Ancient Rome - Wars, Dictatorship, Republic

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Marius had met him and had given him a firm warning, temporarily effective: Mithradates had proper respect for Roman power. Scheming to annex Cappadocia, he had been thwarted by the Senate’s instructing Sulla, as proconsul, to install a pro-Roman king there in 96–95. (It was on this occasion that Sulla received a Parthian embassy—the first contact between the two powers.) 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Mithradates VI, king of Pontus, had built a large empire around the Black Sea and was probing and intriguing in the Roman sphere of influence. Marius had met him and had given him a firm warning, temporarily effective: Mithradates had proper respect for Roman power. Scheming to annex Cappadocia, he had been thwarted by the Senate’s instructing Sulla, as proconsul, to install a pro-Roman king there in 96–95. (It was on this occasion that Sulla received a Parthian embassy—the first contact between the two powers.) But"/> <meta property="og:type" content="ARTICLE"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Ancient Rome - Wars, Dictatorship, Republic | Britannica"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Ancient Rome - Wars, Dictatorship, Republic: In foreign affairs the 90s were dominated by Asia, Rome’s chief source of income. Mithradates VI, king of Pontus, had built a large empire around the Black Sea and was probing and intriguing in the Roman sphere of influence. Marius had met him and had given him a firm warning, temporarily effective: Mithradates had proper respect for Roman power. Scheming to annex Cappadocia, he had been thwarted by the Senate’s instructing Sulla, as proconsul, to install a pro-Roman king there in 96–95. (It was on this occasion that Sulla received a Parthian embassy—the first contact between the two powers.) 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data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome">ancient Rome</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/place/ancient-Rome">Introduction & Top Questions</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref26584"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome#ref26584">Rome from its origins to 264 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span></a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26585"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome#ref26585">Early Rome to 509 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26586"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome#ref26586">Early Italy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26587"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome#ref26587">Historical sources on early Rome</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26588"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Romes-foundation-myth">Rome’s foundation myth</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26589"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Romes-foundation-myth#ref26589">The regal period, 753–509 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span></a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26590"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Early-centuries-of-the-Roman-Republic">Early centuries of the Roman Republic</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26591"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Early-centuries-of-the-Roman-Republic#ref26591">Foundation of the republic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26592"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Early-centuries-of-the-Roman-Republic#ref26592">The struggle of the orders</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26593"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Early-centuries-of-the-Roman-Republic#ref26593">The consulship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26594"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Early-centuries-of-the-Roman-Republic#ref26594">The dictatorship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26595"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Senate">The Senate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26596"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Senate#ref26596">The popular assemblies</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26597"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Senate#ref26597">The plebeian tribunate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26598"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Senate#ref26598">The Law of the Twelve Tables</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26599"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Senate#ref26599">Military tribunes with consular power</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26600"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Senate#ref26600">Social and economic changes</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26601"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Latin-League">The Latin League</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26602"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Latin-League#ref26602">Roman expansion in Italy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26603"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Latin-League#ref26603">The Samnite Wars</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26604"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Latin-League#ref26604">The Pyrrhic War, 280–275 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span></a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26605"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-middle-republic-264-133-bc">The middle republic (264–133 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26606"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-middle-republic-264-133-bc#ref26606">The first two Punic Wars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26607"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-middle-republic-264-133-bc#ref26607">First Punic War (264–241 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26609"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-middle-republic-264-133-bc#ref26609">Second Punic War (218–201 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26612"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-establishment-of-Roman-hegemony-in-the-Mediterranean-world">The establishment of Roman hegemony in the Mediterranean world</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26613"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-establishment-of-Roman-hegemony-in-the-Mediterranean-world#ref26613">Roman expansion in the eastern Mediterranean</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26614"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Roman-expansion-in-the-western-Mediterranean">Roman expansion in the