HISTORY 1M03 Lecture 11: Late Republic 2
7 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Abroad, rome faced a new threat at the end of the second century: migrations by germanic peoples- the cimbri and teutones- across the alps. Between 113 and 105, they inflicted a number of defeats on roman armies, generating escalating concern and ultimately panic. Romans turned to a general, gaius marius, unprecedentedly electing him consul in five consecutive years, from 104 to 100. He put down the german threat and won tremendous popular gratitude. Marius was a novus homo, a new man", from a wealthy but not noble background. He had risen on the basis first of military success, and then by popularis politics. The optimates were alarmed by the fact that one man enjoyed such unprecedented eminence and power in the state, especially a new man who supported popular reform. In 100, marius found himself with a problem: he had promised land to settle his veterans, but he now found himself obstructed in the senate by the optimates.
