Tiberius Gracchus Major
Encyclopedia
Tiberius Gracchus major (ca. 217 BC – 154 BC) or Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman
politician of the 2nd century BC. Tiberius was of Plebs
or plebeian status and was a member of the well connected gens Sempronia, family of ancient Rome
.
Tiberius was the son of Publius Sempronius Gracchus, apparently the younger brother of the two-times consul and general Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus
(killed 212 BC). His paternal grandfather
was also a consul in 238 BC. His mother's identity is not known.
His father was not the same Publius Sempronius Gracchus who served as tribune of the plebs in 189 BC, and the father had possibly died during the Second Punic War, since no further references exist to him.
However, accounts of this are mixed with similar accounts about the betrothal of the younger Tiberius Gracchus
to his wife Claudia, so the facts are not certain. In both versions, the father hastens to make a betrothal to a Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, without consulting the mother (his wife), to which the wife protests until she is informed that the bridegroom is Gracchus.
Since Scipio died in 184 BC or 183 BC and retired into the country well before then, and his youngest daughter Cornelia Africana
was only 6 or 7 at his death, it is more likely that the betrothal took place after Scipio's death, or that Tiberius was betrothed c. 186 BC to an older daughter who died before the marriage could take place. Plutarch's Life of Scipio has been lost, along with Scipio's own memoirs, and no contemporary histories or biographies of Scipio or Tiberius exist.
(the ritual cleansing of the Senate).
In 163 BC, Tiberius was elected consul again, and since he had not completed his military campaigns, by a clever trick or simple neglect of rituals, he managed to win further time to attain military success. He was awarded a second triumph for his military victories in Sardinia
. This clever trick was at the cost of his brother-in-law Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum
, husband of his wife's elder sister, who had been the consul elected for 162 BC and who was forced to resign his consulship. It is not clear if the loss of Scipio Nasica's first consulship led to strain or dissension between the brothers-in-law (Nasica was elected censor in 159 BC and again consul in 155 BC); however, their sons fell out politically some thirty years later, with fatal consequences to both.
Tiberius was fluent in Greek, addressing the people of Rhodes c. 168 BC in that language. Despite his military and political achievements, he was more renowned for his character. He was a respected consul, and an even more respected (if controversial) censor. At his death in 154 BC, leaving several young children and a young widow, he would have been considered one of Rome's leading men.
in 172 BC when he was about 45 years, thus considerably her senior. Despite the age difference, the marriage was happy and fruitful. She bore him twelve children, but all of them were sickly and most of them died in infancy despite their parents' assiduous care. Three children survived to adulthood; a daughter Sempronia
Gracchae (who was betrothed to her mother's first cousin Scipio Aemilianus), and two sons, the Roman politicians Tiberius Gracchus
and Gaius Gracchus
.
Tiberius is said to have loved his wife dearly (see anecdote below). Tiberius (and other Romans) also thought very highly of Cornelia as a wife and mother. When Tiberius died, Cornelia took charge of his property and the household; she refused to remarry, although she was offered marriage by several Roman senators and by the king of Egypt himself. Cornelia devoted the rest of her life to her sons's education and upbringing.
Plutarch's life of Tiberius Gracchus
(son of this Tiberius) narrates that the father demonstrated his love for his much younger wife in an unusual manner:
Tiberius's own life and achievement are obscured, however, by the reputation of his widow Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi
and the deeds of his two surviving sons. The elder son Tiberius would have been in his youth, while the younger son Gaius was a mere infant at his death. Both sons were apparently raised as much in the household of their kinsman and brother-in-law Scipio Aemilianus as in their own house and would have been influenced and educated by men such as the historian Polybius
, the philosopher Panaetius
, the grammarian Lucilius
, and the slave-turned-playwright Terence
, as well as Scipio's own circle of friends from the Roman elite.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
politician of the 2nd century BC. Tiberius was of Plebs
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
or plebeian status and was a member of the well connected gens Sempronia, family of ancient Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Tiberius was the son of Publius Sempronius Gracchus, apparently the younger brother of the two-times consul and general Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (consul 215 and 213 BC)
Tiberius Sempronius Tib. f. Tib. n. Gracchus was a Roman Republican consul in the Second Punic War. He was son of Tiberius Sempronius Tib. f...
