The First Recognized King of Rome Was Its Mythical Founder, Romulus
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Romulus The first recognized king of Rome was its mythical founder, Romulus. To him is attributed the foundation of the senate. He expanded the city’s boundaries to encompass four hills; Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian and Quirinal. Rome’s populace was enlarged with runaway slaves and criminals, as a result too few women. o he staged celebrations for the festival of Consus (the god of the granary and the storehouse), inviting the neighbouring tribes of Sabines. o In mid-celebration the festival was brought to a sudden end, when Romulus and his Romans took possession of the unmarried Sabine women by force and claiming them as brides. o Romulus himself came by his wife Hersilia by this very method. o The Sabine town of Cures, ruled by king Titus Tatius, declared war. o In the resulting fight the Sabines managed to capture the Capitoline Hill. o The Sabine women intervened to stop the fighting between their Sabine relatives and their new found Roman husbands. o A peace was agreed and the Sabines of Cures and the Romans united and henceforth became one people. The two kings thereafter ruled jointly, Titus Tatius from the Capitoline and Romulus from the Palatine. Once the Sabine king died, sole rule fell to Romulus until his death at the age of 54. After being taken up in a tornado, Romulus became the god Quirinus Quirinus may have been the Sabine equivalent of the Roman god Mars and we found his name reflected in the Quirinal Hill. The alternative name the Romans would used for themselves was the quirites. Numa Pompilius Immediately after Romulus’ death the senator Julius Proculus claimed Romulus had appeared to him in a vision and was now the god Quirinus. This absolved the senators of wrongdoing and cleared the way for Julius Proculus to become the next king. The Roman people were not willing to accept this from one of their king’s possible murderers. Instead the Sabines in Rome demanded that, since the death of Titus Tatius had seen them ruled by a Roman without complaint, it was now for one of their number to become ruler. The Romans agreed, as long as it would be for them to choose who among the Sabines should be king. The choice fell upon Numa Pompilius, a man who apparently didn’t even want the job. Unlike Romulus, Numa was not a warrior king, but a religious, cultural figure. Traditionally, Numa is seen as the man who moved the order of the Vestal Virgins from Alba Longa to Rome, founded the temple of Janus, established the various priestly colleges, including the order of the fetiales who held the power to declare war and make peace. In order to allow for all the religious rites to be performed at the appropriate time, Numa is said to have reformed the calendar, adding the months January and February and bringing the days to a total of 360 for each year. During the 43 years of Numa’s reign Rome enjoyed uninterrupted peace. Much of his wisdom was said to be due to his receiving divine guidance from the gods. To the Romans, King Numa Pompilius was the father of their culture; the man who turned the semi-barbarian peasants, criminals and bride-robbers of Romulus into something resembling a civilization. Tullus Hostilius With the death of the peaceable Numa Pompilius rule next fell to the warlike Tullus Hostilius. Numa Pompilius had been a diplomatic man who would seek to achieve reconciliation. However, his successor Tullus Hostilius was a man who would seek to solve problems by the sword. When another such dispute arose between Rome and its neighbour Alba Longa, Tullus Hostilius declared war. The Roman victory meant that Alba Longa conceded defeat and swore allegiance to Rome. King Mettius of Alba Longa however had no intention of accepting Roman supremacy and succeeded in provoking another Roman neighbour, the Fidenates, into war. When the Romans defeated the Fidenates the Albans were soon crushed, their leader torn apart by two chariots and the city of Alba Longa was destroyed. The Albans were thereafter moved to Rome where they were given the Caelian Hill to settle on. This increase in population made the senate’s meeting place too small to contain the enlarged senate. Tullus Hostilius built a new senate house at the western end of the Forum at the foot of the Capitoline Hill and was called the Curia Hostilia. Tullus Hostilius is said to have thereafter campaigned successfully against the neighbouring Sabine tribes, until a plague befell him and the people of Rome, forcing them to make peace. In seeking to avert the wrath of the gods, Hostilius now tried to emulate his predecessor and took greater interest in his religious duties. Yet his new found religious devotion fell well short of having the desired effect. King Tullus Hostilius was struck lighting and died. Ancus Marcius Rome’s fourth king was Numa Pompilius’grandson and therefore another Sabine. Ancus Marcius was chosen as a ruler to restore the peace and quiet the Romans had enjoyed under the rule of his grandfather. Rome’s neighbours had the impression that the city’s new leader was a pushover, yet king Ancus Marcius, proved to be as much of a warrior as he was an administrator, priest and diplomat. The prisci latini were defeated, their city destroyed and their people absorbed into Rome during his reign. Ancus Marcius is also said to have settled the Aventine Hill, given this new influx of people He also built Rome's first prison, the Mamertine prison. Tradition has it that Ancus Marcius founded the city of Ostia (Rome’s Port) possibly to start capitalizing on salt manufacturing He built the first bridge over the Tiber, the wooden Sublician Bridge, establishing a bridgehead to the Janiculan Hill, which he fortified, though most likely did not as part of the city. This may have been to protect the salt route from Ostia and to deny the Etruscans a strategic strongpoint on the western side of the river. Ancus Marcius died widely respected and was deemed a truly good king Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin the Elder) The fifth king of Rome was Lucius Tarquinius Priscus He moved to Rome from the Etruscan town of Tarquinii. His father, Demaratus, was a nobleman from Corinth who was forced to leave his city (655 BC) when the tyrant Cypselus assumed power there. Tarquin soon rose to be a figure of significant influence in Rome due to his wealth and nobility. He further assumed an influential position with the reigning king, Ancus Marcius and was made guardian of King Ancus’ two sons. He was chosen king upon Ancus’ death Tarquin’s many military campaigns led to victories over the Sabines, Latins and Etruscans. He established the symbols of rule: A gold