Political violence between myth and history. The examples of Accius and Cicero

The Romans often legitimised the present with exemplary figures from the past and manipulated myth to evaluate their contemporary history. Ancient sources offer evidence of a typical case of rethinking historical facts concerning the Gracchan age. Despite the fragmentary annalistic tradition of the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, there are other almost-contemporary non-historiographical sources concerning the political crisis during the late-Republican period that testify to this process, such as Lucius Accius’ tragedies and Cicero’s works.