Social War (91–87 BC): A Visual History

The Social War (91-87 BC, from socii, allies) was a revolt of Rome's Italian allies, who supplied half its army but had no citizenship. After the tribune Livius Drusus, who proposed enfranchising them, was murdered in 91 BC, the Marsi, Samnites and other peoples formed a rival state, Italia, with a capital at Corfinium and a senate of 500. Roman armies under Marius, Sulla and Pompeius Strabo fought hard campaigns across central and southern Italy; consuls died in battle. Rome defused the revolt by granting citizenship to loyal and surrendering allies through the Lex Julia (90 BC) and Lex Plautia Papiria (89 BC), and defeated the last Samnite holdouts by 87 BC. Italy south of the Po became a community of Roman citizens; the enrolment of the new voters helped ignite the civil wars of Marius and Sulla.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

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Roman citizens registered in the census

The enfranchisement of Italy roughly doubled the citizen body over the following generation.

Timeline of the Social War (91-87 BC)

1. 91 BC
   Drusus murdered; Asculum massacre; revolt
2. 90 BC
   Consul Lupus killed; Lex Julia
3. 89 BC
   Asculum falls; Sulla in Samnium; Lex Plautia Papiria
4. 88 BC
   Poppaedius Silo killed; Sulla marches on Rome
5. 87 BC
   Last Samnite resistance

Drusus and the outbreak

The allies had fought Rome's wars for two centuries and increasingly resented exclusion from the vote, the land grants and the protection from magistrates' rods that citizenship gave. Marcus Livius Drusus's 91 BC bill to enfranchise them was blocked and he was stabbed in his own house. The Marsi, whose leader Poppaedius Silo had marched on Rome to petition, rose when a Roman praetor was murdered at Asculum in Picenum along with all Romans in the town. Eight peoples formed Italia and struck coins showing the Italian bull goring the Roman wolf.

The war

In 90 BC the consul Rutilius Lupus was killed on the Tolenus river and the Romans lost repeatedly; the Samnites under Papius Mutilus overran Campania. Rome mobilised 100,000 men and Gallic and Numidian auxiliaries; the Lex Julia in late 90 gave citizenship to allies who had stayed loyal or laid down arms, splitting the rebels. In 89 Pompeius Strabo took Asculum after a siege and celebrated a triumph over fellow Italians; Sulla campaigned brilliantly in Samnium, storming Bovianum and Aeclanum and winning election as consul for 88; Poppaedius Silo was killed in 88.

Citizenship and consequences

The Lex Plautia Papiria of 89 extended citizenship to all Italians who registered within 60 days, and Strabo's law gave Latin rights to Transpadane Gaul; the Samnites and Lucanians fought on until Sulla's civil war absorbed them, and Sulla massacred the Samnite army at the Colline Gate in 82. The dispute over distributing the new citizens among the voting tribes led Sulpicius Rufus to ally with Marius, and Sulla's march on Rome in 88 began the civil wars. Italy was henceforth Roman: the Republic had turned its allies into citizens by fighting them.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Roman Empire (27 BC to 476)
• Seleucid Empire (312 BC to 63 BC)
• Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 BC to 30 BC)

Wars of the same era and region

• Gallic Wars (58 BC to 50 BC)
• Roman-Greek wars (214 BC to 148 BC)
• Third Punic War (149 BC to 146 BC)
• Roman-Germanic wars (113 BC to 476)

8 surprising things about the Social War (91-87 BC)

1. The Italian rebels' coins showed a bull, symbol of Italia, trampling or goring the Roman she-wolf.
2. The rebel capital Corfinium was renamed Italica; it is the first known use of 'Italia' as a political name.
3. Pompeius Strabo's son, Pompey the Great, fought his first campaign in the war as a teenager.
4. Cicero served in the war under Strabo and Sulla as a young man.
5. The Samnites, Rome's oldest Italian enemies, were the last to give up and were nearly exterminated by Sulla in 82 BC.
6. The war's name comes from socii, 'allies', not from any social programme.
7. The Latin rights granted to Transpadane Gaul in 89 BC took the citizenship frontier to the Alps.
8. Rome had never before granted its franchise so widely; the war ended the city-state and made Italy a nation of citizens.

Sources

• Social War Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Social War (91-87 BC) Wikipedia
• Social War World History Encyclopedia
• Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015) Profile

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