western Mediterranean</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26615"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Roman-expansion-in-the-western-Mediterranean#ref26615">Explanations of Roman expansion</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26616"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Roman-expansion-in-the-western-Mediterranean#ref26616">Beginnings of provincial administration</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26617"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-transformation-of-Rome-and-Italy-during-the-Middle-Republic">The transformation of Rome and Italy during the Middle Republic</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26618"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-transformation-of-Rome-and-Italy-during-the-Middle-Republic#ref26618">Citizenship and politics in the middle republic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26619"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Culture-and-religion">Culture and religion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26620"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Culture-and-religion#ref26620">Demographic and economic developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26621"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Social-changes">Social changes</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26622"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Social-changes#ref26622">Rome and Italy</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26623"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Late-Republic-133-31-bc">The Late Republic (133–31 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26624"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Late-Republic-133-31-bc#ref26624">The aftermath of the victories</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26625"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Late-Republic-133-31-bc#ref26625">Changes in provincial administration</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26626"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Late-Republic-133-31-bc#ref26626">Social and economic ills</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26627"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reform-movement-of-the-Gracchi-133-121-bc">The reform movement of the Gracchi (133–121 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26628"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reform-movement-of-the-Gracchi-133-121-bc#ref26628">The program and career of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26629"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reform-movement-of-the-Gracchi-133-121-bc#ref26629">The program and career of Gaius Sempronius Gracchus</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26630"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-republic-c-121-91-bc">The republic (<em>c.</em> 121–91 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26631"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-republic-c-121-91-bc#ref26631">War against Jugurtha</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26632"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-republic-c-121-91-bc#ref26632">The career of Gaius Marius</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26633"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Wars-and-dictatorship-c-91-80-bc">Wars and dictatorship (<em>c.</em> 91–80 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26634"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Wars-and-dictatorship-c-91-80-bc#ref26634">Events in Asia</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26635"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Wars-and-dictatorship-c-91-80-bc#ref26635">Developments in Italy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26636"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Wars-and-dictatorship-c-91-80-bc#ref26636">Civil war and the rule of Lucius Sulla</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26637"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Wars-and-dictatorship-c-91-80-bc#ref26637">The Roman state in the two decades after Sulla (79–60 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26638"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Wars-and-dictatorship-c-91-80-bc#ref26638">The early career of Pompey</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26639"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Pompey-and-Crassus">Pompey and Crassus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26640"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Pompey-and-Crassus#ref26640">Political suspicion and violence</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26641"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Pompey-and-Crassus#ref26641">The final collapse of the Roman Republic (59–44 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26642"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Pompey-and-Crassus#ref26642">Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26643"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Pompey-and-Crassus#ref26643">Political maneuvers</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26644"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Pompey-and-Crassus#ref26644">Civil war</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26645"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-dictatorship-and-assassination-of-Caesar">The dictatorship and assassination of Caesar</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26646"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-dictatorship-and-assassination-of-Caesar#ref26646">The Triumvirate and Octavian’s achievement of sole power</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref61495"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Intellectual-life-of-the-Late-Republic">Intellectual life of the Late Republic</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26647"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Intellectual-life-of-the-Late-Republic#ref26647">Grammar and rhetoric</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26648"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Intellectual-life-of-the-Late-Republic#ref26648">Law and history</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26649"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Intellectual-life-of-the-Late-Republic#ref26649">Philosophy and poetry</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26650"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Early-Roman-Empire-31-bc-ad-193">The Early Roman Empire (31 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>–<span class="text-smallcaps">ad</span> 193)</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26651"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Early-Roman-Empire-31-bc-ad-193#ref26651">The consolidation of the empire