Tiberius Gracchus

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus fought in Africa during the Third Punic War and in Spain during the Numantine War, where his career nearly ended: as quaestor he was forced to negotiate a humiliating treaty after the Numantines surrounded his army. Seeking to rebuild his future and reacting to what he saw as a population decline caused by wealthy families buying up Italian land, he pushed through an agrarian reform bill as tribune of the plebs in 133 BC, transferring land from the state and the rich to poorer citizens. To force it through he had the tribune blocking him removed from office, seized the senate's control over foreign policy, and tried to stand for a consecutive tribunate - unheard of moves that terrified his opponents. They killed him and many of his supporters in a riot. The land commission survived and distributed over 3,000 square kilometres in the years that followed, run in part by his younger brother Gaius, who would later serve as tribune, propose even broader reforms, and also die for them.