The ''Lex Agraria'' can refer to a Roman law proposed in 133 BC during the
tribunate
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
of
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus ( 163 – 133 BC) was a Roman politician best known for his agrarian law, agrarian reform law entailing the transfer of land from the Roman state and wealthy landowners to poorer citizens. He had also serve ...
. The law involved the redistribution of public land, previously owned by the
senatorial class
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, to the lower classes in
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, using money bequeathed to Rome in the will of
Attalus III of Pergamum
Attalus III ( el, Ἄτταλος Γ΄) Philometor Euergetes ( – 133 BC) was the last Attalid king of Pergamon, ruling from 138 BC to 133 BC.
Biography
Attalus III was the son of king Eumenes II and his queen Stratonice of Pergamon, and h ...
to purchase the land and provide resources with which the
plebeians
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary.
Etymology
The precise origins of ...
could start lives farming the land rather than suffering from debt and unemployment in the city. The law was most unpopular with the upper classes, and as a result of this, plus various other factors, Gracchus was murdered by a group of Senators later in the year. However, the law was passed that same year as a result of heavy pressure on the Senate from the Roman populace.
The ''Lex Agraria'' can also refer to a law passed in 111 BC between March 15 and the harvest season. This statute recognized the land claims made in Italy, Africa, and Greece since the earlier ''Lex Agraria'' of 133 BC.
[Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne, ''Ancient Roman Statutes'', Austin, 1961, pp. 50-57, n. 51]
See also
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Compascuus ''Compascuus'' is Latin for commonly grazed, and hence often used in the forms ''ager compascuus'' (common pasture land) and ''compascuum'' (the common pasture). In the early Roman Republic, there were three kinds of land: private, public and common ...
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Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
*
List of Roman laws
This is a partial list of Roman laws. A Roman law (Latin: ''lex'') is usually named for the sponsoring legislator and designated by the adjectival form of his ''gens'' name ('' nomen gentilicum''), in the feminine form because the noun ''lex'' (pl ...
References
Roman law
{{AncientRome-law-stub