under the Julio-Claudians</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26652"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Early-Roman-Empire-31-bc-ad-193#ref26652">The establishment of the principate under Augustus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26653"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies">The Roman Senate and the urban magistracies</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26654"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies#ref26654">The equestrian order</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26655"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies#ref26655">Administration of Rome and Italy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26656"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies#ref26656">Administration of the provinces</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26657"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies#ref26657">Emperor worship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26658"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies#ref26658">The army</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26659"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies#ref26659">Foreign policy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26660"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Roman-Senate-and-the-urban-magistracies#ref26660">Economic life</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26661"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Augustan-art-and-literature">Augustan art and literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26662"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Augustan-art-and-literature#ref26662">Appraisal of Augustus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26663"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Augustan-art-and-literature#ref26663">The succession</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26664"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Augustan-art-and-literature#ref26664">Growth of the empire under the Flavians and Antonines</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26665"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Augustan-art-and-literature#ref26665">The year of the four emperors</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26666"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Flavian-emperors">The Flavian emperors</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26667"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Flavian-emperors#ref26667">The early Antonine emperors: Nerva and Trajan</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26668"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Flavian-emperors#ref26668">Hadrian and the other Antonine emperors</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26669"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-empire-in-the-2nd-century">The empire in the 2nd century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26670"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-empire-in-the-2nd-century#ref26670">Trend to absolute monarchy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26671"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-empire-in-the-2nd-century#ref26671">Political life</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26672"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-empire-in-the-2nd-century#ref26672">Rome and Italy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26673"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-empire-in-the-2nd-century#ref26673">Developments in the provinces</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26674"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-creation-of-a-unified-civilization">The creation of a unified civilization</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26675"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-creation-of-a-unified-civilization#ref26675">Urban centres</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26676"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-creation-of-a-unified-civilization#ref26676">Latinization</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26677"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-creation-of-a-unified-civilization#ref26677">Limits of unification</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26678"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Cult-of-the-emperors">Cult of the emperors</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26679"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Cult-of-the-emperors#ref26679">The economic factor</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26680"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Cult-of-the-emperors#ref26680">The army</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26681"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Cult-of-the-emperors#ref26681">Cultural life</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26682"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Later-Roman-Empire">The Later Roman Empire</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26683"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Later-Roman-Empire#ref26683">The dynasty of the Severi (<span class="text-smallcaps">ad</span> 193–235)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26684"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Later-Roman-Empire#ref26684">Septimius Severus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26685"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Later-Roman-Empire#ref26685">Caracalla</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26686"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Later-Roman-Empire#ref26686">Macrinus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26687"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Later-Roman-Empire#ref26687">Elagabalus and Severus Alexander</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26688"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Religious-and-cultural-life-in-the-3rd-century">Religious and cultural life in the 3rd century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26689"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Religious-and-cultural-life-in-the-3rd-century#ref26689">The rise of Christianity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26690"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Religious-and-cultural-life-in-the-3rd-century#ref26690">Cultural life from the Antonines to Constantine</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26691"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Religious-and-cultural-life-in-the-3rd-century#ref26691">Military anarchy and the disintegration of the empire (235–270)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26692"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Religious-and-cultural-life-in-the-3rd-century#ref26692">Succession