BC150-131 Tiberius Gracchus Champions the Plebs!

In the twenty years from 150-131 BC the Roman Republic destroyed two great cities -- Corinth and Carthage -- and with its massive land and slave acquisitions Tiberius Gracchus (pictured) emerged to protect the Plebians against increasingly greedy Patricians.

This period saw the outbreak of the fourth and final Macedonian War and the third and final Punic War.

In the Fourth Macedonian War (150 to 148 BC) Andriscus, claiming to be a son of Perseus, led a popular uprising in Macedon which Rome put down but did not withdraw from the region. In response, the remaining free Greek powers of the Achaean League rose up, were swiftly defeated and punished with the destruction of the ancient city of Corinth in 146 BC. Greek independence was ended, and the Roman provinces of Achaea, Epirus and Macedonia were established.

After the Second Punic War, Carthage had been reduced to a single city-state dependent on Rome for military protection and arbitration and mostly lost out to its neighbour Numidia -- a favored 'client state' of Rome -- in Roman rulings. After fifty years of humuliation, Carthage discharged its war indemnity and -- considering itself no longer bound by the restrictions imposed by Rome -- it mustered an army of raw recruits to repel Numidian forces.

Although Carthage lost its war with Numidia, its new-found militarism alarmed many Romans, particularly Cato the Elder who ended all his speeches with demands that Carthage be destroyed.

In 149 BC, while Rome was involved in the ongoing Macedonian wars and pacifying its newly acquired territory in Hispania, it ordered the Carthaginians to demolish Carthage and re-built deeper into Africa. Carthage refused and Rome declared war.

In the Third Punic War (149 BC to 146 BC) Scipio Aemilianus besieged the city before breaching its walls, burning Carthage to the ground. and selling survivors into slavery. (A century later, Octavian rebuilt Carthage as a Roman veterans' colony).

In 133 BC, the tribune Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus tried to introduce land reform to redistribute latifundia -- publicly held land -- to the landless returning soldiers. Latifundia were large plantations, leased by rich Patricians, and worked by slaves who grew cash crops.

Many of the plantations lessees were also Senators who would lose property if this land reform law was enforcemed. To circumvent the opposition of the Senate, Tiberius tried to pass his reform through the Plebeian Assembly as a plebiscite, using the legal principle of Lex Hortensia. While technically legal, this was a violation of political custom, and outraged many patricians.

With the land reform passed, the Senate refused to fund the land commission and Tiberius used the plebeian assembly to divert funds for this purpose. When it became clear that Tiberius did not have enough time to finish his land reforms during his term of office, he announced that he would run again for the tribunate.

The violation of 'annuality' angered the patricians who, fearing that Tiberius was setting himself up as a tyrant, responded by slaughtering Tiberius and 300 of his followers in the streets of Rome in 132 BC.