Gaius Marius, depicted as a triumphator in a coin minted by Gaius Fundanius in 101 BC. He triumphed due to his victory in the Cimbric War.[1]
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The Marian reforms were putative changes to the composition and operation of the Roman army during the late Roman republic usually attributed to Gaius Marius (a general who was consul in 107, 104–100, and 86 BC[2]). The most important of those putative changes concerned the altering of the socio-economic background of the soldiery. Other changes were supposed to have included the introduction of the cohort; the institution of a single form of heavy infantry with uniform equipment; the universal adoption of the eagle standard; and the abolition of the citizen cavalry.[3] It was commonly believed that Marius changed the soldiers' socio-economic background by allowing citizens without property to join the Roman army, a process called "proletarianisation".[4] This was then supposed to have created a semi-professional class of soldiers motivated by land grants which in turn became clients of their generals, who then used them to overthrow the republic.[5]
Belief in a comprehensive scheme of reforms under Marius emerged in 1840s German scholarship, which posited that any changes in the Roman army between the times of Polybius and Marius were attributable to a single reform event. This belief was spread relatively uncritically and was accepted as largely proven by the 1850s and through much of the 20th century. There is, however, little ancient evidence for any permanent or significant change to recruitment practice in Marius's time.[6][7][8] The occurrence of such a comprehensive reform led by Marius is no longer widely accepted by specialists;[9][10] 21st-century scholars have called the reforms a "construct of modern scholarship".[11][12]
Other reforms to the army's operations and equipment, said to have been done by Marius, are also largely rejected by scholars.[13] Few of them have any basis in the ancient and archaeological evidence.[14] Others are wrongly dated or misattributed. Changes in the Roman army of the late republic occurred both later (during the Social War and following civil wars rather than at the end of the 2nd century BC) and emerged from circumstance rather than a reformist Marian vision.
^Crawford, Michael H (1974). Roman republican coinage. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 328. ISBN 0-521-07492-4. LCCN 77-164450.
^Broughton, Thomas Robert Shannon (1952). The magistrates of the Roman republic. Vol. 2. New York: American Philological Association. p. 589.
^Faszcza 2021, p. 21. See eg Taylor 2019, p. 76 and Cadiou 2018, p. 395.
^Cadiou 2018, p. 18.
^Eg Scullard 2011, pp. 47–48.
^Gauthier 2020, p. 283. "The idea of a wide-ranging 'Marian reform' that permanently abolished property qualifications for military service has recently been thoroughly rebutted".
^Keaveney 2007, pp. 93–94. "Marius did few, if any, of the things he is sometimes supposed to have done. He did not make the Roman army an army of mercenaries... he did not create a revolutionary army".
^Rafferty 2021. "[Cadiou]'s conclusion is that 'l'armée romaine dite « post-marienne » est un mirage historiographique' [the Roman army called 'post-Marian' is a historiographical mirage]".
^Probst 2008. "Modern research for the most part agrees, it can no longer be said that the Marian reforms and the military service of unpropertied men revolutionised the Roman army".
^Faszcza 2021, pp. 14–15.
^Taylor 2019, p. 79. "Relatively modest facts have been spun into the overarching 'Marian reforms', which are ultimately the construct of modern scholarship".
^Cadiou 2018, p. 395. « L'armée romaine dite ‹ post-marienne › est un mirage historiographique. Elle n'a jamais existé que dans l'esprit des spécialistes modernes ... En ce sens, l'armée de citoyens pauvres à laquelle l'historiographie moderne a coutume d'attribuer une responsabilité décisive dans la crise et la chute de la République romaine s'apparente, en fait, à une armée imaginaire. »
^Rosenstein 2020, p. 301. "[Gauthier] starts from a position that has become increasingly accepted among scholars (although unfortunately not popular among popular writers), namely that Marius was not responsible for the key changes that distinguished first-century legions from their mid-republican predecessors".