(killed 212 BC). His paternal grandfather
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (consul 238 BC)
Tiberius Sempronius Tib.f. Gracchus , a Roman Republican consul in the year 238 BC, was the first man from his branch of the family to become consul; several other plebeian Sempronii had already reached the consulship and even the censorship...
was also a consul in 238 BC. His mother's identity is not known.
His father was not the same Publius Sempronius Gracchus who served as tribune of the plebs in 189 BC, and the father had possibly died during the Second Punic War, since no further references exist to him.
Tribune of the Plebs, and Scipio
After serving in the army, Tiberius was elected tribune of the plebs c. 187 BC, in which capacity he is recorded as having saved Scipio Africanus Major from prosecution by interposing his veto. Tiberius was no friend nor political ally to Scipio, but felt that the general's services to Rome merited his release from the threat of trial like any common criminal. Supposedly, in gratitude for this action, either Scipio or his son Publius Cornelius Scipio betrothed Scipio's youngest daughter to him.However, accounts of this are mixed with similar accounts about the betrothal of the younger Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populares politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a plebeian tribune, his reforms of agrarian legislation caused political turmoil in the Republic. These reforms threatened the holdings of rich landowners in Italy...
to his wife Claudia, so the facts are not certain. In both versions, the father hastens to make a betrothal to a Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, without consulting the mother (his wife), to which the wife protests until she is informed that the bridegroom is Gracchus.
Since Scipio died in 184 BC or 183 BC and retired into the country well before then, and his youngest daughter Cornelia Africana
Cornelia Africana
Cornelia Scipionis Africana was the second daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the hero of the Second Punic War, and Aemilia Paulla. She is remembered as the perfect example of a virtuous Roman woman....
was only 6 or 7 at his death, it is more likely that the betrothal took place after Scipio's death, or that Tiberius was betrothed c. 186 BC to an older daughter who died before the marriage could take place. Plutarch's Life of Scipio has been lost, along with Scipio's own memoirs, and no contemporary histories or biographies of Scipio or Tiberius exist.
Political and Military Achievements
Tiberius was elected praetor for 179 BC, in which year he would have been about 38 if born in 217 BC. During his praetorship, he successfully put down uprisings in Spain (the Roman Hispania) and conciliated various tribes. He was awarded a triumph upon his return. He was then elected consul in 177 BC. In 169 BC, he was chosen censor, but his censorship was so strict that it provoked an attempted prosecution of his co-censor. Tiberius offered to go into exile with his co-censor, at which point the prosecution was dropped owing to Gracchus's popularity. Both censors appeared to have resigned, however, before completing the lustrumLustrum
A lustrum was a term for a five-year period in Ancient Rome.The lustration was originally a sacrifice for expiation and purification offered by one of the censors in the name of the Roman people at the close of the taking of the census...
(the ritual cleansing of the Senate).
In 163 BC, Tiberius was elected consul again, and since he had not completed his military campaigns, by a clever trick or simple neglect of rituals, he managed to win further time to attain military success. He was awarded a second triumph for his military victories in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
. This clever trick was at the cost of his brother-in-law Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum was a Roman statesman and member of the gens Cornelia.Corculum was the son of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica , and was thus a first cousin once removed of the Roman general Scipio Africanus...
, husband of his wife's elder sister, who had been the consul elected for 162 BC and who was forced to resign his consulship. It is not clear if the loss of Scipio Nasica's first consulship led to strain or dissension between the brothers-in-law (Nasica was elected censor in 159 BC and again consul in 155 BC); however, their sons fell out politically some thirty years later, with fatal consequences to both.
Tiberius was fluent in Greek, addressing the people of Rhodes c. 168 BC in that language. Despite his military and political achievements, he was more renowned for his character. He was a respected consul, and an even more respected (if controversial) censor. At his death in 154 BC, leaving several young children and a young widow, he would have been considered one of Rome's leading men.