of emperors and usurpers</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26693"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-barbarian-invasions">The barbarian invasions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26694"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-barbarian-invasions#ref26694">Difficulties in the East</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26695"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-barbarian-invasions#ref26695">Economic and social crisis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26696"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-barbarian-invasions#ref26696">The recovery of the empire and the establishment of the dominate (270–337)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26697"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-barbarian-invasions#ref26697">The Illyrian emperors</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26698"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Diocletian">Diocletian</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26699"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Diocletian#ref26699">Struggle for power</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26700"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Constantine">The reign of Constantine</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26701"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Constantine#ref26701">The Roman Empire under the 4th-century successors of Constantine</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26702"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Constantine#ref26702">The rule of Constantine’s sons</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26703"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Constantine#ref26703">The reign of Julian</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26704"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Valentinian-and-Valens">The reign of Valentinian and Valens</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26705"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Valentinian-and-Valens#ref26705">The reign of Gratian and Theodosius I</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26706"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Valentinian-and-Valens#ref26706">Social and economic conditions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26707"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-reign-of-Valentinian-and-Valens#ref26707">The remnants of pagan culture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26708"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Christian-church">The Christian church</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26709"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Christian-church#ref26709">The eclipse of the Roman Empire in the West (<em>c.</em> 395–500) and the German migrations</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26710"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Christian-church#ref26710">Invasions in the early 5th century</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26711"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/The-Christian-church#ref26711">The beginning of Germanic hegemony in the West</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26712"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Barbarian-kingdoms">Barbarian kingdoms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26713"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Rome/Barbarian-kingdoms#ref26713">Analysis of the decline and fall</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/ancient-Rome">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/images-videos">Images & Videos</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a 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Professor, Dean, and Director of Studies in Arts, The Open University, Milton Keynes, England, 1969–79. Author of <i>The Heritage of Hellenism</i>...</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> John Ferguson</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Edward-Togo-Salmon/2575" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Edward Togo Salmon</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Messecar Professor of History, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, 1954–73. Author of <i>A History of the Roman World from 30 B.C. to A.D. 138 </i>and others.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Edward Togo Salmon</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-14T00:00:00CST" >Nov 14, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Date: </dt> <dd>753 BCE - <i>c. </i> 500</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Major Events: </dt> <dd><a href="/event/Punic-Wars" topicid="940971">Punic Wars</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Battle-of-Pharsalus" topicid="455221">Battle of Pharsalus</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Battle-of-Zama-Roman-Carthaginian-history" topicid="655514">Battle of Zama</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Battle-of-Alesia-52-BCE" topicid="2095782">Battle of Alesia</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Battle-of-Cannae" topicid="92664">Battle of Cannae</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Julius-Caesar-Roman-ruler" topicid="88114">Julius Caesar</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Augustus-Roman-emperor" topicid="43047">Augustus</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Cicero" topicid="117565">Marcus Tullius Cicero</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Pompey-the-Great" topicid="469463">Pompey the Great</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Diocletian" topicid="164042">Diocletian</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Roman-law" topicid="507759">Roman law</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Neoclassicism" topicid="408739">Neoclassical art</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Senate-Roman-history" topicid="534333">Senate</a></dd> <dd><a href="/technology/aqueduct-engineering" topicid="31132">aqueduct</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/civitas" topicid="119502">civitas</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Places: </dt> <dd><a href="/place/Italy" topicid="297474">Italy</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/Roman-Empire" topicid="507739">Roman Empire</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/ancient-Egypt" topicid="180468">ancient Egypt</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/Pompeii" topicid="469420">Pompeii</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/Petra-ancient-city-Jordan" topicid="454080">Petra</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/ancient-Rome"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/507905/ac44f85f856293c5c8083e7e91662186" rel="nofollow">A