Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus Essay

Augustus, formerly known as Octavian, was the adopted son of dictator Julius Caesar and Emperor or Rome. Octavian set out to destroy his father’s murderers and assembled his own army in his quest for power and retribution. At the start, he shared rule with Mark Antony, however, their collaboration proved ineffective leading Augustus to pursue more and more control, culminating in the defeat of Antony in the battle of Actium and assuming rule as Emperor of Rome. Augustus did not inherit rule, his pursuit for power comprised of manipulative actions veiled under his generosity, concern for his people and charismatic tone and tenor. Res Gestae Divi Augusti expresses a sense of self adoration and honor in his quest for power and control, yet the subtext portrays a vastly different undertone, that of use of cajoling and propagandizing messages to benefit his position and accumulation of control of the republic. This Res Gestae is Augustus’ mechanism of self-promotion and adoration for his exceptional leadership qualities, concern and respect gleaned from his citizens and senate, and his military savvy to overpower and gain peace for the Romans, thus proclaiming his reign as one of prestige and importance.

This essay will attempt to explain the motives that have led to the rise and fall of the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus in the late second century B.C. Although very few sources remain of these accounts, which are based mainly on works of the historians Appian and Plutarch, the Gracchi have been the subject of study by several scholars. If on the one hand earlier historians tend to represent them as heroes and revolutionaries, on the other, more recent ones have regarded them as two controversial figures which were politically motivated by personal gains. They proposed and passed a series of legislations and the most controversial one is the agrarian law about the redistribution of the land. It can be argued that their motives have been certainly and thoroughly selfless for the good of the people of Rome in the specific period of history which spans from 133 B.C to 121 B.C. On the contrary, as it will be explained below, their methods have not always been ‘orthodox’. There could be three main areas that will help this essay to conclude if they were truly heroes of the people or political opportunists; the first is to evaluate what their true motives were, the second is to assess if there was an agrarian crisis and the third to establish who the beneficiaries of their legislations were. Overall, as all political figures, the Gracchi have to be taken in the context of the specific roman society of their time.

Around 71 B.C.,a few years before Augustus was born, Gaius Octavius started pursuing a job within the senate, but because of his latin instead of roman descent the pursuit of the job was very difficult for him. He continued pursuing the job in senate till around 70 B.C. when he won a quaestorship, a lower place in the government that entails supervising tax collection and doing special tasks for consuls in Rome, and joined the senate. Based on his latin descent winning a questorship was no small feat so it was no surprise when he was offered a spouse from one of Rome’s great trician clans. The only problem with this was he was already married to Ancharia who is not very well recorded in history so people have no firm evidence for why Gaius Octavius suddenly married Atia, a member of the Julian family making Julius Caesar his great-uncle. Together Atia and Gaius had two children, Octavius the younger and Gaius Octavian, named after his father, along with the one from Ancharia the second of the two being who we know as Augustus.

Back at the war, Tiberius seems to be more confident and more involved into the politics, he seemed to be quite shy and nervous not sure of what to do and quite clumsy on doing things himself. Though once crowned it gave him more strength and wanting to do more to help others and to feel that sense of winning something again. His mother Cornelia wants to be known as the mother of Tiberius Gracchus to help him boost his confidence but to also be well known in the military life, to be more successful and to be a good name for Rome. During this time Tiberius is realizing what it is like outside of the upper class people of Rome but now realizing what it is like for the lower class people. A good example is when he is traveling on the road to visit Marcus Octavius at his home who is a tribune for Rome, where they are able to do voting for laws of Rome. On his way to visit him he notices a woman yelling and screaming over her cart being flipped over by military men. The cart had her belongings of what she needed and food, basically all she had due to her husband dying at war. The military men/guards flip over her cart and yells out loud. Tiberius hurries over to her asking what is wrong and for being upset people are just taking her land he tells them to fix her cart and to give her food as well. He reaches to where Octavius is and enjoys his time until he realizes that Octavius is among the many who just take the people’s lands

54) Despite his success, Agricola never let people’s high opinions of him go to his head. As a result, he treated soldiers under his command fairly and for that, they confided their trust in him. Agricola’s leadership was also great because of his ambitious and passionate nature. Early in his youth, he had a passion for military glory, which Tacitus described as “… thankless in an age in which a sinister construction was put upon distinction and a great reputation was as dangerous as a bad one.” (p.55) Because of his well-disciplined upbringing and humility, however, this passion became motivation to succeed in Roman conquest, not his own. Together, those qualities made Agricola an adept leader who did not accept the glory that leaders traditionally receive. Conversely, Rome had been ruled during and around A.D. 98, when the Agricola was completed, by tyrants who governed for their own benefit. Tacitus’ book shows, however, that Agricola nevertheless served the interests of his legions and the Roman Empire, not its emperor.

