Possibly one of the biggest mistakes of the Roman Republic was that they tried to govern an Empire with the same legislation they had used for a city state. With an increase in population but a decrease in eligible military soldiers, the Republican power began to weaken. This was particularly evident with during the tribuneship of the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus.

The wealthy aristocratic class controlled the majority of the state-owned land leaving nothing for the common farmers to live off. When this happened the rural poor moved into Rome and became the urban poor, with no money and no skills for employment. Whether for self interest or because he actually cared, when elected to the tribuneship of the people in 133 B.C, Tiberius tried to give the farmers back their land. He proposed new legislation which limited the amount of state-owned land one family could rent from the government to 750 ha. Then Tiberius proposed to give the returned land to the poor farmers, changing it from state-owned to private-owned land. However, in order to soothe the aristocratic population he planned to buy the extra land from them at the fair market price. The money to do so, he decided, would come from the bequest of Attalusll of Pergamum who had just died leaving his kingdom and wealth to Rome.

Although Tiberius planned to pay the aristocratic population for the land they didn’t own but were only renting, they were not pleased. To stop the people voting on his legislation, Marcus Octavius, that year’s other tribune, tried to suspend all public business. Tiberius took no notice, sacked Octavius, and continued to bring his proposal forward however Tiberius’ third cousin Publius Cornelius Scripio Nasic and his supporters had other ideas. They rioted in the assembly and managed to kill Tiberius by beating him to death with the leg of a stool. (Although death by the sword would have been more romantic, weapons were not permitted within the Senate house and the rioters had to improvise.)

Ten years later, Gaius had his turn. He followed in his brother’s footsteps and ran for the tribuneship at the earliest possible age–30 years. His first move was to introduce capital punishment for any man who executed a citizen without trial, this was of course aimed at his brother’s killers. He then ran for a second tribuneship. This had never happened before–it was not against the law, but no one previously had wanted to stay so low on the ladder of office for longer than they needed to.

Once he had secured his second tribuneship, Gaius founded the new colony of Junonia in Africa to increase the amount of farmland. Gaius left Rome in 122 B.C. to oversee the foundation of Junonia and it was then that he declared his candidacy for a third consecutive tribunate. The Senators panicked and because Gaius was away from the public eye, he lost much of his support. On his return to Rome in early 121 B.C. Gaius and his remaining supporters were rounded up on Aventine Hill and massacred. It seems that the Republican senate were too set in their old ways to allow this radical land redistribution scheme to succeed.

About the Author
Charlotte Gardner, a guest blog writer, is currently studying archaeology at the Australian National University. In her spare time she likes to read and write about eccentric historical moments. Her love of old buildings and older stories was sparked when she visited Italy. One of Charlotte’s greatest wishes is that in a few thousand years her skeleton will be dug up by an archaeological investigation team and put on display in a national museum. You may contact Charlotte via email at: charlotteg86@gmail.com.

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Tags: 121 B.C., 122 B.C., 133 B.C., Ancient Rome Store, Attalusll of Pergamum, Aventine Hill, Death of Tiberius Gracchus, foundation of Junonia, Gladiator Arena Helmet, Gladiator Thracian Helmet, Gladiator Thraex Helmet, Hoplomarchus Gladiator Helmet, Marcus Octavius, Publius Cornelius Scripio Nasic, Roman Republic, Tribuneship of Gaius Gracchus, Tribuneship of Tiberius Gracchus