criticized Airbnb deal will let users play gladiator in Rome's Colosseum</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 14, 2024, 11:02 PM ET (AP) </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="2" id="ref26633">  <section data-level="3" id="ref26634"> <h2 class="h3">Events in <span id="ref298480"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Asia-ancient-Roman-province" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Asia</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In foreign affairs the 90s were dominated by Asia, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Rome" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Rome’s</a> chief source of income. <span id="ref298481"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mithradates-VI-Eupator" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mithradates VI</a>, king of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Pontus-ancient-district-Turkey" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Pontus</a>, had built a large <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/empire-political-science" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">empire</a> around the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Black-Sea" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Black Sea</a> and was probing and intriguing in the Roman sphere of influence. Marius had met him and had given him a firm warning, temporarily effective: Mithradates had proper respect for Roman power. Scheming to annex <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cappadocia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Cappadocia</a>, he had been thwarted by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Senate-Roman-history" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Senate’s</a> instructing Sulla, as proconsul, to install a pro-Roman king there in 96–95. (It was on this occasion that Sulla received a Parthian embassy—the first contact between the two powers.) But dissatisfaction in the Roman <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/province-ancient-Roman-government" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">province</a> of Asia gave new hope to Mithradates. Ineffectively organized after <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/annexation" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">annexation</a> and corrupt in its cities’ internal administration, it was soon overrun with Italian businessmen and Roman tax collectors. When the Senate realized the danger, it sent its most distinguished jurist, <span id="ref298482"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Quintus-Mucius-Scaevola-Roman-jurist" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Quintus Mucius Scaevola</a> (consul in 95 and <em>pontifex maximus</em>), on an unprecedented mission to reorganize Asia (94). He took Publius Rutilius Rufus—jurist, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="stoic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stoic" data-type="MW">stoic</a> philosopher, and former consul—with him as his senior officer, and after Scaevola’s return Rutilius remained behind, firmly applying the new principles they had established. This caused an outcry from businessmen, whose profits Scaevola had kept within bounds; he was prosecuted for “extortion” in 92 and convicted after a trial in which Roman <em>publicani</em> and businessmen unscrupulously used their power among the class that provided criminal juries. The verdict revealed the breakdown of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gaius-Sempronius-Gracchus" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Gaius Gracchus’</a> system: the class he had raised to watch over the Senate now held irresponsible power, making orderly administration impossible and endangering the empire. Various leading senators were at once vexatiously prosecuted, and political <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="chaos" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chaos" data-type="MW">chaos</a> threatened.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref26635"> <h2 class="h3">Developments in <span id="ref298483"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Italy" class="md-crosslink ">Italy</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The 90s also saw dangerous developments in Italy. In the 2nd century <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>, Italians as a whole had shown little desire for Roman citizenship and had been remarkably submissive under exploitation and ill-treatment. The most active of their governing class flourished in overseas business, and the more traditionally minded were content to have their oligarchic rule supported by Rome. Their admission to citizenship had been proposed as a by-product of the Gracchan reforms. By 122 it had become clear that the Roman people agreed with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/oligarchy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">oligarchy</a> in rejecting it. The sacrifices demanded of Italy in the Numidian and German wars probably increased dissatisfaction among Italians with their patently inferior status. Marius gave citizenship to some as a reward for military distinction—illegally, but his standing (<em>auctoritas</em>) <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sufficed" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sufficed" data-type="MW">sufficed</a> to defend his actions. Saturninus admitted Italians to veteran settlements and tried to gain citizenship for some by full admission to Roman colonies. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/censor-ancient-Roman-official" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">censors</a> of 97–96, aristocrats connected with Marius, shared his ideas and freely placed eminent Italians on the citizen registers. This might have allayed dissatisfaction, but the consuls of 95 passed a law purging the rolls and providing penalties for those guilty of fraudulent arrogation. The result was insecurity and danger for many leading Italians. By 92 there was talk of violence and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conspiracy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspiracy" data-type="MW">conspiracy</a> among desperate men.