9. Before Julius Caesar, there was Gaius Marius
Before Julius Caesar secured his reputation as Ancient Rome’s most formidable military commander and most famous warrior, there was Gaius Marius (157 – 86 BC), a formidable warrior and a general who saved Rome from extinction. He was also a statesman who headed the populares, Rome’s political faction that leant towards the rising middle and lower classes. Marius was elected consul an unprecedented seven times, and was the first general to illustrate that political support and power could be secured from the votes of veterans.
Marius was not an aristocrat, but a plebeian from an equestrian or knightly family. He joined the Roman Republic’s political power structure as Novus homo, or “new man” – a term for those who were the first of their family to serve in the Senate. Marius owed his rise to his talents as a soldier against the backdrop of the Numidian War in North Africa, which was being bungled by incompetent aristocratic commanders. Marius rode the criticism of the war’s mishandling to get elected to his first consulship in 107 BC. He took command and swiftly secured victory.
