Marcus Marius was the younger brother of the

Gaius Marius Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 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 refor ...

who was consul seven times. Marcus was a few years younger than Gaius Marius, hailing from the same relatively wealthy equestrian family. During his brother's series of successive consulships between 104 and 100 BC, Marcus was elected as

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

, probably for 102 BC. He served his praetorship and a following year as

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

in Spain, probably Hispania Ulterior like his brother a decade before him. During his time there, he campaigned against Lusitanian tribes with the support of the

Celtiberians The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BCE. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strab ...

and founded a city. It is also possible that his term in Spain was not prorogued if he was instead elected for 101 BC, though this is less likely. His elder brother may have manipulated the sortition of the highly sought-after province in anticipation of a possible consular campaign. Marcus, however, never attained the consulship, as he likely died in the 90s BC. Marcus adopted a member of the Gratidii later named

Marcus Marius Gratidianus Marcus Marius Gratidianus (c. 125 – 82 BC) was a Roman praetor, and a partisan of the political faction known as the populares, led by his uncle, Gaius Marius, during the civil war between the followers of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. As ...

. The Gratidii were a wealthy and influential family in the city of

Arpinum Arpino ( Southern Latian dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Frosinone, in the Latin Valley, region of Lazio in central Italy, about 100 km SE of Rome. Its Roman name was Arpinum. The town produced two consuls of the ...

, from which both they, the Marii, and the Tullii Cicerones hailed. Gratidianus was elected praetor twice in the 80s BC (most probably 85 and 82) and was killed during

Sulla's civil war Sulla's civil war was fought between the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his opponents, the Cinna-Marius faction (usually called the Marians or the Cinnans after their former leaders Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna), in the ye ...

shortly after the

Battle of the Colline Gate The Battle of the Colline Gate, fought on 1 November 82 BC, was the decisive battle of the civil war between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the Marians, notably led by Carrinas and Damasippus. A large part of the Marians' forces were made of Ital ...

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marius, Marcus 2nd-century BC Romans Ancient Roman generals Ancient Roman politicians

Marcus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

People of the Cimbrian War Roman Republican praetors Senators of the Roman Republic