By Nic Fields
ISBN: 978-1472854919
Osprey Campaign (2023) - £16.99
The latest ancient-themed Campaign title (393) covers the wars of Caius Marius against the Cimbri and Teutones, with illustrations by Johnny Shumate. Off the bat, the sub-title ‘the Rise of Caius Marius’ seems misplaced - Marius had already risen. Caius Marius, a from Arpinum, was born in 157 BC and gained his first consulship in 107 BC and then (somewhat unexpectedly) brought the Jugurthine War to a close (114), that Marius was regarded as the sole hope of Rome in 105 BC. He was declared consul (his second in only three years) even though he was absent from the city, granted a triumph for his victory over Jugurtha, given Gaul as a province. The Cimbrian War was, therefore, rather the of Caius Marius; a war during which he held multiple and successive consulships from 104-100 BC - an unheard of and unprecedented honour. What is more, he brought the war to a successful conclusion at the battles of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC (against the Teutones) and Vercellae in 101 against the Cimbri.
