I Gracchi. Quando la politica finisce in tragedia.

The "Graccan age" (133-121 BC) was brief, but recorded a profound change in the public life of Rome, with reference to the construction of consensus, the conception of power relations, the use and distribution of wealth. It introduced a process of change that was destined to last a century and to end with the overcoming of the res publica and the passage to the Principality, in practice with the passage from the formula of the government of the few to that of the government of one only. Not only was it important in and of itself, but also for the general framework in which it was inscribed, which was characterized, among other things, by the transition of Rome from a city-state to the capital-city of an empire to Mediterranean scale, the economic and agrarian context of Italy of the second century BC, the conquest of autonomy by the Senate by the tribunes of the plebeians.

The story of the Graccan age is the tragic epic of two politicians, two brothers, who held the position of tribune of the plebeians and both died violently for reasons linked to their reformist politics. This did not end with the disappearance of the two magistrates, but had a follow-up in the prosecution of their supporters by a special court. The episode was one of the first examples of political use of justice.

The primary sources are the biographies of the Gracchi written by Plutarch and the first book of the civil wars of Appian, and are different from each other. Federico Santangelo, in his Preface to "I Gracchi. Quando la politica finisce in tragedia" (translation: "The Gracchi. When politics ends in tragedy"), he points out that the distance from the events of the authors is not only chronological, but also ideological and political. Santangelo teaches Ancient History and is Director of Research at the School of history, classics and archaeology of the Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He also is the Reviews Editor of "Histos" (www.histos.org). He continues as follows: "On the other hand, it is precisely the political nature of the Gracchi story that periodically solicits its reinterpretation according to historical and historiographical circumstances. The modern interpretations of the Gracchi, even in recent years, are inevitably informed by different conceptions of the relationship between historical change and conflict. In this complex field of events and problems Natale Barca has dedicated a study that offers the reader a rich repertoire of tools for orientation in ancient documentation and in the main modern debates."