Bust of so-called "Marius", Augustan copy of a 2nd cent. B.C. original, Marble
Height: 34.5cm
Glyptothek Munich
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HOCW51: Bust of "Marius". Late 1st cent BCE/early 1st century CE copy of a 2nd century BCE original.6/6/2017 Unknown Bust of so-called "Marius", Augustan copy of a 2nd cent. B.C. original, Marble Height: 34.5cm Glyptothek Munich As we enter the first century BCE, we enter a century of turmoil in Rome's history which would ultimately lead to the civil wars, the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, and the fall of the Roman Republic with the principate of Caesar's great-nephew Augustus. Perhaps one of the most important figures in the story of this struggle is Gaius Marius, who may (there is some controversy over the identification) be depicted in the portrait bust shown above, currently housed in the Munich Glyptothek. Marius, as he is commonly known, was born in 157 BCE in a small town outside Rome, and rose by the end of his career to hold the consulship (the top political job in Rome) for an unprecedented seven times. A military man, he reformed the Roman army, led a series of campaigns against Jugurtha in Numidia, the Germanic tribes in the north, and the rebel cities of Italy during the Social War, gaining more political power than had ever been thought possible. The Roman Republic's careful system of checks and balances, with two consuls elected to counter each other and the term of office no longer than a year, seemed to be breaking beneath the strain of individual ambition and the demands of a burgeoning empire. Marius' example paved the way for a series of other generalissimos over the course of the first century BCE, who we will be meeting during our next History of the Classical World entries: Sulla, Pompey, Caesar, Mark Antony, and, of course, Augustus himself.
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AuthorEmily Hauser is a classicist and researcher at Harvard and author of historical fiction recovering the lost women of the ancient world, including FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL and FOR THE WINNER. Archives
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