the same lines as the Romans. Alfred von Domaszewski in 1924 suggested that Silo and Mutilus were merely leaders of two major factions in the Italian forces and that the twelve "praetors" reflected twelve tribal divisions arranged in

7575-436: The overwhelming number of new citizens of much of their political influence. Appian further posits this number may have been ten. During Sulla's consulship, one of the tribunes of the plebs, Publius Sulpicius Rufus , challenged this plan. He brought and passed legislation, possibly by force, which would have the new citizens inscribed in the existing thirty-five tribes instead; he could only bring that proposal successfully with

7676-425: The period is the relatively late Appian , who wrote in the imperial period during the 2nd century AD, and whose narrative is largely one based on demands of the allies for Roman citizenship. Other historians, most especially Henrik Mouritsen, have focused instead on a perceived alternative tradition which has the Italian allies rebelling against Roman hegemony and encroachment on allied lands. The massive expansion of

7777-466: The plebeian tribune Gaius Gracchus introduced a law which extended the ius Latii to all other residents of Italy. This reflected the increasing ties between Rome and the Italic peoples through trade and the ties between the leading families in the Italian towns and patrician families in Rome. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar granted the ius Latii to all free-born Sicilians. Following the great spate of colonial settlements under Julius Caesar and Augustus ,

7878-447: The possibility of votes for land, he writes "Flaccus' citizenship bill [and bills similar to it] would have been infinitely more far-reaching in its implications than the reform promoted... it would lead to a total upheaval of the traditional alliance system on which Roman domination in Italy had been based for centuries... as an attempt to restart the land distribution process the bill would probably have been of scant value". The extent of

7979-448: The preparations for war to prevent allied cities from defecting. A Roman praetor by the name of Quintus Servilius, possibly the quaestor of 103 BC , rushed to the city and threatened violence if Asculum did not desist. The inhabitants, however, fearful of Roman discovery, responded by killing the praetor and his legate Fonteius. They then killed all the Romans in the city and ransacked their goods. Violence having been committed against

8080-405: The prosecution of their allies at Rome, Appian then has the Italians form their conspiracy and revolt. However, as the Italians could not have had enough time between Drusus' death and the start of the war to organise, Appian's timing cannot be correct. While the inciting incident of the war is clear, its end is not. One could argue various dates, ranging from 89 BC, when most of the fighting

8181-430: The rebellion of Asculum . Other Italian towns quickly declared for the rebels and the Roman response was initially confused. By the new year, the Romans had levied huge armies to crush the rebels but found initial headway difficult; by the end of the year, however, they were able to cut the Italian rebels into two, isolating them into northern and southern sectors. The Italian rebels attempted to invade Etruria and Umbria at

8282-399: The return of all loot taken by the Romans. Even in ancient times the conflict was perplexing and the final outcome of the war or its immediate impacts were not entirely clear. One can interpret the terms under which the various Italian communities at different times reached with the Roman state as victory for either Italians or Romans or alternatively as a negotiated stalemate. The war was

8383-437: The senate acted and deprived the land redistribution commission of its survey jurisdiction, putting a pause on land distributions. The commission, before the pause in 129 BC, likely quickly surveyed and parceled out the unoccupied and recently surveyed Hannibalic war-era lands. The older holdings elsewhere, however, were impossible to disentangle from private lands. Never surveyed and with unclear borders, Italians objected to

8484-483: The senate refused to negotiate. Appian reports that the Italians at the start of the war mobilised some 100,000 men. Rome's Latin allies remained loyal. Rome also continued to control Capua and central Campania, which proved logistically vital. The consuls of the year, elected in a time of relative peace, were Lucius Julius Caesar and Publius Rutilius Lupus . The two men had access to experienced legates: Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla . The Romans levied

8585-459: The senate. He was shortly thereafter killed by an unknown assassin. Around this time, the Italians send a delegation to Rome but the Romans refuse to negotiate. Appian asserts that after Drusus' death but before the start of the war, the equites set up the quaestio Varia (the Varian court) to prosecute those who aided the Italians in securing citizenship. After the double blow of Drusus' death and

8686-426: The start of 89 BC but were defeated. In the south, they were defeated by Lucius Cornelius Sulla , who for his victories would win a consulship the next year. The Romans retained the initiative and by 88 BC, the conflict was largely over and Roman attention had been captured by the ongoing First Mithridatic War . The few Italian rebels on the field by 87 BC eventually reached a negotiated settlement during

8787-526: The start of the war. Drusus may have then attempted to rescue his standing and placate the allies by trying to pass a law to give the allies citizenship. After this attempt failed amid Drusus' declining popularity, the attempts of the Latins – who actually were agitating for citizenship – to assassinate the consuls, who opposed Latin citizenship, at the Latin Festival became known. With the prospect of

