Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was the first Roman to march an army on the city and the first to hold a dictatorship without a fixed term. Born around 138 BC into a patrician family that had lost its money and standing, he grew up in rented rooms among actors and mimes, and inherited legacies from a stepmother and a mistress that allowed him a career. He served as Marius's quaestor in Numidia and personally arranged the capture of Jugurtha in 105 BC, a claim that began the feud between them. He distinguished himself in the Social War and was elected consul in 88 BC and given the eastern command against Mithridates. The assembly transferred it to Marius, and Sulla did what no Roman had done: he took six legions and marched on Rome, killed his opponents, and left for the east. He sacked Athens, defeated Mithridates' armies at Chaeronea and Orchomenus, and made peace on lenient terms so as to return home. He landed in Italy in 83 BC, won the civil war at the Colline Gate the following year, and had himself appointed dictator for the reordering of the republic — with no time limit, which had never existed. He then published proscription lists: names posted in the forum, the men outlawed, their property confiscated, killers rewarded and sons and grandsons barred from office. Some two thousand or more died. He doubled the Senate, curbed the tribunate, fixed the order of offices, and expanded the courts — all to entrench senatorial rule. He resigned in 79 BC, retired, and died the following year.

• Lived: 138 BCE – 78 BCE
• Nationality: Roman
• Roles: ruler, general