130 BC – 120 BCs

Events in 130 BC – 120 BC 2

• 133 BC – 121 BC The Gracchi — land reform and political murder Tiberius Gracchus (tribune 133 BC) proposes redistributing public land to landless citizens, breaking the power of great senatorial estates. He is clubbed to death by senators in the Forum — the first political murder in Rome since the kings. His brother Gaius (tribune 123–122 BC) goes further: grain subsidies, new colonies, extended citizenship. He too is killed, along with 3,000 supporters. The Gracchi open a century of political violence that will end only with Augustus.
• 130 BC Silk Road opens under Emperor Wu Zhang Qian's mission links China to Central Asia and Rome Emperor Wu of Han sent diplomat Zhang Qian on a mission to forge alliances in Central Asia around 130 BC. Though the military alliance failed, Zhang Qian returned with knowledge of previously unknown kingdoms and trade routes. This opened the Silk Road — the network of overland and maritime routes connecting China to Rome via Central Asia, Persia and the Middle East, carrying silk, spices, glass, and ideas for the next 1,500 years.