Gaius Gracchus in the context of "Temple of Concord"

The Gracchi brothers were two brothers who lived during the beginning of the late Roman Republic: Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus. They served in the plebeian tribunates of 133 BC and 122–121 BC, respectively. They have been received as well-born and eloquent advocates for social reform who were both killed by a reactionary political system; their terms in the tribunate precipitated a series of domestic crises which are viewed as unsettling the Roman Republic and contributing to its collapse.

Tiberius Gracchus passed legislation which established a commission to survey Roman public land, reassert state claims to it, and redistribute it to poor rural farmers. These reforms were a reaction to a perceived decline in Italy's rural population. A decade later, Gaius Gracchus' reforms, among other things, attempted to buttress Tiberius' land commission and start Roman colonisation outside of Italy. They also were far more broad, touching on many topics such as assignment of provincial commands, composition of juries for the permanent courts, and letting of state tax farming contracts. Both brothers were killed during or shortly after the conclusion of their respective tribunician terms.

A lex agraria (pl.: leges agrariae) was a Roman law which dealt primarily with the viritane allotment of public lands. Such laws came largely from two sources: the disposition of lands annexed by Rome in consequence of expansion and the distribution of existing public lands to poor citizens as freeholds. Such legislation dealt almost exclusively with public lands which were held by the state and not privately owned. There were other types of Roman laws related to agriculture, including those establishing new colonies and those regulating the holding of public lands (lex de modo agrorum).

The most famous lex agraria was that of the plebeian tribune Tiberius Gracchus, passed in 133 BC, which allotted public lands across Italy to rural plebs. Such laws were not without precedent, such as the lex Flaminia of 232 BC which authorised viritane distributions of lands in Cisalpine Gaul and Picenum. Further such laws were also passed in the years after 133 BC, including that of Tiberius' younger brother Gaius in 122 BC, and the epigraphically attested lex agraria of 111 BC. The law of 111 BC, among other things, buttressed recognition of the lands distributed in the prior law of 133. Other leges agrariae include a series of three laws vaguely described by Appian, the laws of Saturninus in 103 and 100 BC, the laws of Julius Caesar in 59 BC, and a law of Mark Antony in 44 BC.

Amicitia is the Latin word for friendship, either between individuals, between the state and an individual or between states. It was "a technical term of Roman political life" from the 2nd century BC, when, according to Seneca, it was introduced by the Populares Gaius Gracchus and Marcus Livius Drusus, who thereby ranked their clientes. The clients and allies of the Roman state were called amici populi Romani (friends of the Roman people) and listed on the tabula amicorum (table of friends). Such amicitia did not involve treaties or reciprocal obligations. Although amicitia between individuals was ideally genuine friendship marked by mutual fondness, in practice it more often referred to mere political alliance. Forming and breaking bonds of amicitia was thus highly formal. The amici Augusti (friends of Augustus) formed the court in imperial times.

Manius Aquillius was a Roman senator who served as consul in 129 BC. He put an end to the war which had been carried on against Aristonicus, the son of Eumenes II, king of Pergamon, and which had been almost terminated by his predecessor, Marcus Perperna. On his return to Rome, he was accused by Publius Lentulus of maladministration in his province, Asia, but was acquitted by bribing the judges. He obtained a triumph on account of his successes in Asia, but not until 126 BC.

A fragment of a speech made by Gaius Gracchus - regarding the unseemly corruption in the Republic - exists in relation to charges made against Aquillius. After the kingdom of Pergamum was inherited by the Republic, Aquillius put up one of the fiefdoms of Pergamum (Phrygia) to the Kings of Bithynia and Pontus. It was purchased by the king of Pontus. As to the law regarding who was to receive the kingdom (Lex Aquillia) the senators were divisible, Gracchus claimed, into three camps: Those who were in favor of it, those who were against it, and those who were silent. Gracchus observes that the first group was bribed by the king of Pontus, the second by the King of Bithynia, and the third were the most cunning for they accepted money from both Kings and made each party believe they were silent in their interest.

De vita sua ("On my life") is an autobiography written by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (c. 161–c. 89 BC), a prominent statesman of the Roman Republic, notably consul in 115 BC and princeps senatus for a generation. Even though the book is lost and has only survived in seven small fragments, it is the first known autobiography in Roman history. Scaurus wrote his autobiography in order to defend his actions throughout his long career, during which he was at the centre of Roman politics, from the tribunates of Gaius Gracchus to the Social War, and engaged in bitter feuds with numerous enemies. Most scholars think that Scaurus wrote the autobiography towards the end of his life.

Although Scaurus' book was not particularly successful and already forgotten by the time of Cicero—a great admirer of Scaurus and his work, it marked the beginning of a long tradition of Roman politicians writing their memoirs or autobiographical accounts, such as Rutilius Rufus, Sulla, Caesar, Augustus, and later Roman emperors down to Septimius Severus.

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (c. 220 BC – 154 BC) was a Roman politician and general of the 2nd century BC. He served two consulships, one in 177 and one 163 BC, and was awarded two triumphs. He was also the father of the two famous Gracchi brothers: Tiberius and Gaius.

During his tribunate in 187 or 184 BC, he interceded to save Scipio Africanus or Scipio Asiagenes from prosecution or prison, feeling that their services to the republic outweighed any alleged wrongdoing. He later married Africanus' daughter, Cornelia, after Africanus' death. A few years later, Tiberius was elected praetor and prorogued pro consule to Spain; he won victories there for which he was awarded a triumph. After his first consulship in 177 BC, he was assigned to Sardinia and on his return triumphed for the second time. In 169 BC, he was elected to the censorship and began construction of the Basilica Sempronia in the forum; he later won a second consulship in 163 BC.