What significant event happend in 31 bc in ancient Rome?

Answer 1

Three things happened in 88 B.C. 1) The end of the social War 2) The massacre of the Romans & Italics in Asia (the Asiatic Vespers) which led to both the First Mithridatic War and the First Marian-Sullan Civil War 3) The start of the First Marian-Sullan Civil War

1) 88 B.C. was the final year of the Social War also called, the War of the Allies, the Marsic War or the Italian War (90-88 B.C.) This was a rebellion by Rome's Italic allies. Several of the peoples of central and southern Italy had been allies of Rome for several centuries. The provided Rome with soldiers who fought as auxiliaries who supported the Roman legions at their expense in exchange for a hare of the spoils of war and protection. They were the Marsi, Paeligni, Vestini, Marrucini, Frentani, Picentes, Samnites and Lucanians. The Campanian city of Pomeii (near Naples) and Venusia (a Latin colony in Lucania) also joined the rebellion. Historians called it social war because the allies were called socii. More recently the alternative names War of the Allies Italian War have also been in use.

The Italian allies had been demanded to be granted Roman citizenship. War broke out when Marcus Livius Drusus, a plebeian tribune murdered in 91 BC. Drusus had proposed a bill which would grant citizenship rights to the Italic allies. The allies revolted and planned to create an independent confederation called Italia, with Corfinium (the main town of the Paeligni) as its capital, which was to be renamed Italica. They also minted their own coins. This was a serious challenge to Rome because the allies had fought in Rome's wars and were battle-hardened. Moreover, as they fought as auxiliary troop which supported the Roman legions, they used the same equipment as the Romans and knew the Roman military tactics very well. Nevertheless Rome won this war.

2) In 89 B.C. the First Mithridatic War started. This was the first of a series of three wars between Rome and Mithridates V, the king of Pontus (in north-eastern Turkey). Mithridates wanted to expand his kingdom. This would have had to come at the expense of Rome's allies in the area. Tension between Rome and Pontus had been escalating and both sides were preparing for war. Mithridates provoked Rome by invading Cappadocia, a Roman ally. War broke out and Mithridates invaded Bithynia (in north-western Turkey), another ally of Rome. He was advised by Metrodoros, a prominent Greek philosopher who hated the Romans, to exterminate all the Roman in the Roman province of Asia (in western Turkey) in order to secure the support of the native inhabitants of the province for Pontus. Mithridates carried out a careful massacre designed to catch the victims by surprise in all the towns in the province at the same time. According to Appian, 80,000 Romans and Italics were killed. According to Plutarch the figure was 150,000. The exact date of the massacre is disputed among historians. One writer places it in late 89 B.C-early 88 B.C. Another places it in early to mid-88 B.C. Mithridates took over Asia and sent Archelaus, one of his generals, to Greece with a large fleet and army. He seized Piraeus, Athens' port and after a three day fight with the Roman contingent in Greece and then took Athens. He installed Aristion, a philosopher who was Athens' ambassador at the court of Mithridates, as tyrant of Athens.

In 87 B.C Sulla and five legions landed in western Greece and marched on Athens. They got the allegiance of the Greek city of Thebes and the cities of the Peloponnese (the peninsula in the south of Greece). They besieged Athens, seized it by March 1, 86 B.C. and then destroyed Piraeus, its main port. .Archelaus landed in Boeotia and was defeated at the Battle of Chaeronea in 86 B.C. He was defeated again at the Battle of Orchomenus in 85 B.C.

2) The First Marian-Sullan Civil war occurred between 88 B.C. and 87 B.C. It was fought between Marius and Sulla. Marius was the leading genial of the time and was the man who defeated the Cimbri and Teutones, who had routed the Roman armies twice and threatened to invade Italy. He was elected as consul an unprecedented six times and was a hero in Rome. He expected that he would be given the command of the First Mithridatic War which was sparked by the Asiatic Vespers (see below). Instead, Sulla was elected consul and was given the command for this war. Marius tried to overturn this and have himself appointed as the command. Sulla rejected this and used the troops he was assigned to march on Rome and start a civil war against Marius.

Answer 2

Octavian defeated Mark Antony in a great sea battle and gained control over all of the Roman Empire.

Answer 3

Julius Caesar defeats Pompey