tiberias and gas graus were two brothers who changed the course of Roman history in the space of just 10 years while both of their lives were cut short by violence their legacy had a profound impact on late Roman Republican politics in this video we will meet these two remarkable figures examine the dramatic events of their lives and see how they changed Rome forever but first we need to examine what was going very wrong in the city of Rome at the time following the fall of Carthage at the end of the third Punic war in 146 BC Rome had become the most dominant power in the Mediterranean World it now possessed territories from Spain in the west to Asia Minor in the East Rome's expansion had also made many of its leading citizens wealthier and more powerful than they had ever been before however the centuries of constant Warfare also created problems in Roman society particularly among the poorer classes while the upper class Nobles had become very wealthy the lower class was struggling to make ends meet this led to significant social unrest in the Senate two great factions which disagreed on where the political power ultimately rested in Roman society developed among the Senators the first faction was known as the popularis the popularis were Senators who believed that they represented the interests of the common people as a result they sought the support of the Roman people during elections and important political moments during the year the popularis were often accused of supporting what was popular among the people rather than what was best for the people this is where the name popularis derives from on the other side of the political divide where the optimar ties the optimates were Senators who believed they were representing what was best for the Roman Republic regardless of whether it was popular or not in reality the optimates often supported the needs of the wealthy Elites which is what the term optimates means the best men that is the wealthy Nobles during the second half of the 2 Century BC Roman politicians tended to favor one of these two groups and their political decisions indicated whether they were optimate t or populars a particular problem had Arisen at this time caused by how the traditional Roman military recruitment system worked since the birth of the Roman Republic nearly 400 years before the soldiers of Rome's armies were made up of Roman citizens each citizen was responsible for paying for their own weapons and armor this was only possible if they owned land on which they could farm and earn money these citizen soldiers were then EXP expected to be on military campaign during the year and then only return to their farms and families once a particular War had finished this meant that such men could be away for years at a time unfortunately the absence of these men from their Farms often meant that the families Left Behind struggled to supply the manual labor required to grow enough crops to pay their debts over time many families were forced to sell their Farms which were often bought up by wealthier Nobles who had not gone to war then when the soldiers returned home from war they neither had their Farms nor an income to feed themselves or their families many of these poorer people were forced to move to the city of Rome where they hoped to find work over time the number of unemployed poor families had grown and they had started approaching Senators to create laws to help them get back on their feet again mostly these people wanted their Farms back many believed that the Roman government owed them this much since these men had been fighting and dying for Rome during the brutal Punic Wars however the Senate was was reluctant to change the situation because many of the senators were the same Nobles who had purchased the Farms from the poorer families in the first place these wealthy Elites who were often part of the equity's social group were earning huge profits from these lands as they had combined them into huge agricultural plantations called latifundia furthermore these Nobles had no interest in offering the poorest Roman citizens paid work on these Farms as that would require the Nobles to pay them wages which would have been expensive instead the equities had purchased thousands of foreign slaves to do all of the necessary manual labor which was Far cheaper than hiring Romans as employees into this turbulent period stepped the young Tiberius sempronius graus Tiberius was born around 168 BC a grandson of cpio Africanus and brother-in-law of cpio amanus tiberias had fought in the third Punic War during the siege of Carthage in 137 BC he was traveling north on his way to Spain while in aturia he claims to have been shocked at how many Roman Farms were being run by Foreign slaves rather than by Roman citizen Farmers so he sought and won election to the office of Tribune of the plebs for the year 133 BC as a Tribune Tiberius proposed a series of reforms that would help the lower class get some of their land back and by extension fix the Army Recruitment crisis specifically tiberias wanted to enact agrarian reform Tiberius plan limited each citizen to 500 euga of state-owned land which had been taken during the various Wars the Roman state had fought over the last few centuries any extra property would then be seized by the government and given to the poor and homeless in tiny plots of 30 yuggera each by redistributing wealth in this way tiberias also hoped to increase the number of farmers eligible for military service since each Soldier was required to fund his own equipment this would have been a significant financial burden lifted from the poor Tiberius law was opposed by the Senate which was largely composed of senators who owned the majority of the land as a result Tiberius was detested among Rome's aristocracy Tiberius 's main adversary was Marcus Octavius a Tribune who used his power of veto to block tiberias bills from being passed into the assembly to nullify his fellow Tribune's power Tiberius encouraged the assembly to vote Octavius out of office arguing that he no longer represented the interests of the people once Octavius was removed Tiberius law was passed Tiberius then established a board of three Commissioners to oversee the implementation of his law the three men chosen were tiberias himself his brother and his father-in-law unfortunately tiberias