The Hellenisation of Rome

Another important event in Ancient Rome is the Hellenisation of Rome. The Romans became the dominating population of the Mediterranean Sea after defeating the Macedonian and Seleucid Empires in the second century BC. The conquering of the Hellenistic kingdoms brought the Roman and Greek civilizations closer together, and the Roman aristocracy, which had previously been rural, became opulent and cosmopolitan. In military terms, Rome had a consolidated empire with no major opponents at the time.

Internal turmoil resulted from foreign dominance. Senators became wealthy at the expense of the provinces; soldiers, who were mostly small-scale farmers, were away from home for longer periods of time and were unable to maintain their land; and the increased reliance on foreign slaves and the expansion of latifundia reduced the availability of paid work.

War booty, mercantilism in the new provinces, and tax farming generated new economic opportunities for the wealthy, resulting in the formation of a new class of merchants known as equestrians. The lex Claudia prohibited Senate members from engaging in business, thus while equestrians may potentially join the Senate, their political power was severely limited. The Senate squabbled incessantly, repeatedly blocking vital land reforms and refusing to give the equestrian class a greater say in government.

Violent gangs of the urban unemployed, controlled by competing Senators, used violence to scare the voter. The Gracchi brothers, a pair of tribunes who attempted to establish land reform legislation that would transfer the large patrician landholdings among the plebeians, brought the matter to a climax in the late 2nd century BC. Both brothers were assassinated, and the Senate implemented measures to undo the Gracchi brothers' actions. This resulted in a widening schism between the plebeian and equestrian classes.