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80s BC is the time period from 89 BC – 80 BC.
Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman republic. Opposing Sulla's march on Rome in 88 BC, he was elected to the consulship of 87 BC, during which he engaged in an armed conflict – the Bellum Octavianum – with his co-consul, Gnaeus Octavius. Emerging victorious, Cinna initiated with his ally, Gaius Marius, the murders of their enemies. In the aftermath, he dominated the republic for the next three years, serving continuously as consul.
Year 87 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Octavius and Cinna/Merula and the Second Year of Houyuan. The denomination 87 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first major civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo was a Roman general and politician, who served as consul in 89 BC. He is often referred to in English as Pompey Strabo, to distinguish him from his son, the famous Pompey the Great, or from Strabo the geographer.
Gaius Flavius Fimbria was a Roman general. Born to a recently distinguished senatorial family, he became one of the most violent and bloodthirsty partisans of the consul Cornelius Cinna and his ally, Gaius Marius, in the civil war of 87 BC. During the conflict, Fimbria served them as both cavalry commander and negotiator, and took a leading part in the political purges that followed their capture of Rome, putting a number of prominent aristocrats to death.
Gaius Marius "the Younger" was a Roman republican general and politician who became consul in 82 BC with Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. He was the son of the Gaius Marius who was the victor of the Jugurthine and Cimbric wars. He fought in Sulla's civil war. He committed suicide that same year at Praeneste, after his defeat by Sulla and during the city's capture by Quintus Lucretius Afella.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic. His father Metellus Numidicus was banished from Rome through the machinations of Gaius Marius. He, because of his constant and unbending attempts to have his father officially recalled from exile, was given the agnomen (nickname) Pius.
Gaius Norbanus, nicknamed Balbus was a Roman politician who was elected consul in 83 BC alongside Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. He committed suicide in exile at Rhodes after being proscribed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla shortly after the latter's victory in the civil war.
The gens Cornelia was one of the greatest patrician houses at ancient Rome. For more than seven hundred years, from the early decades of the Republic to the third century AD, the Cornelii produced more eminent statesmen and generals than any other gens. At least seventy-five consuls under the Republic were members of this family, beginning with Servius Cornelius Maluginensis in 485 BC. Together with the Aemilii, Claudii, Fabii, Manlii, and Valerii, the Cornelii were almost certainly numbered among the gentes maiores, the most important and powerful families of Rome, who for centuries dominated the Republican magistracies. All of the major branches of the Cornelian gens were patrician, but there were also plebeian Cornelii, at least some of whom were descended from freedmen.
Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, was a politician and general of the Roman Republic and a member of the plebeian branch of the gens Servilii. He was elected consul for 79 BC with Appius Claudius Pulcher as his consular collegae. From 78 to 74 BC, as proconsul of Cilicia, he fought against the Cilician Pirates and Isaurian hill tribes in Asia Minor. He was granted the agnomen Isauricus for his victories over the Isaurians. Upon returning to Rome he celebrated a triumph for his victories.
Cornelia was either the first or second wife of Julius Caesar, and the mother of his only legitimate child, Julia. A daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Cornelia was related by birth or marriage to many of the most influential figures of the late Republic.
Sulla's civil war was fought between the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his opponents, the Cinna-Marius faction, in the years 83–82 BC. The war ended with a decisive battle just outside Rome itself. After the war the victorious Sulla made himself dictator of the Roman Republic.
Lucius Valerius Flaccus became suffect consul of the Roman Republic in 86 BC when Gaius Marius, the consul prior, unexpectedly died. He was elected to complete Marius's term in office. Marius had fought a series of civil wars against Lucius Cornelius Sulla, both leaders of their respective factions: the populares and the optimates. Flaccus was considered a staunch supporter of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna; the leaders of the Marian-Cinna faction within the populares. Cinna was Marius's consular collegae and succeeded Marius as faction leader.
Marcius Censorinus was a name used by a branch of the plebeian gens Marcia of ancient Rome. The cognomen Censorinus was acquired through Gaius Marcius Rutilus, the first plebeian censor, whose son used it. The gens Marcia claimed descent from both Ancus Marcius, a king of Rome, and symbolically from Marsyas the satyr, who was associated with free speech and political liberty; see further discussion at Prophecy and free speech at Rome. The Marcii Censorini were consistent populares, supporting Marius, Cinna, Julius Caesar, and Antonius.
Gaius Marcius Censorinus was a late Roman Republican politician and soldier who participated in the first civil war of the Roman Republic, against Sulla.
The Battle of Sena Gallica took place in April or May of 82 BC during the context of Sulla's Second Civil War in the area around present day Senigallia. The battle pitted the Optimates under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, legatus of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix against the Populares forces commanded by Gaius Marcius Censorinus who was in turn the legatus of Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. The battle resulted in a decisive Optimate victory. Immediately following the battle, the town was subjected to a brutal sacking by Sulla's victorious forces.
The Bellum Octavianum was a Roman republican civil war fought in 87 BC between the two consuls of that year, Gnaeus Octavius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Cinna was victorious by late 87 BC.
The March on Rome of 88 BC was a coup d'état by the consul of the Roman Republic Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who seized power against his enemies Marius and Sulpicius, after they had ousted him from Rome. It was the first time in Roman history that a general ordered his army to march against the Republic.
References
- Lovano, Michael, The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome (2002)
- Keaveney, Arthur, Sulla: The Last Republican (1982)
- Broughton, T. Robert S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol II (1951)
- Jörg Rüpke, Anne Glock, David Richardson (translator), Fasti Sacerdotum: A Prosopography of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Religious Officials in the City of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499, Oxford University Press, 2008.
- Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Vol III (1867).