Publius Cornelius Sulla was a Roman commander and politician during the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

. He was the great-grandfather of

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had t ...

, who would become the dictator of Rome. His father was

Flamen Dialis In ancient Roman religion, the was the high priest of Jupiter. The term ''Dialis'' is related to ''Diespiter'', an Old Latin form of the name ''Jupiter''. There were 15 '' flamines'', of whom three were ''flamines maiores'', serving the thre ...

between c. 270 and c. 250 BC, and his grandfather was

Publius Cornelius Rufinus Publius Cornelius Rufinus was a dictator during the Roman Republic. Rufinus belonged to the famous patrician gens Cornelia, as well as being the earliest recorded member of the branch of the family, the gens Cornelii Rufinii et Sullae. He was a ...

, who served twice as consul during the

Samnite Wars The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe. ...

. Publius was elected

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 ...

urbanus with the additional jurisdiction of the praetor peregrinus in 212 BC. He presided over the first ''

ludi Apollinares The ''Ludi Apollinares'' were solemn games (''ludi'') held annually by the ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of th ...

'', thereby instituting an annual Roman festival in honour of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

. He was also Decemvir Sacris Facundis.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 268, 271 (note 1).

References

Bibliography

* T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association, 1952–1986. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius Sulla, Publius 3rd-century BC Romans Roman Republican praetors Cornelii Sullae 3rd-century BC clergy Roman patricians