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| Cinna (consul 87 BC) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lucius Cornelius Cinna |
| Birth date | c. 120 BC |
| Death date | 84 BC |
| Nationality | Roman |
| Office | Consul of the Roman Republic |
| Term | 87 BC–84 BC |
| Predecessor | Lucius Cornelius Merula |
| Successor | Gaius Marius (restored) / Lucius Cornelius Cinna (co-consul changes) |
| Battles | Social War; Marian–Sullan conflicts |
| Relatives | Cornelia, Cinna family |
Cinna (consul 87 BC) was a leading Marian partisan and four-time consul of the late Roman Republic whose struggle with Lucius Cornelius Sulla precipitated renewed civil war and political purges. He emerged from the senatorial aristocracy to champion the cause of Gaius Marius, clash with Sulla over command in the Mithridatic War, and pursue policies that reshaped senatorial composition, provoking reprisals that culminated in his assassination and the ascendancy of Sulla. His career intersected with figures such as Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Cornelius Merula, Metellus Pius, and events including the Social War and the First Mithridatic War.
Born into the patrician Cornelii gens around 120 BC, Cinna belonged to a branch less prominent than the Scipiones or Sullae; his familial ties connected him to aristocratic networks including the Cornelii Cinnae and marriages that allied him with clients and equestrian houses. His upbringing in Rome exposed him to political patrons like Marius and enemies such as members of the optimates faction including the Metelli and Cato the Younger antecedents; education at Roman rhetorical schools placed him in circles with contemporaries like Cicero and Catulus. Cinna's early military service during the Social War and administrative roles under provincial governors acquainted him with commanders such as Pompey Strabo and senators like Quintus Sertorius.
Cinna's cursus honorum advanced through the typical magistracies; he served as quaestor and praetor before attaining the consulship, benefiting from alliances with Marius, Publius Sulpicius Rufus, and populares leaders who opposed the optimates coalition of Sulla, Metellus Pius, and Cicero allies. As a partisan of Gaius Marius, Cinna supported measures promoted by Sulpicius and policies that enfranchised Italian allies after the Lex Plautia Papiria era, thereby aligning with the veterans of the Social War and municipal leaders in Capua and Etruria. His election to the consulship in 87 BC reflected the ascendancy of the Marian faction following political maneuvers by figures like Publius Clodius Pulcher and ethnic tensions stirred by the aftermath of the Italian allies' conflict.
Cinna's consulship in 87 BC unfolded amid the crisis triggered by Sulla's return from the east and the contested command against King Mithridates VI of Pontus in the First Mithridatic War. Cinna allied with Marius and urban mobs influenced by Clodius to seize control of Rome, overturn the senatorial decree of Lucius Cornelius Merula, and execute opponents including members of the optimates such as Metellus Pius's adherents and supporters of Cicero's faction. The confrontation with Sulla combined legal contests over imperium, mass mobilization by Marian clients and veterans, and the polarizing interventions of political brokers like Publius Sulpicius Rufus, producing violent purges that echoed earlier episodes in the Social War and presaged the Sullan proscriptions.
Cinna's administration enacted measures aimed at reinforcing Marian dominance: he revised senatorial rolls by admitting large numbers of Italian enfranchised citizens and veterans tied to Marius and redistributed municipal offices in Rome and Italian towns, echoing provisions of laws like those championed by Sulpicius Rufus and earlier populist legislation. He reversed Sullan appointments and sought to secure commands in the east for Marian-aligned generals, affecting provinces overseen by figures such as Lucius Licinius Murena and complicating arrangements with Pompey Strabo and Metellus Pius. Cinna also employed extraordinary measures of urban control through alliances with figures like Clodius and coercive instruments used previously in disputes involving Gaius Gracchus and Tiberius Gracchus, altering magistracies and municipal representation to maintain political hegemony.
The partisan struggle escalated after Sulla's victory in Greece and his march on Italy, producing a sequence where Sullan forces, commanded by veterans from the Social War and officers like Pompey, confronted Marian coalitions led by Cinna, Gaius Marius the Younger, and allies across Etruria and southern Italy. Following recurring clashes, Cinna was assassinated in 84 BC by mutinous troops or political opponents amid quarrels with officers and his co-consul arrangements; his death coincided with the restoration of Sullan dominance, the flight and eventual death of Gaius Marius the Younger, and the onset of the Sullan reforms including the infamous proscriptions that targeted Marian supporters such as members of the Cinna family and urban partisans. The vacuum left by Cinna's assassination facilitated the consolidation of Sulla's control over Roman magistracies and provincial commands.
Historians from antiquity, including commentators in the tradition of Plutarch, Appian, and Livy's epitomes, portray Cinna as a pivotal yet polarizing figure whose adherence to Marian policy contributed to the breakdown of Republican norms and the cycle of reprisals culminating in Sulla's dictatorship. Modern scholars situate Cinna within debates over the failure of senatorial compromise, the politicization of military command seen also in the careers of Pompey and Julius Caesar, and the transformation of Roman political institutions preceding the First Triumvirate. His actions are weighed against those of contemporaries like Marius, Sulla, Clodius Pulcher, and Metellus Pius when assessing the erosion of senatorial authority and the precedent for later autocratic settlements by figures such as Octavian and Marcus Antonius.
Category:Ancient Roman consuls Category:Roman Republic politicians Category:Cornelii