The lex agraria of 111 BC is an epigraphically-attested Roman law on the distribution and holding of public land (ager publicus).
[14] Lands in Africa which had been assigned pursuant to a previously repealed lex Rubria associated with Gaius Gracchus' reform project in 123–22 BC.
[17] Archaeological evidence of centuriation in modern Tunisia suggests that substantial lands were distributed in Africa pursuant to the lex Rubria or later Caesarian or Augustan colonial programmes.
[18] Lands allotted under the lex Rubria in Africa or otherwise sold between 115 and 113 BC were, provided that a declaration was made to duumviri appointed for that purpose and adjudged sufficient, confirmed subject to payment of a vectigal.
[21] Moreover, lands not previously assigned or confirmed to various groups – descendants of Carthaginian deserters, the sons of the Numidian king Massinissa, citizens of Utica, and peoples paying tribute to Rome (stipendarii), etc – were made Roman state property.
[15] Appian's narrative cast post-Gracchan land legislation as a betrayal of the Gracchan programme which left the Roman poor impoverished.
By covering and granting legal status to all persons now in possession of ager publicus in their varied categories, the law of 111 BC signalled the republic's intents both to recognise their private titles and plan for the future.
Roman politicians also proposed a few attempts to distribute more lands: Lucius Marcius Philippus (plebeian tribune in 104 BC and later consul in 91 BC)[34] gave a fiery speech denouncing wealth inequality noted by Cicero; Marcus Livius Drusus' plan to disrupt those holdings in 91 BC to make room for more Roman settlers generated substantial anger and may have played a role in the start of the Social War.
[37] The bronze fragments are known to have resided first in the library of the Dukes of Urbino were gifted some time in the 16th century to Cardinal Pietro Bembo.
The plates are separated into twelve fragments of which ten survive and preserved in multiple locations: the Museo Nazionale di Napoli and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
[38] First published 1583 by Fulvio Orsini, the first important modern editions of the lex agraria date to the 19th century; it was included in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum in 1863.