needed the Senate's approval in order to have the necessary money to fund his project however the Senators only allowed a token amount available which effectively meant that the commission could never implement the law tiber's Land Reform was effectively at an end unless he could find a sudden influx of cash by sheer chance that is exactly what happened suddenly in the same year King atus III of pergamin died without an heir in ats's will he decided that his kingdom and his wealth should be handed over to Rome at the time that tiberias was struggling to get his proposal funded by the Senate this eventuality became a chance for tiberias to circumvent the traditional approval process when the funds arrived in Rome from pergamin Tiberius saw this as an opportunity to use this sudden influx of wealth from pergamum to fund his agrarian law he he realized that he didn't have to rely upon money from the Senate he just needed the people of Rome to agree to use this new money to redistribute land to do this he just had to get the people's assembly to vote on his idea rather than the Senate however the Senate saw this as a direct challenge to their power as Tiberius is one-year term as Tribune was coming to an end the Senate tried to delay the vote so that he would be out of office before it could happen knowing that he did not have enough time to enforce his proposal tiberious put himself forward to be Ed for Tribune again for a second term for 132 BC however no one in the history of Rome had ever held a magistracy for two consecutive years the Senate considered this unprecedented move as clear evidence that Tiberius was trying to become a king or a tyrant over Rome itself one of the Senators that was most concerned about Tiberius claims to power was his own cousin puus Cornelius skipio nasika sarpio he was an EXC Consul so demanded a lot of political respect but he was was also the leader of the pontifices one of the most important groups of Roman priests skipio nasika called on his fellow Senators to rise up against Tiberius in order to save Rome from having another King on the day of voting a fight broke out in the Senate between Tiberius supporters and other Senators Tiberius himself was beaten to death with anything his attackers could find nearby including legs from wooden chairs in addition around 300 of tiberi's supporters were also killed tiber's attempt at land reform had failed and the social tensions in Roman society continued the assassination of tiberias set a dangerous precedent in Roman political history this was the first time that people had stopped the orderly process of political election by resorting to violence and murder while it was unspeakably shocking that this had occurred other people soon became convinced that under the right circumstances murdering your opponents could be acceptable it didn't take long for violence and murder to become a regular part of Roman politics tiberious younger brother gas sempronius graus was born in 153 BC just like his older brother he became a Tribune of the plebs for the year 123 BC but unlike Tiberius who only served one term gas was elected Tribune three times clearly things had changed over the 10 years since tiberias attempt to hold an office for 2 years in a row and it was no longer considered to be a concern once elected gas continued his brother's policies and proposed similar land reforms he also tried to help the lower class but he went about it in a different way he proposed a series of welfare programs that would provide food for the poor he also passed a law that provided cheap grain for all citizens of Rome to be purchased at a fixed price every month known as the grain do it was the first time in history that a state had sought to provide a guaranteed food supplement to its people he renewed tiber's land legislation and established new colonies in Italy and Carthage he created a law mandating that Roman males under the age of 17 would not be conscripted and that the state would pay for minimal military equipment gas's programs proved to be very popular with the people but they made him enemies in the Senate like his brother the Senators saw him as a threat to their power when gas won the Tribune ship for a second consecutive year for 122 BC something that Tiberius was killed for trying many senators raised similar concerns about about gas's real intentions in 121 BC gas' Bill proposing Land Reform was defeated in the Senate Furious gas took his supporters and left Rome for the Aventine Hill from there he vowed never to return until his bill was passed however the Senate was not going to give in to gas's demands he was accused of becoming a tyrant and was accused of illegally taking state land for his own personal use gas denied all these charges but he knew that he would not be able to to get a fair trial in the Senate after a riot erupted on the capitaline hill one of gas's Rivals was murdered and the Senate passed the ultimate decree of the senate for the first time in history this legislation gave the Senate power to designate anyone An Enemy of the State and put him to death without a proper trial a mob was subsequently gathered to hunt down gas the Senate sent this group to the Aventine Hill to force him and his supporters back into the city when they arrived a fight broke out and gas knew that he would not get out of this situation with his life so instead of waiting to be tried and executed gas committed suicide he ordered his slaves to kill him and his body was thrown into the Tyber River following gas's death all of his policies were reversed with the exception of his grain Dole for the citizens of Rome 3,000 of his supporters were subsequently imprisoned and executed as a result of the reprisals that followed after the deaths of tiberias and gas graus Rome descended into a a period of turmoil and violence their death set a precedent of election campaigns ending in Bloodshed Rome would never be the same the graus brothers were two of the most influential and controversial figures in Roman history their reforms changed Rome forever but their Methods made them enemies of the senate in the end their pursuit of power led to their demise I hope you have enjoyed learning about the lives and impact of the grai brothers if you'd like to learn more Roman history please watch our video on the hisor IAL Foundation of Rome