Sulla’s Example: Remembering a Dictator in the Late Republic and Beyond

This article analyses the legacy of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla from the earliest relevant evidence (81 BC) to the fifth century AD. It was dominated by four strands of memory concerning his power, the proscriptions, the stability he provided, and his personal stature. These strands collectively formed an ambivalent legacy that has been obscured by the schematism of previous work. In particular, Umberto Laffi’s influential ‘myth of Sulla’, according to which the dictator was remembered as a straightforwardly negative example under the Principate, misrepresents the evidence. By restoring the ambivalence of Sulla’s memory, this article opens up the potential for a new discussion about how and why Sulla’s extraordinary power and harrowing violence could be rationalised by the Romans.