AI Summary
5 min readBy 113 BC, terrifying reports were reaching Rome. The Greek historian Plutarch described an immense migration of barbarians—the Teutons and the Cimbri—numbering three hundred thousand warriors, accompanied by even larger numbers of women and children. They were moving south from Jutland, and the Romans had no idea who they were or what they wanted. The hosts of The Rest Is History frame this as a kind of proto-Viking invasion, an existential threat hurtling toward the Republic like an asteroid. The man chosen to meet this threat was Gaius Marius, a brilliant soldier and political operator from a provincial town, who would become the dominant figure of his age and set Rome on a path toward civil war and the end of the Republic.
A Republic Under Strain
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What you'll learn
- 1 Roman Civil War: Rise of the General (Part 1)
- 2 (03:02) **The Apocalyptic Threat Arrives** - Plutarch's description of the Teutons and Cimbri, a massive barbarian migration approaching Roman Italy by 113 BC
- 3 (05:49) **Introducing the Central Figure** - Gaius Marius, the self-made man from a provincial town who will become Rome's dominant figure
- 4 (08:59) **Class Divisions and the Two Rivals** - The archetypal contrast between Marius and Sulla, and what it reveals about Roman society
- 5 (11:03) **Rome's New Empire and Moral Anxiety** - The geopolitical situation after Rome's destruction of Carthage and Corinth in 146 BC
- 6 (16:54) **The Corruption of Wealth** - How the influx of Eastern riches destabilized Roman society
- 7 (19:27) **Marius's Humble Origins** - Born in 157 BC in Arpinum, about 80 miles from Rome
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Who was Gaius Marius, one of the two men who would shape the fate of Rome in the first century BC? Why was his road to fame, fortune, and political greatness, from total obscurity, so dangerous? And, would Marius be the man to face down the existential threat facing the empire during this period?
Join Tom and Dominic as they launch into one of the greatest struggles in the history of Rome, as two titanic generals and politicians clash over hegemony of the empire, in an age of tumult.
*The Rest Is History LIVE: The Ultimate Victorian Adventure*
The maddest expedition in history and it’s NEVER been heard before on the show: join Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook LIVE at the Southbank as they tell the bonkers story of Queen Victoria ordering one of history’s most daring assignments ever. Tickets available for Friday 4th September, the Saturday show is SOLD OUT.
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Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Video Editors: Jack Meek, Harry Swan + Adam Thornton
Social Producer: Harry Balden
Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude
Senior Producer: Callum Hill
Executive Producer: Dom Johnson
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