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Tiberius Gracachus Traditions

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I believe that perhaps something more powerful than law, is tradition and I don’t necessarily say this as if it is a good thing. Tiberius Gracchus’ story more or less seems to prove this statement. After the second Punic War, there was severe collateral damage that arose tremendous economic and social problems in Rome. The countryside was utterly destroyed and farms were found in horrible conditions. Hence, many people chose to sell their lands to the newly rich. These people were in majority veterans of war that were now landless and moving into the cities with their families to find a job. However, the scene in the cities was more distressing, because many jobs were already taken by slaves who provided extremely cheap labor. Their last hope …show more content…

He pursued a land reform for the eligibility of more people to serve in the military if they were land owners. He tried to revive an old principle which said that excess public land held by citizens should be returned. His idea did not have a complete support in the Senate but did not give way for absolute rejection either. Now, Tiberius, as practically all famous people had different types of popularity. To some, he was a renowned reformer sincerely seeking the good of the poor, but to others, he was an ambitious politician whose disrespect for Roman tradition was a perilous indication of urge to flatter the people and become very powerful. Why and how exactly did he violate tradition? Well, their is a wide range of possibility that Tiberius was seeking the good of his fellow citizens for the mere reason that he said it was not righteous for a wild beast in Italy to have shelter and for a man who fought for Italy to be roaming around the land with his family and without a place to lay his head. Therefore, he desired to distribute land to these veterans. The manner in which he fought for this to be accomplished might also hint at his …show more content…

Not willing to give up, Tiberius then asked for the resignation of Octavius and held a vote of the Assembly to remove him as tribune. 35 people voted and when 17 were in favor of his removal and only one vote was needed to decide, Tiberius halted the voting and pleaded Octavius to withstand from his position to prevent dishonor upon himself as he was cast out in this way. After a moment of silence, Octavius yielded and removed his veto. Asking for the resignation of Octavius violated the tradition of collegiality (companionship in government) in

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The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, had intentions of making Rome the best it could be, which contradicted the visions of the Senators. The two brothers grew up during a tough time in the Roman Empire, but they took it upon themselves to make a difference. “The Empire went through tremendous growth, through both acquisition of land, slaves, and various citizen classes.” This drastic growth ultimately led to a fall in the Roman political system. Tiberius, the older brother, founded the idea of the agrarian laws, which was later continued by his younger brother, Gaius, after his death.

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Tiberius built on this trust with the plebs, and told them he could get their land back, and that he wanted to help. This is prompted him to become tribune. After achieving this status, he chose to identify one of Rome's biggest problems, the distribution of land. He claimed that the upper class had too much and the lower class had too little. Therefore he proposed a new law to be passed.

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Following both a tradition of emphasizing lineage and a preservation of family, Tiberius would take great time and care to both preserve the legacy of Augustus, and his connection to Augustus through his mother Livia. This particular coin shows this motivation. On the obverse, with consultation of the Senate (S.C.), Tiberius claims the titles of Caesar (CAESAR), which represents the physical inheritance of the emperor, Augustus (AVGVST), the title of emperor first taken by Octavian, Pontimus Maximus (PM), the chief priest of the roman state, and Tribunica Potestas (TR POT), which is a title left over from the

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Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, better known as the ‘Gracchi Brothers’ were a pair of tribunes descending from the plebs from the 2nd century BCE who sought to introduce land reforms and other legislations that aligned with their populist views/ideas. It can be said that the career of the two brothers was marked by murder, riots and outright manipulation of the power they were granted which completely altered the state of Roman politics- aiding in the breakdown of the Roman Republic. The legislation they sought to pass essentially redistributed major aristocratic land ownership among the commoners such as the urban poor and veterans. After achieving little success during the early stages of the reforms, both were assassinated by enemy parties.

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For example, a bill introduced by Tiberius was without consultation with the Senate, which “was not illegal, but it violated a custom of long standing.” Furthermore, upon receiving a veto by fellow tribune Marcus Octavius, Tiberius had him removed from office with his power, which was unconstitutional. Such actions on his behalf led the Senate to fear his growing alleged tyrant power which eventually led to a revolt in which Tiberius and many of his followers were killed. Similarly, Gaius Gracchus was killed along with his supporters by his political foes as a result of his agrarian reforms that were accumulating a massive public following. These events portray one of the biggest aspects of the Gracchi legacy, which was violence as a means of political resolution.

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