2100 years have passed since 82 BC Lucio Cornelio Sill a published the Banned Lists , that is the lists in which the names of Roman citizens were inserted, mostly political opponents of the then Roman Dictator, with which those Roman citizens declared themselves "hostes publici" or enemies of Rome and of all her citizens.
The men included in the proscription lists were deprived of their political and civil rights, they were relieved of their public offices, their assets and their belongings were conquered and became the property of Rome.
But were the names on that list really a threat to Rome or were they only a threat to Silla?
To understand this, it is necessary to contextualize the incident, the Proscription lists were published in 82 BC. shortly after the appointment of Silla as Roman Dictator, an extraordinary magistracy lasting 6 months, which conferred exceptional powers, superior to those of the Roman Senate and Consuls. In short, a position that gave absolute power over Rome for a limited period of time.
Before being appointed Dictator, Silla had repeatedly held the position of Praetor in 97, owner in 96 and consul in 1988. Between 91 and 88 Rome had been crossed by the phenomenon of social wars, a prelude to what would be the subsequent civil wars and if on the political level the social wars officially ended in 88 with the election of Silla to the Consulate, in practical terms, intolerance continued to exist and several uprisings also manifested themselves in the following years, constituting the causus belli for the civil war of 83, a civil war that Rome would try to stop by appointing Silla Dictator.
Among the various elements that make up the causus belli for civil wars there are several episodes that progressively shifted tensions from the political to the military.
In 1987, thanks to the support of the legions loyal to him, Silla was able to remove the Marians from Rome and obtained the military command for the war against Mithridates, and subsequently managed to obtain the military command for operations in Asia Minor. With Silla involved in the field, far from Rome, the political current of the populares, led by Gaio Mario , Silla's main political opponent, managed to take control of Rome, at least until Silla's return.
Without going too far into the events of the civil war between Silla and Gaio Mario, which we talked about in a video posted on youtube, the episodes of the civil war, in particular the episodes of '87 and '82 (in full civil war ) , were the point of origin that prompted Silla to draw up the ban lists, not surprisingly, the names on the lists all belonged, without exception, to men who had been involved precisely in the episodes of '87 and '82.
Silla then used the extraordinary powers deriving from the dictatorship to purge Rome of its rivals and its political opponents in order to consolidate and maintain power for as long as possible.
Silla had obtained the dictatorship following the victory of Porta Collina of November 82 BC, since, on that occasion the Roman Senate had remained on the sidelines, not intervening to prevent further disturbances, for his part Silla, thanks to the legions loyal to him, decided to intervene autonomously and to personally deal with the situation by re-establishing the order in Rome.
After the triumph of Silla's men at Porta Callina, Silla convened the Senate in the temple of Bellona , located outside the pomerium south of the Campo Marzio . There he asked the Senate to be recognized Proconsul and consequently that he be recognized the authority to be able to exercise military power, subsequently this power would be greatly expanded with the appointment of Silla to the post of dictator.
While Silla was explaining to the senate his strategy to end the civil war and restore peace to Rome and the Italian peninsula, his men executed the prisoners of the won army in the public villa not far from the temple of Bellona.
At the end of the assembly Silla had the auctioneer proclaim the praeco , an edict that was subsequently posted in the forum and in all places designated for public posting of edicts of the magistrates, throughout the Italian peninsula.
Along with this edict, Silla also had three lists of names posted, in which all the names of the inhabitants of Etruria and Sannio of any importance were included. Both regions had opposed Silla during the clashes and for this they were severely punished, after all Silla himself, at the assembly with the Senate he had declared that he would not grant forgiveness to any of those who had opposed him during the war.
The fate of the Etruria was very hard, all the lands of the most important families were confiscated, but in Sannio the repression was even greater as it proceeded with the elimination of all the exponents of the most eminent families of the region in order to avoid the birth of new political opponents.
Once Etruria and Sannio had been purged and all prisoners eliminated, Silla's thirst for blood and revenge was still far from being satisfied and to definitively complete the elimination of his opponents, the Proscription lists were published.
The first list included 80 names of members of the senatorial class, of the Marian side, magistrates or former magistrates. Subsequently two other lists were published, both containing 220 names of members of senatorial families and knights, for a total of 520 names of magistrates, former magistrates, senators and knights, divided into three lists and guilty of opposing Silla.
Sources:
E.Gabba, Introduction to the history of Rome
E.Lo Cascio, Roman History, anthology of the sources