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Gracchi

(Encyclopedia)Gracchi grăkˈī [key], two Roman statesmen and social reformers, sons of the consul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and of Cornelia. The brothers were brought up with great care by their mother. Tiberi...

Cornelia

(Encyclopedia)Cornelia kôrnēlˈyə [key], fl. 2d cent. b.c., Roman matron, daughter of Scipio Africanus Major. She was the wife of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and mother of the Gracchi. She refused to remarry af...

Flaccus

(Encyclopedia)Flaccus flăˈkəs [key], family of the ancient Roman gens of Fulvius. Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, a Roman consul in 264 b.c., was the founder of the family. His son, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, was Roman co...

Scipio Africanus Minor

(Encyclopedia)Scipio Africanus Minor (Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus), c.185–129 b.c., Roman general, destroyer of Carthage. He was the son of Aemilius Paullus, under whom he fought at P...

tribune

(Encyclopedia)tribune, in ancient Rome, one of various officers. The history of the office of tribune is closely associated with the struggle of the plebs against the patrician class to achieve a more equitable pos...

senate, Roman

(Encyclopedia)senate, Roman, governing council of the Roman republic. It was the outgrowth of the council of the kings. By the 3d cent. b.c. the senate was a group of 300 men with a high degree of political, legisl...

Drusus

(Encyclopedia)Drusus dro͞oˈsəs [key], Roman family of the gens Livius. An early distinguished member was Marcus Livius Drusus, d. 109? b.c., tribune of the people (122) with Caius Sempronius Gracchus (see under ...

agrarian laws

(Encyclopedia)agrarian laws, in ancient Rome, the laws regulating the disposition of public lands (ager publicus). It was the practice of Rome to confiscate part of the land of conquered cities and states, and this...

Scipio

(Encyclopedia)Scipio sĭpˈēō [key], ancient Roman family of the Cornelian gens. They were patricians. During the 3d and 2d cent. b.c. they were distinguished by their love of Greek culture and learning. Their we...

Rome, city, Italy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Roman Empire (a.d. 117) CE5 Rome, Ital. Roma, city (1991 pop. 2,775,250), capital of Italy and see of the pope, whose residence, Vatican City, is a sovereign state within the city of Rome. R...

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