Marius

Gaius Marius (157-13 Jan 86 BCE) was a Roman General and Statesman who helped transform the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, and is considered to be the ‘Third Founder of Rome’.
Marius was Consul seven times, the first time in 107 BCE and the last in 85 BCE.

In 107 BCE Marius was made Consul for the first time and implemented the first of the Marian Reforms. Foreseeing a crisis in recruitment to defend Italy against the invading Germanic Tribes, Marius dropped land ownership as a necessity for entry into the Legions.
In late 107 BCE he arrived in Numidia with an army to defeat Jugurtha, who retreated to the south.
In 105 BCE Jugurtha was handed over to Marius, who returned in triumph to Rome where he had Jugurtha imprisoned in the Mamertine Prison then executed.

Between 112 and 105 BCE the Romans lost every Battle against the invaders.
In 105 BCE at the Battle of Arausio, the Romans lost 80,000 men and their Auxiliaries. It was the worst defeat since the Battle of Cannae.

The Marian Reforms undertaken from 107-101 BCE, were a series of reforms that transformed the Roman Army into the Ancient World’s most efficient fighting machine.

In late 105 BCE, after the Battle of Arausio, Marius was elected Consul again.
104 BCE The Roman Senate declared an Emergency and Marius was elected Consul for 5 years, with instructions to make any changes he needed to defeat the German Tribes.
104 BCE He enacted further Marian Reforms, by which he transformed the Structure and Tactics of the Legions from the Maniple System to the more flexible Cohort System.
By 102 BCE Marius was ready, and he defeated the Teutones at Battle of Aquae Sextiae and massacred and enslaved the entire Tribe.
In 101 BCE The Cimbri invaded Italy, but Marius confronted and defeated them, also massacring and enslaving the entire Tribe.

This great victory led directly to the Social War, as Marius granted Roman Citizenship to all his Italian Allies without getting permission from the Roman Senate.
He excluded the Allied Cities of the Samnites and the Marsi in Italy. These were called the Socii, meaning they were long term Allies of Rome, but without the Latin Rights or Roman Citizenship to which they felt entitled.
The result of the war was that Rome granted all of its citizens in Italy full Roman Citizenship.

In 88 BCE Sulla was elected Consul with a Mandate to defeat Mithridates VI of Pontus. The Senate then changed its mind and elected Marius as Consul.
Sulla then took the Army from Nola to Rome to fight the Republic’s first Civil War against Marius.
In December 87 BCE Marius was elected Consul for the seventh time, but died after 17 days, on January 13, 86 BCE.

The cities of Uchi Majus and Thibaris in North Africa and a city in Corsica were renamed Mariana in his honour.
The Fossa Mariana was a Roman Canal dug by legionaries between Arles and the mouth of the Rhone in 51 BCE and named after Marius.
Although Sulla had removed the Trophies belonging to Marius from the Capitol, they were returned later by Julius Caesar.