He was later adopted by His uncle, Antoninus Pius. He was also Hadrian’s successor, but Hadrian’s original successor was L. Ceionius Commodus, but he died before he could succeed him. His uncle was married to his aunt, who was know as Annia Galeria Faustina. Because Marcus was adopted by his uncle, this allowed him

Tiberius Gracchus was a tribune in Rome who was met with a brutal death. Tiberius' death was the result of him trying to help Rome become better, but some questioned if he was doing it for Rome or himself. Tiberius was paying attention to the problems that Rome was facing as a result of gaining an empire and trying to find solutions. As a result of Rome gaining an empire, the land that people had once owned was being taken by the rich (Spencer). With this happening, it was not long before Rome had a clear line between the rich, who had more land than they needed, and the poor, who had nothing (Baker 74).

Nero and Tiberius both started off as great leaders of Rome. Throughout their leadership many events occurred that caused the general publics view to change on both of them. Comparing Nero, the careless leader to Tiberius, the leader with great accomplishments I found that they are complete opposites. Analyzing the accomplishments, treatment of people, and the overall personality of Nero and Tiberius it can be concluded that Tiberius is a better leader than Nero.

In The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Michael Parenti highlights the many significant people and events that characterized the late Roman Republic. Specifically, he focuses on the time period between the election of Tiberius Grachus, to the rise of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. In this account of history, Parenti presents the social, political, and economic aspects of the Roman culture from the perspective of the Roman commoner, or plebeian. Using this perspective, he also spends a great amount of time examining the causes and effects of the assassination of Julius Caesar. The views that Parenti presents in this book stand in sharp contrast with the views of many ancient and modern historians, and offer an interesting and enlightening perspective into class struggle in the society of the Roman republic.

From a rather humble beginning Lucius Cornelius Sulla rose to become a great politician and a powerful general in the Roman Republic. As a general, Sulla lead Roman armies to many victories. As a politician he became a powerful dictator and yet was responsible for bringing about many reforms. This essay will prove how he was a great dictator, politician and general, through discussing his background, his military and political career, his dictatorship, and his accomplishments in his later years.

The Pax Romana was a legacy from Augustus that was maintained throughout Tiberius' Principate. Tiberius was vigilant in making sure efficient government and fair taxation occurred throughout his domain. Abuses of power, especially in the provinces, by governors or the business class were not tolerated, 'you may sheer my sheep, not flay them!' (Tiberius). In addition he oversaw the actions of curators, who were responsible for suppling essential services in Rome. These actions were significant as it shows Tiberius as a capable leader who provided fair conditions for all the people in Rome and the provinces.

to break free, Antony lost the battle but he and Cleopatra managed to flee the battle early

     As a young adolescent, Octavian demonstrated his leadership ability long before having thoughts of becoming the first emperor of Rome. His strengths, features, and accomplishments as a military leader show only a part of his great political skills he possessed.

Augustus, during his reign as emperor proved effective in ruling through the ideas he implemented to solidify his country. Tacitus stated “nullo adversante” which translates into English “Wholly unopposed” (http://janusquirinus.org/Quotes/QuotesHome.html) this identifies the effectiveness of his reign and the strength he had politically over Rome. Important actions such as the creation of religious and moral reforms, the constitutional agreement and the implementation of the building programme all succeeded in creating stability within the Roman Empire.

Julius Caesar is perhaps the most well known in the history of Roman Emperors, yet there is no denying that his reign was filled with controversy, no reason more so than his devious rise to power and his mischievous ways of suppressing the senate. There is no doubt that in ruling as a Dictator; Caesar lost the support of the Roman people, who had fought for freedom against an Etruscan King, a role in which Caesar was playing. His death in 44BC coincided with what many believe to be the year in which the Republic completely its eventual ‘fall’ that it had been plummeting to since 133BC, and it is only by looking at the differences in the end of his reign to that of Augustus’ in 27BC that