8888-472: The support of Marius, whom he won over with the promise of the Mithridatic command. But his legislation was abrogated after Sulla – at the time continuing the siege at Nola – marched on Rome in response to the Mithridatic reassignment. Decurion (administrative) In ancient Rome , the curiales (from co + viria , 'gathering of men') were initially the leading members of a gentes (clan) of

8989-511: The upheaval of the alliance system similarly leads Mouritsen to reject granting citizenship as part of Drusus' attempt to change jury composition as means far in excess of the ends sought. Instead, Mouritsen focuses on Italian discontent with Roman public land reform. Rome's public lands had been won centuries prior to the 90s BC when the nascent republic had subjugated the Italian peninsula. Newer lands had also been forcibly taken from southern Italian cities that had sided with Hannibal during

9090-420: The war as a reaction to the failed reform proposals of the plebeian tribune of 91 BC, Marcus Livius Drusus . As part of a complex scheme to change criminal court jury composition, Drusus allegedly would have to seduce the people with free land, which required public lands, which required pushing Italians off that land, which required a sweetener of citizenship to quell objections. When the proposals failed,

9191-418: The war in the central and southern portions of Italy was "profound". Archaeological evidence points towards the Social war, along with the following Sullan civil war, devastating the central Apennines. The literary sources indicate that after these conflicts much of the Italian countryside was both lawless, as men strove to take advantage of the breakdown in order, and miserable. The extension of citizenship to

9292-539: The war killed two Roman consuls, or otherwise called it the Italian war . The focus on the Marsi may also have to do with Quintus Poppaedius Silo , who was one of the Italian leaders. Usage in the late republican and early imperial period treated the names Marsic and Italian war as largely interchangeable. Cicero's works refer to it as bellum Marsicum or bellum Italicum (though he also uses bella cum sociis ); Sallust , according to Aulus Gellius , calls it

9393-565: The whole range from grants to individuals to awards made to whole towns, and could even be applied to an entire population, as when Emperor Vespasian gave the ius Latii to all of Hispania in AD 74. Although this decree could encompass whole cities, it is important to note that it did not necessarily entail the establishment of a municipium (self-governing town). Often, as in Hispania, formal municipia might have been constituted several years after

9494-486: The year after repeated failures by Lucius Julius Caesar to relieve the town; turning south, Caesar attempted to stop Mutilius from forcing the fortress at Acerrae, but both sides found themselves in a series of indecisive engagements. While attempting to lead his men across a river in the northern theatre on 11 June, the consul Publius Rutilius Lupus fell in the Battle of the Tolenus River while fighting against

9595-421: The year, leaving only Strabo as consul for the remainder of 89. The Romans continued on the offensive against the Marsi, under the command of legates Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Marcus Caecilius Cornutus , and forced the Marsi to petition for peace. These victories allowed the Romans a free hand in the siege of Asculum and freedom to attack into southern theatre from the north. Corfinium was also taken, forcing

9696-647: Was beset by settlements of tribes that disrupted the administration of the Empire and precipitated a decline in living standards by half from 400 to 600 A.D . Many curiales tried to escape by enrolling in the army, the Imperial government, or the Church, or by gaining senatorial rank, which exempted them from service on the councils. The imperial government tried to prevent this; curials and/or their sons found to have escaped before fulfilling their obligations were returned to

9797-446: Was how the newly enfranchised Italian citizens would be enrolled into the Roman tribes . The thirty-five tribes made up the comitia tributa , a Roman popular legislative and electoral assembly. With each tribe getting one vote irrespective of population and with tribal status being hereditary, how the enormous multitude of Italian citizens were tribally organised would sway politics for generations. The first proposals, emerging during

9898-455: Was killed. Following Silo's death, Italian organised resistance collapsed. For Livy and Appian, his death marks the end of the Social war. However, a remnant of Samnite and Lucanian rebels fought on in Bruttium and even sent appeals to Mithridates of Pontus for an intervention in Italy. Faced with death or slavery, they refused to surrender. Late in 88 or in 87, after Sulla's departure for

9999-446: Was passed and became the lex Julia de civitate ; it also removed one of the main causes of the war – be it demands for citizenship or for security of land holdings – and provided that new tribes would be created for new citizens. Between the citizenship law and the costs of the war, only the Italian hard-liners remained in the field. The new consuls for 89 BC were Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo and Lucius Porcius Cato . In January,

10100-462: Was practically complete, down to November 82 BC and the Battle of the Colline Gate when an identifiably Italian group of rebels was at last defeated. This article presents events down to the nominal pacification of the Samnites and Lucanians in 87 BC. The main sources for the course of the war are relatively confused. Appian's account present events roughly geographically, producing

10201-474: Was then besieged by Strabo. Sextus' forces then forced back Vidacilius into Apulia and placed it too under siege in December. The northern front of the war largely collapsed after these victories. Attempts to incite rebellion in Etruria and Umbria could have opened a third front against Rome, but were quickly suppressed; Appian notes also that the senate acceded to garrisoning Cumae with freedmen, recruited into

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