Sic semper tyrannis: tyrannicide and violence as political tools in Republican Rome

Includes bibliographical references (pages 122-128)Ancient Greek and Roman historians have argued that the Gracchi were the first populists to be killed as ???would-be tyrants??? in the history of the Roman Republic. However, the killing of supposed tyrants during the Late Roman Republic, starting with the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 B.C.E., was not a cultural anomaly, but was in fact connected to an earlier tradition of tyrannicide that started in the Early Republic. Since many acts of tyrannicide followed that of the Gracchi, including the murder of Julius Caesar eighty-nine years later, modern historians, such as Mary Beard, Ernst Badian, and H. H. Scullard, see the year 133 B.C.E. as a justifiable terminus post quem for the era in Roman history known as the Late Republic. Though this thesis does not set out to call into question the justification of Tiberius Gracchus??? death as a terminus post quem for the Late Republic, it does set out to question the assumption that Tiberius Gracchus??? death was a complete anomaly in the history of Rome as the Ancient Romans knew it. In so doing, this thesis argues that the way in which Tiberius Gracchus met his end led subsequent ancient historians to begin reinterpreting the stories of ???populist leaders??? from the first hundred years of the Republic in light of Tiberius Gracchus??? demise. Furthermore, it seeks to demonstrate how each act of tyrannicide that followed in the wake of Tiberius Gracchus??? death in 133 B.C.E. was seen by both the perpetrators of tyrannicide themselves and the ancient historians as being sanctioned by the conviction that killing ???would-be tyrants??? in the name of restoring order was an inherently Roman tradition