MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Boromir's guess the famous game #147 [Ti...

Boromir's guess the famous game #147 [Tiberius Gracchus is the famous person, nyctc7 wins]


1. I'm thinking of some famous person, it can be a film actor, a philosopher, a president, a prime minister, a singer, fictional character, mafia man etc.
2. You need to ask me a yes or no question about this person, for example, "Is the person still alive?," "Does the person work in the entertainment industry?," any question you can think of that helps you to reveal the answer. The host answers with yes or no only.
3. Maximum 1 question and 1 guess per player per answer.
4. The winner can either start a new game or say "pass." In case of a pass, the OP gets to start another.

List of mystery persons - https://moviechat.org/general/General-Discussion/616343f570ebcb3bafb72d63/List-All-Boromirs-guess-the-famous-game-1-200


1: Alive? No
2: Born before 1800? Yes
3: Fictional? No
4: Born in the Western Hemisphere? No
5: Male? Yes
6: Born in Asia? No
7: Born in Europe? Yes
8: Scientist? No
9: Born before 1600? Yes
10: Born B.C.? Yes
11: Religious figure? No
12: Monarch? No
13: Born within the Roman Empire? Rome was not yet an empire, but yes he was Roman
14: Slave? No
15: Criminal? No
16: Philosopher? No
17: Roman Senator? Yes
18: Writer? No
19: Military leader? He was in the Roman military, but not of the highest rank.
20: Ever serve as Consul? No
21: Did the Empire arise during his lifetime? No
22: Cato the Younger? No
23: Born before 100 B.C? Yes
24: Was he a general of the republic? No
25: Doctor? No
26: Died before 35 year old? Yes
27: Astronomer? No
28: Nero Claudius Drusus? No
29: Cartographer? No
30: Builder? No
31: Gracchus? Yes!

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (approx. 163 BC - 133 BC) was a Roman politician mainly known for his campaign for agrarian reform. As Rome’s dominion grew, Roman farmers increasingly lost their land due to long military service abroad with no one to work it, and the land was increasingly gobbled up by big landholders who turned it into large latifundia estates worked by slaves brought in by Rome’s conquests. A social crisis was developing in the republic, with small farmers being reduced to landless proletariat who struggled to find enough work to survive, while the senatorial class became richer and richer. Tiberius Gracchus attempted to address the crisis by campaigning to redistribute the ager publicus (public lands) to the landless poor. He soon became leader of a mass movement as the lower classes rallied behind him, and earned the enmity of the rich whose wealth he threatened. The oligarchs began using propaganda accusing Tiberius of being a demagogue who wanted to make himself king (notice how similar this is to smears of reformers and revolutionaries up to today; anyone who fights for the poor is accused of just seeking power for themselves). Finally Tiberius’ opponents in the senate organized a death squad and beat him to death with clubs. Tiberius’ brother Gaius followed in his footsteps several years later with an even more comprehensive reform agenda, until he too was murdered by the optimates (the reactionary faction in the senate). Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were celebrated among the Roman poor as heroes of the people for generations thereafter.

If anyone is interested, here is a decent BBC docudrama telling the story of Tiberius Gracchus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M04pFl01iF8

Scoreboard:
nyctc7 - 33
hownos - 28
Boromir - 22
LauraGrace - 21
Carrot - 15
Kawada_Kira - 14
tcrum - 6
sslssg - 3
lud - 2
Bloodshot77 - 2
StoneKeeper - 1

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Hey guys I'll be back shortly, maybe 15-20 minutes.

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builder?

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[deleted]

[deleted]

Gracchus

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Thank god you joined this. You're are only hope here.

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I really don't think this is that difficult lol, my guy is hardly obscure. This isn't like my Mithridates round.

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Correct!

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But which one? I don't feel like I won.

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Yeah I guess you're right. Substantially narrows it down though.

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I have in mind Gracchus as portrayed by Charles Laughton in Spartacus, who opposes Crassus (Laurence Olivier).

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Ah ok well he's a fictional character, he didn't exist. Nobody named Gracchus, as far as I know, played any role in the whole Spartacus thing.

Also that Gracchus was old, with wrinkles and gray hair. I already established that my famous person died young.

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Right.

But I did recall that their were Gracchus that were reformers.

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Yes, as the Gracchus in that movie seemed to be more friendly to the lower classes in his attitude, I think he may have been named after and partly inspired by the Gracchi brothers of the 130s-120s BC.

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And IIRC I first heard about the Gracchi brothers in one of Colleen McCullough's historical novels. And in the HBO series Rome, there is a scene where Lucius Vorenus mentions the Gracchi, but Pullo doesn't know who they are.

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I first learned about them in Michael Parenti's book about the assassination of Julius Caesar, which, despite the title and the main subject being Caesar, was more broadly about the political and social conflicts of the late republic, beginning with the Gracchi and ending with Caesar's own death. That book did quite a lot to spark an interest in Roman history and ancient history in general for me.

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As soon as I saw the awful date time, I knew you'd be the only one to get it. I hate this time period for the game. I gave up, other than googling military leaders before B.C.

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Well I did state when that question was first asked that my famous person was in the military but not of the highest rank. I thought that made it clear enough that his military career isn't the thing he's really known for. I suppose I should have been more explicit about that.

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I have a couple things I have to do--so I'm going to PASS.

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Ok, so we are declaring this round over then?

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Oh, yes, I'll happily take the point.

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Ok, gave you the point and added a description of my famous person in the OP. Also a link to a good docudrama about him.

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No its not that, its the time period. I've given up on the other people who used the really early time periods. Its just not my area. When I saw B.C , I had already given up. You have to admit its tough, unless you have a degree in history.

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I don't have a degree in history.

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As nyctc7 has passed on hosting the next round, it's up for grabs.

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i will do one

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