Marian reforms facts for kids
The Marian reforms were supposed changes to the Roman army that many people thought were made by a famous general named Gaius Marius. He was a very important leader, serving as consul (like a top president) many times between 107 and 86 BC.
The most important change people believed Marius made was allowing poorer citizens to join the army. Before him, only citizens who owned property could be soldiers. This change was called "proletarianisation" because it let the "proletarii" (the poorest citizens) join. It was thought that this created a new type of soldier who was loyal to their general, which then led to problems for the Roman republic.
However, modern historians now believe that these big changes didn't happen all at once because of Marius. Instead, they think the Roman army changed slowly over time, especially during the Social War and later civil wars. Many of the "reforms" linked to Marius are now seen as ideas from modern historians, not actual events from ancient times.
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How the Roman Army Recruited Soldiers
The Roman army usually got its soldiers by choosing them from the top five groups of citizens, based on how much wealth they had. These citizens were called adsidui. Citizens who didn't own much property were called capite censi (meaning "counted by head") or proletarii.
Normally, the proletarii didn't have to join the army. They were only called up during a big emergency, like a tumultus. The first time the poorest citizens were known to join the army was in the 4th century BC. They started getting weapons from the state in 281 BC, possibly because of the Pyrrhic War.
For a long time, historians thought that the rules about how much property you needed to serve in the army were lowered over time. This was supposedly because Rome didn't have enough soldiers. But now, many experts don't believe there was a shortage of men in Italy during the 2nd century BC.
Changes Attributed to Marius
In older history books, many changes were said to be made by Marius. These changes are often linked to his first time as consul in 107 BC, during the Jugurthine War. Some also thought he made changes during his many consulships from 104 to 100 BC, when Rome faced a serious threat from Germanic tribes.
Ancient Ideas About Marius's Changes
Ancient writers, who wrote hundreds of years after Marius, gave him credit for only a few specific changes. One was allowing the poor to join the army. The others were a new design for a javelin called the pilum and making the eagle (aquila) the only standard for Roman legions.
Letting Poorer Citizens Join the Army
The biggest change people thought Marius made was to army recruitment, starting in 107 BC. As consul, Marius was put in charge of the war against Jugurtha of Numidia. He decided to recruit more soldiers by asking for volunteers, including the capite censi (the poorest citizens). The Roman Senate had given him the right to force people to join, but he chose to take volunteers instead.
Historians have different ideas about why Marius took volunteers. Some ancient writers thought he did it to gain power. Modern historians suggest he might have wanted to raise an army quickly to win the war fast. After Marius won the Jugurthine War, his volunteers went home. For the next war, the Cimbrian War, Marius commanded legions recruited in the usual way.
It was believed that Marius's choice to let poor volunteers join changed the army forever. These poor soldiers supposedly became "professional" and only lived as soldiers. They were thought to become very loyal to their generals, who then used them to take power in Rome, leading to civil wars and the end of the Republic.
However, there is little proof that forced recruitment (conscription) stopped after Marius. Most ancient writings about army recruitment, except for private armies, still mention conscription. Soldiers' pay remained very low, and they often didn't get paid regularly. Many soldiers in the 1st century BC still owned small pieces of land. Also, the idea that these changes created "client armies" that destroyed the Republic is now questioned.
Changes to Soldier Equipment
Ancient writers also said Marius changed the design of the Roman pilum, a heavy javelin. He supposedly added a wooden peg that would break when the javelin hit a shield. This might have been to make the enemy drop their shield. But, archaeological finds show that Marius's new design wasn't widely used. Roman pila often bent or broke anyway, probably because of their thin design.
Another ancient writer, Pliny, said Marius made the eagle (aquila) the only standard for Roman legions. This eagle was a symbol for each legion. But Pliny was wrong; other ancient sources show that legions in the late Republic and early Empire still used other animal symbols, like bulls and wolves.
Modern Ideas About Marius's Changes
Most of the other changes linked to Marius appeared only in modern times. These ideas often came from comparing the Roman army described by an ancient historian named Polybius with the army in later texts. People then just assumed Marius was responsible for any differences.
State Paying for Equipment
Some historians claimed Marius made the state pay for weapons and armor for poor soldiers, since they couldn't afford their own. This idea might have come from Gaius Gracchus, who supposedly passed a law around 122 BC to stop deducting money from soldiers' pay for clothing.
But there's no clear proof that Gracchus's law ever took effect, or that Marius started a program to equip soldiers. Writings from the time of Augustus (the first Roman emperor) show that soldiers still had money deducted for clothing and equipment.
"Marius' Mules" and Training
Ancient sources say Marius made soldiers carry much of their own gear, instead of putting it on pack animals. This earned them the nickname muli Mariani ("Marius' mules"). Some modern historians thought this made the army move faster. But other successful generals before Marius also made their soldiers carry their own equipment.
Some modern historians also said Marius reformed army training. However, intense training was already common before Marius. Generals like Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus and Scipio Aemilianus drilled their men for a long time before battles. This training was needed because new recruits often lacked military experience, not because soldiers were becoming "professionals."
Changes to Army Units
Modern historians sometimes credit Marius with getting rid of Roman cavalry (horse soldiers) and light infantry (fast, lightly armed soldiers) and replacing them with auxilia (soldiers from allied groups). But there's no direct proof for this. Writings from the time still mention Roman citizen cavalry and light infantry. The decline of Roman light infantry was likely due to cost, as heavy infantry was more effective for long campaigns.
