Year 100 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marius and Flaccus and the First Year of Tianhan. The denomination 100 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.
This article concerns the period 109 BC – 100 BC.
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important reforms of Roman armies. He set the precedent for the shift from the militia levies of the middle Republic to the professional soldiery of the late Republic; he also improved the pilum, a javelin, and made large-scale changes to the logistical structure of the Roman army.
Quintus Lutatius Catulus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 102 BC. His consular colleague was Gaius Marius. During their consulship the Cimbri and Teutones marched south again and threatened the Republic. While Marius marched against the Teutones in Gaul, Catulus had to keep the Cimbri from invading Italy. In this he failed; the Cimbri succeeded in invading the Po Valley. In 101 BC Catulus, as proconsul, continued the war against the Cimbri. Marius, elected consul for the fifth time, joined him and together they campaigned against the Germanic invaders in the Po Valley. At the Battle of Vercellae Marius and Catulus decisively defeated the Cimbri and ended the Germanic invasion. After Vercellae the two feuded, and Catulus consequently committed suicide following Marius's victory in the civil war of 87 BC.
Lucius Appuleius Saturninus was a Roman populist and tribune. He is most notable for introducing a series of legislative reforms, alongside his associate Gaius Servilius Glaucia and with the consent of Gaius Marius, during the last years of the second century BC. Senatorial opposition to these laws eventually led to an internal crisis, the declaration of the senatus consultum ultimum, and the deaths of Saturninus, Glaucia, and their followers in 100 BC.
The Social War, also called the Italian War or the Marsic War, was fought from 91 to 87 BC between the Roman Republic and several of its autonomous allies in Italy. The Italian allies wanted Roman citizenship, not only for the status and influence that came with it, but also for the right to vote in Roman elections and laws. They believed that they should be treated equally to the Romans, given that they had formed cultural and linguistic connections with the Roman civilization, and had been their loyal allies for over two centuries. The Romans strongly opposed their demands, and refused to grant them citizenship, thus leaving the socii with fewer rights and privileges.
Marcus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman statesman who served as consul in 115 BC. He was also a long-standing princeps senatus, occupying the post from 115 until his death in late 89 or early 88 BC, and as such was widely considered one of the most prestigious and influential politicians of the late Republic.
Publius Rutilius Rufus was a Roman statesman, soldier, orator and historian of the Rutilia gens, as well as a great-uncle of Gaius Julius Caesar. He achieved the highest political office in the Roman Republic when he was elected consul in 105 BC.
Cornelia Sulla or Cornelia Silla was the eldest daughter of the Roman statesman and general Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his first wife Julia.
Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo "Vopiscus" was the younger son of Lucius Julius Caesar and his wife Popillia, and younger brother of Lucius Julius Caesar, consul in 90 BC. His cognomen 'Strabo' indicates he was possibly cross-eyed, and the nickname 'Vopiscus' suggests he was a surviving member of a set of twins.
Gaius Norbanus 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.
Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, was a Roman politician and general of the First Century BC. He was elected one of the two consuls for 79 BC. 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 Isaurian hill tribes. Upon returning to Rome he celebrated a triumph for his victories.
Lucius Julius Caesar was a Roman statesman and general of the late second and early first century BC. He was involved in the downfall of the plebeian tribune Lucius Appuleius Saturninus in 100 BC. He was consul of the Roman Republic in 90 BC during the Social War. During the war he commanded several Roman legions against the Italian Allies. He was awarded a Triumph for his victories on the Samnites at Acerrae.
Quintus Servilius Caepio was a Roman patrician, statesman and soldier. He was the son of Quintus Servilius Caepio who was consul in 106 BC and who lost his army during the Battle of Arausio. He was elected praetor some time in the last 90s BC and fought for Rome during the Social War. He was killed in the second year of the war while fighting the Marsi by Quintus Poppaedius Silo.
Gaius Caecilius Metellus Caprarius was a consul of the Roman Republic in 113 BC with Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. He served under Scipio Aemilianus in Numantia around 133 BC. He was praetor in 117 BC. His proconsulship in Thrace in 112–111 BC earned him a triumph. He was censor in 102 BC with his cousin, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus.
The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC. The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most powerful families of the late Republic, from the decades before the First Punic War down to the time of Augustus.
The gens Servilia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. The gens was celebrated during the early ages of the Republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the consular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influence in the state down to the latest times of the Republic, and even in the imperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was Publius Servilius Priscus Structus in 495 BC, and the last of the name who appears in the consular Fasti is Quintus Servilius Silanus, in AD 189, thus occupying a prominent position in the Roman state for nearly seven hundred years.
