The Civil Wars In Tiberius Gracchus's Life

Something big that was going on during Tiberius Gracchus’s life was the separation of rich and poor, and we can see that continuing into the civil wars, as described by Appian. Appian not only described the civil wars in great detail, but he also wrote about how intense it was, and how violent people were at the time. He also mentions dictators and leaders at the time. Not only did the civil wars ruin and end the lives of many innocent people, but they also caused an even greater divide between the rich and the poor. As I mentioned before, Appian went into great detail describing the civil wars that were going on at the time. The first sentence that Appian wrote in The Civil Wars Book II Introduction Part Two set the scene for the rest of

Marius was part of the Populist party, which meant he supported the poor, and believed in military reform and had a professional army made out of citizens who got land for fighting, which is what encouraged many men to be apart of his army (Tristano). In addition to having a great army and great weaponry, he also had a vicious rivalry with Sulla (Tristano). Sulla on the other hand was part of the Aristocratic party, meaning he supported the government, who had Marius’s tribune killed (Tristano). By doing so, and just by having this split in general, worsened the divide between the poor and the

Baker wrote (about Pompey), “He was, above all, an extraordinary soldier. Ambitious, daring and famed for the mane of his blond hair, he was called Magnus by his own soldiers” (Baker, 107). By that, we can see that although he was a great soldier, he let the power get to him. He was a part of the Modest family, and was an officer to Sulla (Tristano). On the other hand, Caesar was a part of the Aristocratic family and was Marius’s nephew (Tristano). They go to war in the Battle of Pharsalus, when Pompey’s army surrendered to Caesar, after that Pompey is assassinated (Tristano). That continues the trend of violence, and also is the way Caesar becomes dictator. Another two generals that had a similar relationship to Pompey and Caesar were Mark Antony and Octavian. They were both men of Caesar, Antony being his great nephew and Octavian being his right-hand man in the army (Tristano). They decide that after Caesar is assassinated that they should not only hunt down the killer, but also split the empire among them two (Tristano). Although it might have sounded like a good idea, we know that sharing power has not worked out in the past. With that in mind, there was the Battle of Actium, which resulted in Mark Antony and Cleopatra being defeated and Octavian, Augustus, becoming the sole ruler (Tristano). Appian also mentions Cleopatra’s involvement, “...for Egypt was seized in consequence this