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">It was in these circumstances that the eminent young noble, <span id="ref298484"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Livius-Drusus-Roman-politician-died-109-BCE" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Marcus Livius Drusus</a>, became <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/tribune-Roman-official" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">tribune</a> for 91 and hoped to solve the menacing accumulation of problems by means of a major scheme of reforms. He attracted the support of the poor by agrarian and colonial legislation and tried to have all Italians admitted to citizenship and to solve the jury problem by a compromise: the courts would be transferred to the Senate, and 300 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/eques" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">equites</a> would be admitted to it. (To cope with the increase in business it would need this expansion in size.) Some leading senators, frightened at the dangerous situation that had developed, gave weighty support. Had Drusus succeeded, the poor and the Italians might have been satisfied; the equites, deprived of their most ambitious element by promotion, might have acquiesced; and the Senate, always governed by the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="prestige" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prestige" data-type="MW">prestige</a> of the noble <em>principes</em> rather than by votes and divisions, could have returned, little changed by the infusion of new blood, to its leading position in the process of government. But Drusus failed. Some members of each class affected were more conscious of the loss than of the gain; and an active <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/consul-ancient-Roman-official" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">consul</a>, <span id="ref298485"></span>Lucius Philippus, provided leadership for their <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disparate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disparate" data-type="MW">disparate</a> opposition. After much violence, Drusus’ laws were declared invalid. Finally he himself was assassinated. The Italians now rose in revolt (the Social War), and in Rome a special tribunal, manned by the Gracchan jury class, convicted many of Drusus’ supporters until the Senate succeeded in suspending its sittings because of the military danger.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The first year of the <span id="ref298486"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Social-War-Roman-history" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Social War</a> (90) was dangerous: the tribes of central and southern Italy, traditionally among the best soldiers in Rome’s wars, organized in a confederacy for the struggle that had been forced upon them. Fortunately all but one of the Latin cities—related to Rome by blood and tradition and specially favoured by Roman law—remained loyal: their governing class had for some time had the privilege of automatically <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="acquiring" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/acquiring" data-type="EB">acquiring</a> Roman citizenship by holding local office. Moreover, Rome now showed its old ability to act quickly and wisely in emergencies: the consul <span id="ref298487"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucius-Julius-Caesar" class="md-crosslink ">Lucius Caesar</a> passed a law giving citizenship to all Italians who wanted it. The measure came in time to head off major revolts in Umbria and Etruria, which accepted at once.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref26636"> <h2 class="h3">Civil war and the rule of Lucius Sulla</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 89 the war in central Italy was won, and <span id="ref298488"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gnaeus-Pompeius-Strabo" class="md-crosslink ">Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo</a> celebrated a triumph. Attention now turned to the East, where Mithradates had taken advantage of Rome’s troubles to expel the kings of Cappadocia and <span id="ref298489"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Bithynia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Bithynia</a>. A Roman embassy restored them, and he withdrew. However, when the envoys incited Bithynian incursions into his territory, Mithradates launched a major offensive; he overran the two kingdoms and invaded Roman territory, where he attracted the sympathy of the natives by executing thousands of Italians and defeating and capturing the Roman commanders in the area.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="258583" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/226674-050-EEF30CA1/Sulla-Roman-Dictator.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/507905/258583"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/226674-050-EEF30CA1/Sulla-Roman-Dictator.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/226674-050-EEF30CA1/Sulla-Roman-Dictator.jpg?w=300" alt="Sulla" data-width="1148" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/226674-050-EEF30CA1/Sulla-Roman-Dictator.jpg" data-href="/media/1/507905/258583">Sulla</a><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">In Rome, various men, including Marius, had hoped for the Eastern command. But it went to <span id="ref298490"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sulla" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sulla</a>, elected consul for 88 after distinguished service in the Social War. <span id="ref298491"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Publius-Sulpicius-Rufus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Publius Sulpicius</a>, a tribune in that year and an old friend of Drusus, tried to continue the latter’s policy of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="justice" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice" data-type="MW">justice</a> to the Italians by abolishing the gerrymandering that in practice deprived the new citizens of an effective vote. Finding the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="oligarchy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oligarchy" data-type="MW">oligarchy</a> firmly opposed, he gained the support of Marius (who still commanded much loyalty) for his plans by having the Eastern command transferred to him. After much street-fighting, the consuls escaped from Rome, and Sulpicius’ bills were passed. Sulla’s response was totally unforeseen: he appealed to the army he had led in the Social War, which was still engaged in mopping-up operations in Campania, and persuaded them to march on Rome. He occupied the city and executed Sulpicius; Marius and others escaped. Significantly, Sulla’s officers left him. It was the first time a private army of citizens had occupied Rome—an effect of Marius’ army reform, which had ended by creating a “client army” loyal chiefly to its commander, and of the Social War, which had made the use of force within Italy seem commonplace. The end of the republic was foreshadowed.