The Age Of Cinna: Crucible Of Late Republican Rome

by Michael Lovano

The years 91-82 B.C. witnessed the reforms, factional competition, and civil strife that sowed the seeds of the RepublicAes eventual destruction. This book investigates that crucial decade in the social and political development of Rome by re-examining the career of L. Cornelius Cinna, one of the most enigmatic, tragic, yet fascinating, figures in all of Roman history; his regime odominatedo Rome from 87 to 82 B.C. This study attempts to explain how, why, and how successfully Cinna and his faction, as champions of RomeAes discontented and obstacle of RomeAes conservatives, dealt with those pressing problems that then plagued Rome. Cinna emerges as a competent military strategist and an astute politician who, through conviction and ambition, rose to head an unusual coalition. His odominatioo was no military despotism; his faction did not exercise absolute or tyrannical authority over the State. Rather, CinnaAes regime ensured political and economic stability and preserved and promoted the Roman State at a time when it surely might have collapsed. "a this work will be of particular service to cautious students looking for up-to-date guidancea" Journal of Roman Studies

188 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full Disclosure: I am a good friend of the author, with whom I endured graduate school at UCLA.

That said, this book remains a good, solid reappraisal of those final decades of the Roman Republic just prior to Julius Caesar's rise to power. It's definitely not for the general reader - it's my friend's PhD thesis and, thus, assumes a knowledge of late Republican history and languages both ancient and modern that would daunt all but the specialist.