Tiberius's family
Tiberius married the eighteen-years-old Cornelia AfricanaCornelia Africana
Cornelia Scipionis Africana was the second daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the hero of the Second Punic War, and Aemilia Paulla. She is remembered as the perfect example of a virtuous Roman woman....
in 172 BC when he was about 45 years, thus considerably her senior. Despite the age difference, the marriage was happy and fruitful. She bore him twelve children, but all of them were sickly and most of them died in infancy despite their parents' assiduous care. Three children survived to adulthood; a daughter Sempronia
Sempronia
Sempronia is the nomen of the Roman gens Sempronia. Men of the gens were named Sempronius, and women Sempronia. The Sempronii were an important family throughout the history of the Republic...
Gracchae (who was betrothed to her mother's first cousin Scipio Aemilianus), and two sons, the Roman politicians Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populares politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a plebeian tribune, his reforms of agrarian legislation caused political turmoil in the Republic. These reforms threatened the holdings of rich landowners in Italy...
and Gaius Gracchus
Gaius Gracchus
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populari politician in the 2nd century BC and brother of the ill-fated reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus...
.
Tiberius is said to have loved his wife dearly (see anecdote below). Tiberius (and other Romans) also thought very highly of Cornelia as a wife and mother. When Tiberius died, Cornelia took charge of his property and the household; she refused to remarry, although she was offered marriage by several Roman senators and by the king of Egypt himself. Cornelia devoted the rest of her life to her sons's education and upbringing.
Plutarch's life of Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populares politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a plebeian tribune, his reforms of agrarian legislation caused political turmoil in the Republic. These reforms threatened the holdings of rich landowners in Italy...
(son of this Tiberius) narrates that the father demonstrated his love for his much younger wife in an unusual manner:
There is a story told, that he once found in his bedchamber a couple of snakes, and that the soothsayers, being consulted concerning the prodigy, advised, that he should neither kill them both nor let them both escape; adding, that if the male serpent was killed, Tiberius should die, and if the female, Cornelia. And that, therefore, Tiberius, who extremely loved his wife, and thought, besides, that it was much more his part, who was an old man, to die, than it was hers, who as yet was but a young woman, killed the male serpent, and let the female escape; and soon after himself died, leaving behind him twelve children borne to him by Cornelia.
Tiberius's own life and achievement are obscured, however, by the reputation of his widow Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi
Cornelia Africana
Cornelia Scipionis Africana was the second daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the hero of the Second Punic War, and Aemilia Paulla. She is remembered as the perfect example of a virtuous Roman woman....
and the deeds of his two surviving sons. The elder son Tiberius would have been in his youth, while the younger son Gaius was a mere infant at his death. Both sons were apparently raised as much in the household of their kinsman and brother-in-law Scipio Aemilianus as in their own house and would have been influenced and educated by men such as the historian Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, the philosopher Panaetius
Panaetius
Panaetius of Rhodes was a Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus in Athens, before moving to Rome where he did much to introduce Stoic doctrines to the city. After the death of Scipio in 129, he returned to the Stoic school in Athens, and was its last...
, the grammarian Lucilius
Lucilius
Lucilius is the nomen of the gens Lucilia of ancient Rome.*Gaius Lucilius, satirist 2nd century BC. Lucilius was credited by Horace and others with originating the genre of satire.*Lucilius Junior, friend and correspondent of the younger Seneca....
, and the slave-turned-playwright Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
, as well as Scipio's own circle of friends from the Roman elite.
Sources
- PlutarchPlutarchPlutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
, Tiberius GracchusTiberius GracchusTiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populares politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a plebeian tribune, his reforms of agrarian legislation caused political turmoil in the Republic. These reforms threatened the holdings of rich landowners in Italy...
. - William SmithWilliam Smith (lexicographer)Sir William Smith Kt. was a noted English lexicographer.-Early life:Born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he was originally destined for a theological career, but instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, and when he entered University College...
(ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870.