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Having cowed Rome into acquiescence and having passed some legislation, Sulla left for the East. <span id="ref298492"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucius-Cornelius-Cinna" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cinna</a>, one of the consuls of 87, at once called for the overthrow of Sulla’s measures. Resisted by his colleague Octavius, he left Rome to collect an army and, with the help of Marius, occupied the city after a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="siege" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/siege" data-type="EB">siege</a>. Several leading men were killed or condemned to death, Sulla and his supporters were outlawed, and (after Marius’ death early in 86) another commander was sent to Asia. The policy now changed to one of reconciliation: the Social War was wound up, and the government gained wide acceptance until Cinna was killed by mutinous soldiers (84).</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Sulla meanwhile easily defeated Mithradates’ forces in two battles in Boeotia, took Athens, which under a revolutionary regime had declared for Mithradates, and cleared the king’s army out of Greece. While negotiating with Cinna’s government, Sulla also entered upon negotiations with Mithradates and, when he heard of Cinna’s death, quickly made peace and an alliance with Mithradates, driving the government’s commander in Asia to suicide. After wintering his troops in the rich cities of Asia, Sulla crossed into Greece and then into Italy, where his veteran army broke all resistance and occupied Rome (82). Sulla was elected <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="dictator" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/dictator" data-type="EB">dictator</a> and, while Italy and all the provinces except Spain were quickly reduced, began a reign of terror (the “proscriptions”), in which hundreds of his enemies or those of his adherents were killed without trial, while their property went to enrich him and his friends. Wherever in Italy he had met resistance, land was expropriated and given to his soldiers for settlement.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">While the terror prevailed, Sulla used his powers to put through a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="comprehensive" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comprehensive" data-type="MW">comprehensive</a> program of reform (81). Although he had twice taken Rome with a private proletarian army, he had earlier had connections with the inner circles of the oligarchy, and after Cinna’s death some eminent men who had refused to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="collaborate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collaborate" data-type="MW">collaborate</a> with Cinna joined Sulla. By the time Sulla’s success seemed certain, even most of those who had <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="collaborated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collaborated" data-type="MW">collaborated</a> were on his side, and he was acclaimed as the defender of the nobility who had defeated an illegal revolutionary regime. His reforms aimed chiefly at stabilizing Senate authority by removing <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="alternative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alternative" data-type="MW">alternative</a> centres of power. The tribunate was emasculated; the censors’ powers were reduced; provincial governors were subjected to stricter Senate control; and the equites, who had been purged of Sulla’s opponents by the proscriptions, were deprived of some symbols of dignity and made leaderless by the inclusion of 300 of Sulla’s chief supporters in the Senate. The jury reform of Gaius Gracchus, seen by some leading senators as the prime cause of political disintegration, could now be undone, and the criminal courts could once more become a monopoly of senators.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Sulla’s measures were by no means merely reactionary. His program was basically that of Marcus Drusus. His <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="overriding" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/overriding" data-type="EB">overriding</a> aim was the restoration of stable government, and this could only come from the Senate, directed by the <em>principes</em> (former consuls and those they chose to consult). Sulla accepted and even extended recent developments where they seemed useful: the Italians retained full citizenship; the system of standing criminal courts was expanded; the practice of praetors normally spending their year of office in Rome and then going to provinces for a second year was extended to consuls and became an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="integral" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integral" data-type="MW">integral</a> part of his system. To prevent long command of armies (which might lead to careers like his own), Sulla increased the number of praetors so that, in principle and in normal circumstances, each province might have a new governor every year. As for the overriding problem of poverty, his contribution to solving it was to settle tens of thousands of his veterans on land confiscated from enemies in Italy; having become landowners, the veterans would be ready to defend the social <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/order-architecture" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">order</a>, in which they now had a stake, against the dispossessed.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">At the beginning of 80 Sulla laid down his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="dictatorship" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/dictatorship" data-type="EB">dictatorship</a> and became merely consul, with the senior Metellus (Quintus Metellus Pius), a relative of his wife, as his colleague. The state of emergency was officially ended. At the end of the year, after seeing to the election of two reliable consuls, Sulla retired to Campania as a private citizen; he hoped that the restored oligarchy would learn to govern the state he had handed over to them. For 78 <span id="ref298493"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Aemilius-Lepidus-Roman-senator-died-circa-77-BCE" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Marcus Lepidus</a>, an ambitious <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/patrician" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">patrician</a> whom Sulla disliked and distrusted, was elected consul. Sulla did not intervene. Within a few months, Sulla was dead. Lepidus at once attacked his system, using the grievances of the expropriated as a rallying cry and his province of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Gaul-ancient-region-Europe" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Gaul</a> as a base. But he was easily defeated by his former colleague <span id="ref298494"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Quintus-Lutatius-Catulus-Roman-politician-died-61-60-BCE" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Quintus Catulus</a>, assisted by young Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey).