Roman Empire

The Roman Empire, at its height was the most extensive political and social structure in western Civilization.  The empire grew too vast to be ruled from the central government at Rome so it was divided by Emperor Diocletian into a Western and an Eastern Empire. The Roman Empire began when Augustus Caesar became the first emperor of Rome. Augustus was the beginning of the time called the Principate period, which is characterized as a time where rulers of the new monarchy tried their best to preserve aspects of the Roman Republic. Augustus was a perfect example of this. He did his best to keep all conservative forms of government and keep most political shapes intact. Augustus’s sole purpose was to wipe out the hatred and confusion that was caused by the civil war. He proved that he was a strong politician throughout his gaining of power, and his rule proved that he was a very successful statesman. Augustus wanted to restore power back to the Roman senate in his new reforms. Obviously enough, being the first emperor of a very new type of monarchy for Rome, Augustus took on several new titles that provided him with extreme power.

 Augustus made many important reforms in the beginning of his rule, having to do with both noble and popular causes. He brought back a strong sense of dignity and nobility by decreasing the amount of people on the senate, as well as taking away some provincial powers. Augustus did not deem the populous responsible for making major political decisions, and took away a lot of power from the assemblies of the people  He did not change much about the cursus and he saw the current republic magistrates as a special, executive position. Augustus also decreased the Roman army from fifty legions to only twenty and spread them throughout the provinces so the Roman army was less of a burden on the people of Rome. Finally, he introduced the “praetorian guard”, a system of protection used for inside of Italy. Augustus’ goal during his reign was to make Rome as organized as possible. He separated the Roman city into fourteen wards or districts, and put in place special forces to enforce law and order throughout the city. He hoped that the introduction of these police forces to Roman society will decrease the extreme violence that had been seen in recent years. Augustus could be seen as one of the most economically smart rulers in his time. With the help of an organized approach and a sharp mind, Augustus was able to successfully create a very strong and powerful Rome.

However, Rome’s citizens were divided between the poor and rich. Due to the expanding nature of the empire, many aristocratic families were becoming richer. As Rome’s riches grew, so did the aristocracy’s wealth. These families became known as the Optimates, and they wouldn’t change anything about the government from its current form. Luckily for the plebeians, not all aristocrats were in favor of a total elitist driven Senate. The Populares heard the voice of the common man and used the large numbers of their supporters to give the poor a chance to be heard. However, it must be noted that not all of the plebeians were poor

The Gracchi brothers were plebeians, their names were Tiberius and Gaius, and both populares came from a prestigious aristocratic family. They were the sons of Sempronius Gracchus and Cornelia, who was the daughter of Scipio Africanus, the famous general who defeated Hannibal. Hannibal was the commander of the Carthaginian army heled an attack on Saguntum, an independent city allied with Rome, which sparked the outbreak of the Second Punic War. He then marched his massive army across the Pyrenees and Alps into central Italy. After a string of victories, the most notable coming at Cannae, Hannibal had gained great position in southern Italy, but decided not  to mount an attack on Rome itself. The Romans retaliated, however, driving the Carthaginians out of Spain and launching an invasion of North Africa. Hannibal abandoned the struggle in Italy to defend North Africa, and he suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Publius Cornelius Scipio at Zama the following year. This treaty concluded the second Punic war putting an end to Carthage’s status as an imperial power.

With such a background to live up to Tiberius would normally be destined to take his place with the ruling aristocracy and hold high office in the state. But instead he broke from the norm and became the most celebrated leader of the plebeians. Tiberius Gracchus was destined to launch himself on a course that would destroy the social and political equilibrium of the Republic. Even though Tiberius was the first to break the chains of the old ways the two brothers had very similar goals. They both wanted to give the common man their rights. They saw that very little land was in the possession of the plebian population. So they sought to counter this by a series of land reforms. Known as the Gracchi land reform the older brother, Tiberius, knew that the poor were suffering, So he decided to act on it, although he was mocked and tested by many of his aristocratic peers, Tiberius insisted that his intentions were pure. Many believed that Tiberius was making land reforms in favor of the peasants so he could advance his own career. Tiberius however countered  this by saying land reforms would essentially aid the Roman military by protecting the peasant farmer class. Tiberius first noticed the real importance of slaves when he traveled in Italy’s countryside and saw that the only way large estates could really function was by slaves. He understood the necessity of the lower class and wanted to help them because they played such a crucial part in the operation of Roman society.

Tiberius believed that the plebian population deserved more land for what they did for Rome so he proposed a land law that prevented rich aristocrats from buying an excess of land. The peasants were being driven from their farms in the country, which were then bought for large estates which utilized slave labor He proposed that the excess of land that the higher class population owned should be reclaimed and redistributed among the non-land owning peasants. Tiberius sought the approval of this law by the Tribal Assembly, as the Senate did not support his proposition. The Senate persuaded a fellow tribune, Octavius, to veto the bill. The Assembly sided with Tiberius and deposed Octavius, under the argument by Tiberius that Octavius was thwarting the will of the people Although Tiberius’ bill was passed, the source of funding was undetermined. King Attalus the III, died in the same year as the passing of this bill. The king willed that his fortune be divided among the people Tiberius proposed that the King’s fortune be used to fund the bill that the Assembly passed. This, however, was supposed to be under senatorial right. At the same time, Tiberius ran for a second term as tribune, which was unheard of at the time. The boldness of Tiberius became too much for the Senate to handle. However, before the election, he and his supporters were assassinated by Optimates