The gracchus brothrs

Overview

•The period of Roman Republic, from 509 to 27 BC,

witnessed Rome's growth from city-state to superpower of

the ancient Mediterranean world.

• By the middle of the second century BC, Rome had

established colonies in Africa and Greece as well as

throughout the Italian Peninsula.

Con’td•However, growth also produced social tensions and conflict, as the privileged

and poor struggled to come to terms with changes brought about by Rome's

increasing power, wealth, and prestige.

•Two brothers of the patrician class, Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus,

known as the Gracchi, attempted to institute reforms aimed at closing the gap

between rich and poor, between the powerful and disenfranchised.

•Their efforts met with some success but at great cost. Both brothers were

killed during violent clashes, and the social strife they hoped to remedy

ultimately led Rome toward civil war.

• The Rise and Fallhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wODHnZ77iE&list=PLjm6SfO6-6WjjU_xYqMLeujjUPViCTwMj

Growing Gap between Rich and Poor

•Much of the early republic's military success depended on

citizen-soldiers, mostly peasant farmers who fought for Rome

when needed and then returned home to work their land.

• End of Punic Wars, thousands of conquered people were brought

back to Rome to work as slaves on large estates, owned by

wealthy aristocratic families.

• Soldiers, who had been required to leave their lands to fight in

the wars, returned home to discover that they could not

compete with the larger holdings worked by slave labor.

•Also, much of the farmland had been devastated in the fighting.

Con’td

Imported grain from Rome's colonies lowered the price farmers could get for

domestically grown grain, forcing many small landowners to sell their property to

those who owned the large estates.

Former peasant farmers moved to cities—Rome in particular—where they

eventually became a large class of unemployed, urban poor.

Tiberius

Gracchus

Tiberius Gracchus Struggles

to Implement Land Reform

• Roman aristocrats =land ownership was

most socially acceptable and prestigious

form of wealth

• After some political maneuvering, however,

the land reform bill was passed.

Unfortunately for Tiberius, he had made

numerous enemies in the process.

• When Tiberius decided to break with

convention and stand for reelection, his

enemies became further enraged. After one

particularly fractious meeting, several

senators left the Roman Senate in anger.

Shortly thereafter, a riot broke out in the

Roman Forum, and Tiberius was clubbed

to death, apparently by a mob organized by

his enemies in the Senate.

Sympathizing with the peasant farmers

Tiberius began calling for land reform.

Plan = redistribute public land, which

had been taken over by Roman

aristocrats, and divide it evenly among

landless laborers, who would then also

serve in the Roman Army.

In 133 BC, was appointed tribune, and

he set about drafting his bill.

He enjoyed public support but met with

powerful resistance from many senators

and members of the wealthy elite.

Videp Cliphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8SaB7O2JRM (Murder of Tiberius Gracchus - Ancient Rome – BBC)

Gaius

Gracchus

Gaius Gracchus Pushes for

Further Reforms

• Gaius' most controversial plan was to grant

Roman citizenship to the Latin's, native people

of Italy who never had enjoyed the rights of

citizens.

• Minimal support for this reform, despite the fact

that the Latin's had long been loyal allies,

fighting alongside Roman soldiers during the

wars that had brought riches and glory to Rome.

• Senate took the opportunity in 121 BCE to pass

a law that would stop the colonization of

Carthage, which Gaius had supported.

• In protest, Gaius and his followers organized a

demonstration. The Senate responded by

issuing a decree that, in effect, declared Gaius

an enemy of the state and sanctioned the use

of armed force against him. That action led to

the murder of thousands of supporters of Gaius

on Aventine Hill. Gaius died when he ordered his

servant to kill him with his own knife suicide?

Tiberius' younger brother Gaius became

tribune in 123 BCE and continued to push for

reforms aimed at improving the lives of

peasant farmers, the urban poor, and common

foot soldiers.

Gaius was a skillful politician and a powerful

speaker who was able to garner support for a

number of measures, including programs for

storing surplus grain for distribution to the poor,

supplying clothing for soldiers, and reforming

the judiciary. Just as his brother had done,

Gaius incurred the enmity of several powerful

members of the Senate, who felt threatened

that their power and authority were being

undermined.

Let’s see this in animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmiAl374b0Q

Aftermath

•The Gracchi recognized the dangers to the Roman Republic that were

posed by the concentration of wealth, land, and power into the hands of a

few.

•Their attempts to remedy the situation through the democratic programs

were bitterly opposed by the Senate.

• In the years that followed the deaths of the Gracchi, the ruling classes

continued to focus their attention on increasing their wealth and power,

which served only to increase growing social tensions.

•This paved the way for the eventually dictatorship and Empire of Rome.

Youtube hmwk!

•Watch “Rome - The Rise and Fall of an Empire - Part IV – Tiberius” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La5aqJZqkrE

•40:06 min.