^Other than army recruitment, the only two changes attributed to Marius directly are a redesign of the pilum and the elimination of non-eagle standards. Both ancient claims are disproved by archeological evidence. Taylor 2019, p. 78.
The Marianreforms were putative changes to the composition and operation of the Roman army during the late Roman republic usually attributed to Gaius...
Traditionally, many of these changes have been attributed to the reforms of Gaius Marius (see Marianreforms), but some scholars argue that they may have happened...
equivalent in money and often became a prominent member of society. The Marianreforms were putative changes to the composition and operation of the Roman...
86 BC. In the 19th century, Marius was credited with the so-called Marianreforms, including the shift from militia levies to a professional soldiery;...
manipular legion comprised 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. After the Marianreforms in 107 BC the legions were formed of 5,200 men and were restructured...
large quantities of "mass produced" equipment after the so-called "MarianReforms" and subsequent civil wars led to a decline in the quality of Roman...
Marian Lois Robinson (née Shields; July 30, 1937 – May 31, 2024) was the mother of Michelle Obama, former first lady of the United States, and Craig Robinson...
pre-Marius Roman army. These were removed even before the so-called "Marianreforms", as the Triarii provided a very sturdy anchor. Sagittarii – Archers...
threat, along with the Jugurthine War, allegedly inspired the putative Marianreforms of the Roman legions, a view now contested by modern historians. Rome...
so-called "Marianreforms" of 107 BC. Hastati appear to have been remnants of the old third class of the army under the Etruscan kings when it was reformed by...
approximately 1000 velites. Velites were disbanded after the so-called "Marianreforms". Lucilius suggests that rorarii and velites were interchangeable, with...
by light troops. They were eventually disbanded after the so-called "Marianreforms" of 107 BC. According to Pat Southern, principes appear to have been...
and triarii. Later, in 107 BCE, Marius would institute the so-called Marianreforms, creating the Roman legions. This system would evolve into the Late...
scholars would misattribute to putative reforms by noted general and statesman Gaius Marius (the so-called MarianReforms). In the Near East, the other major...
created after the Latin War and were dissolved after the so-called Marianreforms. Almost all the details we know of the extraordinarii are described...
maniple, each century consisting of 30–60 men. After the so-called "Marianreforms", a century was typically composed of around 80 men, with six such centuries...
military system experienced drastic changes. Following the so-called "Marianreforms", de facto political power became concentrated under military leadership...
Flamininus and his brother Titus in their campaigns. After the so-called "Marianreforms", the figure of the legatus as a major second-in-command was eliminated...
themselves was by joining the military which became easier after the Marianreforms as soldiers were expected to pay for their own weapons. By joining the...
Arausio, 6 October 105 BC". www.historyofwar.org. "Collections: The MarianReforms Weren't a Thing". 30 June 2023. Mommsen, Theodor; The History of Rome...
University of California Press. p. 367. ISBN 0-520-02238-6. And the Marianreforms... did not abolish the levy. Conscription continued... to the end of...
Mithridates VI in the Bosporan Kingdom. Gaius Marius, to whom the putative Marianreforms of the Roman army are commonly attributed, arrives in North Africa to...
time the general Marius assumed command in 107 BC. (The so-called "Marianreforms" of the army hypothesised by some scholars are today seen by other scholars...
opened and thus convenient to their profession. Until the so-called "Marianreforms" of the Late Republic, the lower ranks of Rome's military forces were...
poetic, Imperial vision of the past. In the late Republic, the so-called Marianreforms supposedly did the following: lowered an existing property bar on conscription...
reforms, e.g. the abolition of slavery (William Wilberforce, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, and others), women suffrage, and prison reforms....
clans came to regard themselves as one nation- the Zulu. The so-called Marianreforms of Rome in the military sphere are referenced by some writers as similar...
Evangelist, (as in Marcan Priority) Marian – Mary (as in Marian apparition); Gaius Marius (as in Marianreforms) Marivaudian – Pierre de Marivaux Markovian...
The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary (Latin: Congregatio Clericorum Marianorum ab Immaculata...
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