Wahl, Amtsdauer und Vorgehen der gracchischen IIIviri agris iudicandis adsignandis

Abstract

This article treats the land reform commission established by Ti. Sempronius Gracchus in 133 BCE to evaluate and allocate arable land. Four termini Gracchani found in recent years, some of which have been underestimated in previous research, make it seem appropriate to reconsider how and for how long the Gracchan IIIviri agris iudicandis adsignandis were elected, as only two of the three commission members are mentioned on them. The article first examines the question, no longer considered problematic in current research, of whether the by-election of members was held annually. The light this sheds on the sequence and powers of the IIIviri allows us to re-examine the procedure for the distribution of agri and the way in which the termini were drawn up. In this context, a previously unpublished terminus from Alife provides new insights into the work of the land commission on the banks of the Volturno river in Campania. On this foundation, those interventions of the IIIviri in Italy known only from agrimensoric and other literary texts are likewise re-examined.