</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section><section data-level="2" id="ref26637"> <h2 class="h2">The Roman state in the two decades after Sulla (79–60 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>)</h2> <section data-level="3" id="ref26638"> <h2 class="h3">The early career of <span id="ref298495"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pompey-the-Great" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pompey</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="31134" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/38563-050-4F361025/Pompey-Copenhagen-Den-Ny-Carlsberg-Glyptotek.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/507905/31134"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/38563-050-4F361025/Pompey-Copenhagen-Den-Ny-Carlsberg-Glyptotek.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/38563-050-4F361025/Pompey-Copenhagen-Den-Ny-Carlsberg-Glyptotek.jpg?w=300" alt="Pompey" data-width="1084" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/38563-050-4F361025/Pompey-Copenhagen-Den-Ny-Carlsberg-Glyptotek.jpg" data-href="/media/1/507905/31134">Pompey</a><span>Pompey, bust c. 60–50 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>; in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Pompey was the son of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, who had triumphed after the Social War but had incurred general hatred because of cold-blooded <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="duplicity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duplicity" data-type="MW">duplicity</a> during the troubles of 88 and 87. After Strabo’s death, young Pompey, who had served under him and inherited his dubiously won wealth, was protected by Cinna’s government against his father’s enemies. Following in his father’s footsteps, he deserted the government after Cinna’s death, raised a force among his father’s veterans in central Italy, and helped to conquer Italy and, in a lightning campaign, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sicily" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Sicily</a> and the province of Africa for Sulla. Though not old enough to hold any regular magistracy (he was born in 106), he had, from these military bases, blackmailed Sulla into granting him a triumph (81) and had married into the core of the Sullan oligarchy. Out of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="pique" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pique" data-type="MW">pique</a> against Sulla, he had supported Lepidus’ election for 78, but he had too great a stake in the Sullan system to permit Lepidus to overthrow it.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Meanwhile a more serious challenge to the system had arisen in Iberia. <span id="ref298496"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Quintus-Sertorius" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Quintus Sertorius</a>, a former <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/praetor" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">praetor</a> of tough Sabine gentry stock, had refused to follow most of his social betters in joining Sulla; instead he had left for Spain, where he claimed to represent the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="legitimate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legitimate" data-type="MW">legitimate</a> government. Although acting throughout as a Roman proconsul, with a “counter-Senate” of eminent Roman citizens, Sertorius won the enthusiastic support of the native population by his fairness, honesty, and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="charisma" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charisma" data-type="MW">charisma</a>, and he soon held most of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Iberian-Peninsula" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Iberian Peninsula</a>, defending it successfully even against a large force under Quintus <span id="ref298497"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Quintus-Caecilius-Metellus-Pius" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Metellus Pius</a>. When the consuls of 77 would have nothing to do with this war, Pompey was entrusted by the Senate, through the efforts of his eminent friends and sponsors, with the task of assisting Metellus. The war dragged on for years, with little glory for the Roman commanders. Although Sertorius had many sympathizers in Italy, superior numbers and resources finally wore him down, and he was assassinated by a Roman officer. Pompey easily defeated the remnants of Sertorius’ forces in 72.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The death of <span id="ref298498"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicomedes-IV" class="md-crosslink ">Nicomedes IV</a> of Bithynia (74) led to another major war. Like Attalus of Pergamum, Nicomedes left his kingdom to Rome, and this <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="provoked" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/provoked" data-type="EB">provoked</a> Mithradates, who was in contact with Sertorius and knew of Rome’s difficulties, to challenge Rome again. The Eastern command again led to intrigues in Rome. The command finally went to Lucius <span id="ref298499"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucius-Licinius-Lucullus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lucullus</a>, a relative of Sulla and consul in 74, who hoped to build up a countervailing power in the East.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">At the same time, <span id="ref298500"></span>Marcus Antonius, father of the later Triumvir, was given a command against the pirates in the eastern Mediterranean (whom his father had already fought in 102–100), partly, perhaps, as further reinsurance against Pompey. With Italian manpower heavily committed, a minor slave rising led by <span id="ref298501"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Spartacus-Roman-gladiator" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Spartacus</a> (73) assumed threatening <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="dimensions" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/dimensions" data-type="EB">dimensions</a>, until Marcus Crassus (an old Sullan and profiteer in the proscriptions) volunteered to accept a special command and defeated the slaves. At this point (71) Pompey returned from Spain with his army, crucified the remnants of the slave army, and claimed credit for the victory.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":15,"pagesTotal":33,"pageId":507905,"pageLength":2532,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"D","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":15,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Ancient Rome - Wars, Dictatorship, Republic | Britannica