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Distortions In The Historical Record Concerning Ager Publicus, Leges Agrariae, And The Gracchi, Maria Therese Jeffrey

Honors Bachelor of Arts

In this thesis, I examine some tales of the earliest leges agrariae as reported by Livy and Dionysus because the motifs they employ in telling these stories are seen in the Gracchan tales as well. In addition, no discussion of the Gracchi is complete without some consideration of what kind of land they aimed to redistribute and who would benefit. Plutarch and Appian do not go into detail about ager publicus or previous leges agrariae and secondary scholars might unconsciously ignore them in turn. Therefore, I examine ager publicus and leges agrariae for a fuller understanding of the importance of …