Power struggles between Populares and Optimates during the reign of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (107-80 BC)

Populares and optimates, which emerged as two political groups advocating opposing views in the last quarter of the 2nd century BCE, took their places on the stage of history as actors who deeply affected the fate of the res publica with their activities. These two groups, which started their activities during the Gracchus brothers period and became staff in the state over time, fought against each other more radically as the process progressed, as a matter of fact, this situation drew the res publica into civil wars one after another. All these elements also became one of the important milestones in the transition of the Roman Republic to the empire. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was one of the leading statesmen and commanders of the late republican period. After many diplomatic and military successes, he found himself at the center of the struggle between populares and optimates, and in time, he became the most important representative of optimates. In the following periods, the conflicts between populares and optimates increased and this situation led to civil wars. At the end of this process, while Sulla, who provided absolute control in Rome, was declared as a dictātor, while he also established a regime with the power of this office and implemented many reforms that would move the populares away from Roman politics. However, the system that Sulla built gradually weakened due to many factors, and thus populares it found a starting point in the politics of res publica once again. The main problem of this study is how the struggle of populares and optimates, which took place from the moment Sulla entered Roman politics to the period when he was declared dictātor and established a regime, affected the next process, including the transition of the res publica to the empire, beyond affecting the dynamics in its own period. In this direction, it is aimed to explain how the activities of Sulla and his opponents carried the conflict between populares and optimates, which were identified with the Gracchus brothers period, to a different dimension.