Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (c. 138 BC - 78 BC). Roman general and statesman. He won the first major civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla held the office of consul twice and revived the dictatorship. A gifted general, he achieved successes in wars against foreign and domestic opponents. Sulla rose to prominence during the war against the Numidian king Jugurtha, whom he captured as a result of Jugurtha's betrayal by the king's allies, although his superior Gaius Marius took credit for ending the war. He then fought successfully against Germanic tribes during the Cimbrian War, and Italian allies during the Social War. He was awarded the Grass Crown for his bravery at the Battle of Nola. Sulla was closely associated with Venus, adopting the title Epaphroditos meaning favoured of Aphrodite/Venus.
Sulla revived the office of dictator, which had been dormant since the Second Punic War, over a century before. He used his powers to purge his opponents, and reform Roman constitutional laws, to restore the primacy of the Senate and limit the power of the tribunes of the plebs. Resigning his dictatorship in 79 BC, Sulla retired to private life and died the following year. Later political leaders such as Julius Caesar followed the precedent set by Sulla with his military coup to attain political power through force.
The cognomen of his ancestors was Rufinus, probably referring to red hair. Sulla's great-grandfather was the first to change the cognomen into Sulla, which, according to scholars, comes from suilla (pork), a reference to the pale skin and freckles of the members of the family.
"Sulla was red-blond, blue-eyed, and had a dead-white face covered with red marks. Plutarch, the ancient historian, notes that Sulla considered that "his golden head of hair gave him a singular appearance".https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla
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