Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius (/ˈɡeɪəs ˈmɛəriəs, ˈmær-/, Latin pronunciation: [ˈɡajjʊs ˈmarɪ.ʊs]; 157 BC – January 13, 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important reforms of Roman armies. He was at the centre of a paradigmatic shift from the militia levies of the middle Republic to the professional soldiery of the late Republic; he also improved the pilum, a javelin (after improvement) designed to bend on impact, and large-scale changes to the logistical structure of the Roman army.

For his victory over invading Germanic tribes in the Cimbrian War, he was dubbed “the third founder of Rome”. His life and career, by breaking with many of the precedents that bound the ambitious upper class of the Roman Republic together and instituting a soldiery loyal not to the Republic but to their commanders, was highly significant in Rome’s transformation from Republic to Empire.