Editing Proscription (section)

=== Origin ===
Proscriptions (Latin ''proscriptio'', plural ''proscriptiones'') initially meant public advertisements or notices signifying property or goods for sale.

During the dictatorial reign of [[Sulla]], the word took on a more sinister meaning. In 82 or 81 BC, Sulla instituted the process of proscription in order to purge the state of those supporters of his populist rivals, [[Gaius Marius]] and [[Gaius Marius the Younger|his son]]. He instituted a notice for the sale of confiscated property belonging to those declared public enemies of the state (some modern historians estimate about 520 people were proscribed as opposed to the ancient estimate of 4,700 people) and condemned to death those proscribed, called ''proscripti'' in Latin.