5. Sulla’s Early Rivalry With Marius Sparked Civil War
Lucius Cornelius Sulla’s rivalry with Gaius Marius, a fellow general, intensified over the command of the First Mithridatic War against King Mithridates VI of Pontus. In 88 BCE, the tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus transferred the command from Sulla to Marius, leading Sulla to march his army on Rome—a move unprecedented in Roman history. This confrontation ignited a civil war between Sulla’s forces and Marius’s supporters, profoundly impacting the Republic’s political landscape (worldhistory.org).