Marius has also been credited with introducing the cohort (a unit of about 480 men) as the main fighting unit, replacing the maniple (a smaller unit of 160 men). But this idea is doubtful. Cohorts might have been used as far back as the Second Punic War (late 3rd century BC). The cohort likely developed as a tactical unit during the Spanish wars. Marius's predecessor in Numidia was already using cohorts in battle. So, if cohorts replaced maniples around this time, Marius probably wasn't responsible.
Land and Citizenship for Veterans
Modern historians also linked Marius to the idea of "client armies," where soldiers were loyal to generals who promised them land after they left the army. This idea mostly comes from a law around 100 BC that gave land to Marius's veterans and poor Romans. But Marius's own land laws needed the support of the Senate and people, not just military force.
After Marius, land grants were not always given, and soldiers often went home peacefully even without land. Land distributions became more common after Sulla's example following his civil war. Demands for land became more common during the civil wars later in the 1st century BC, as soldiers gained more power.
There's also no proof that Marius created a system to give veterans Roman citizenship when they left the army. Before the Social War, there was only one known case of citizenship being given for bravery in battle. Most historians believe that giving citizenship to veterans became common much later, under Emperor Claudius in the 1st century AD.
How Historians View the Reforms
For a long time, historians believed Marius completely changed the Roman army, replacing property-owning soldiers with landless ones who fought for pay. This idea came from ancient writings, but it wasn't very strong.
Most historians today no longer believe that Marius was responsible for a big change in the Roman legions by letting the poor join. They now think that the "reforms" linked to Marius are mostly ideas created by modern historians.
Older Views (Ancient and 19th Century)
Ancient writers often talked about Marius's changes to fit their own stories. For example, Sallust, who wrote closest to 107 BC, described Marius's recruitment of the poor as a sign of moral decline. He said Marius did it to gain power, because the poorest people would do anything for pay.
Another ancient writer, Valerius Maximus, said Marius ignored traditional recruitment because he was a "new man" (someone from a family with no previous senators). Historians today don't think this is a good explanation.
Other ancient sources, written much later, also linked Marius to letting the capite censi join in 107 BC. But some sources don't mention it at all, suggesting it wasn't seen as a huge event at the time. It's likely that the idea of "self-serving armed poor" soldiers causing the Republic's fall was added to Marius's story later, during times of civil war.
The idea of a big, revolutionary reform by Marius first appeared in 1846, from a German scholar named Ludwig Lange. He assumed that any differences between Marius's army and Polybius's army must have come from one big reform by Marius.
This idea became very popular thanks to Theodor Mommsen's influential book, The History of Rome, published in 1855. Wilhelm Rüstow's 1857 book also presented the Marian reforms as a fact, including the idea of getting rid of citizen cavalry, having only heavy infantry, uniform equipment, and introducing the cohort. He saw it as a step towards a fully professional Roman army.
These views were repeated by many other authors and became widely accepted in scholarship. They moved into important reference books and English-language studies. It wasn't until after World War II that these ideas were looked at more closely.
Newer Views (After World War II)
After World War II, historians started to question the old ideas. Emilio Gabba, an Italian historian, argued in 1949 and 1951 that Marius's decision to enroll the poor wasn't a revolution. Instead, it was the natural next step after the property requirements for soldiers had been slowly lowered over time due to a supposed lack of recruits. Gabba believed Marius simply removed the last bit of a rule that was no longer important.
Later historians also played down these reforms. Jacques Harmand noted that forced recruitment continued throughout the late Republic, which went against the idea that volunteer service became dominant after 107 BC. Peter Brunt questioned how accurate Polybius's descriptions of the army were for Marius's time. He found no proof that volunteers took over the legions and concluded that traditional recruits still made up most of the army.
Current Views
By the late 20th century, the belief in the Marian reforms mostly relied on the idea that Rome had a shortage of soldiers. But William Vernon Harris showed in 1979 that complaints about recruitment usually only happened during wars that didn't promise much loot. This suggested Marius's call for volunteers in 107 BC was more about getting soldiers for a less profitable war, not because of a lack of men.
Later, J W Rich showed in 1983 that there was no general shortage of men in Italy. He also found that Marius's use of volunteers had happened before. More recent studies, especially by Nathan Rosenstein, have shown that there was no population decline in Italy before Marius's first consulship.
François Cadiou, in his 2018 book, largely disproved the traditional story that Marius's volunteers greatly changed the army's makeup. He argued that historians held onto the theory because it offered a simple explanation for the Republic's collapse, even with limited evidence.
Changes to the Roman army during the 1st century BC are now more often linked to the Social War and the civil wars from 49 to 31 BC. After the Social War, the state kept men in the army for longer periods. "Client armies" (armies loyal to a specific general) appeared, but not in Marius's time. They emerged in the decades before Caesar's civil war (49 BC).
Historians now understand that Roman soldiers during the civil wars needed to believe their generals' reasons for fighting. Generals had to convince their troops that their cause was right. Client armies didn't come from changes in recruitment. Instead, they grew out of the long civil wars and generals trying to keep their soldiers loyal with more pay.