crown, an ivory chain, an eagle headed scepter, a purple tunic and robe and twelve fasces (axes enclosed in bundles of rods). He may have begun the construction of the great Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus He introduced the Circus Games to Rome He is traditionally believed to have been the ruler who laid out the Circus Maximus. Tarquin is also credited with the initial drainage of the forum and the creation of the Cloaca Maxima. (the main sewer of Rome) He added 100 members of the lesser nobility (minores gentes) to the senate. These were most likely lesser Etruscan nobles whom he’d encouraged to settled in the city. Their promotion will no doubt have helped to strengthen his grip on power. The sons of King Ancus sought revenge for having been usurped and hired two assassins. As one approached from the front posing as a party in a legal dispute, the other came up behind and struck at his head with an axe. Tarquin died instantly. Yet the Romans were told by Tarquin’s wife Tanaquil that he was recovering from his wounds and that the king wanted Servius Tullius, to act on his behalf until he had recovered. Naturally Tarquin the Elder never recovered. But by the time the Romans became aware of their king’s demise, the new man was already firmly on the throne. Servius Tullius The sixth king, Servius Tullius, was a monarch celebrated for particularly high achievement by the Romans. At the death of King Tarquin the Elder it was Tanaquil who assured Servius’ ascent to the throne. The sons of Ancus Marcius being implicated in Tarquin’s murder made it impossible for them to now contest the throne. They retired into exile. Servius secured his position through a war against the Etruscan city of Veii. In fact it was so impressive that in his 44 years in power he had no need to take to the field again. The Romans believed Servius’ reign to have seen the first use of coinage in the city. o Unlike the Greeks, early Roman society did not use money. Far more they bartered - salt for pottery, grain for wood, etc... o Where the system proved inadequate the Romans expressed value in for of 'heads of cattle'. One such head of cattle was worth ten sheep. o The head of cattle (pecus) became the first Roman monetary unit. From this came the first Latin word for money - pecunia. A primitive monetary system evolved based on ingots of raw copper of the Roman pound (libra). o Such an ingot could then be broken up into yet different sizes and values. King Servius was the first to have a stamp put onto the copper, until then it was just the raw metal. o The design to have been used supposedly was either an ox or sheep. King Servius Tullius is said to have enlarged the city. Romans also attributed the “Servian Wall”, which surrounded the city, to him. A major achievement of his reign appears to have been the transfer of the regional festival of Diana from Aricia to the Aventine Hill of Rome. The moving of a regional festival and the prestigious Temple of Diana to Rome seems to show that the city was of rising importance to the wider region. Perhaps the most impressive idea ascribed to Servius Tullius is the census, which counted the people and ranked them in five classes, according to wealth. (This division of the people by wealth is often referred to as a ‘timocratic’ system, after the Greek timo (worth) and kratia (rule); so literally ‘rule by worth’.) o The classes were divisions created to decide the voting rights of the people (with the rich enjoying most votes) and to help administer the levying of troops, as the higher a citizen’s class, the better armour and weaponry he was able to afford. Servius is further said to have made the division of the people into three tribes for tax purposes: the ramnes, the luceres and the tities. (Hence the relation of the words ‘tribe’ and ‘tribute’.) These tribal divisions may have been ethnic in nature, though very little is known about them. A further change of constitutional importance credited to Servius Tullius is his reform of the army, in particular his granting the army a political assembly in its own right, the comitia centuriata. His reign is also closely associated with the construction of the great Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (185 ft wide and 65 ft high). Legend tells of an outrageous coup that overthrew King Servius Tullius in old age. It was the ambition of Servius’ daughter Tullia that her second husband Lucius Tarquin become king and so she proceeded to have Lucius kill her father The street in which King Servius Tullius was assassinated and run over was henceforth known as the vicus sceleratus, the ‘street of guilt’. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud) The seventh and final king of Rome was one Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Superbus in this case simply signifies him as Tarquin ‘the Proud’ and it was a title attributed to him much later by Roman historians). Tradition holds that Tarquin ‘the Proud’ was the son of Tarquin ‘the Elder’ Having come to power by means of a violent conspiracy, Tarquin the Proud lacked any kind of legitimacy. Tarquin was a tyrant similar to those which had seized power in many other Hellenistic kingdoms. His only means of sustaining his position were violence and oppression. He pronounced himself the supreme judge of Rome, granting himself complete authority over capital cases without the accused having any recourse of appeal. o Tarquin exploited this to rid himself of any potential rivals o The possessions of the convicted were then seized by the monarch o One of the victims was the father of Lucius Iunius Brutus Tarquin’s performance as a military commander and diplomat was impressive He made Rome the official head of the Latin League thereby tying the Latins into the Roman military machine, effectively doubling Rome’s military power in a single stroke. This new military power was used against the neighbouring Volcians The spoils of this successful campaign were put to use in public works. Tarquin is further thought to have continued the process of draining the forum, built and improved roads and strengthened the city’s defences. Public construction was the product of Tarquin’s oppression. Much of the labour was forcibly obtained from the plebeians. With the wealthy living in fear of prosecution and the poor being used to labour in public construction, all Rome have been seething with resentment towards her ruler. When finally revolution occurred, Tarquin was not in the city, but engaged in another military campaign. The final straw had been the rape of the noblewoman Lucretia by Tarquin’s son Sextus set the city alight. The nobles made their move, led by Lucius Iunius Brutus, declared themselves against Tarquin and instead announced Rome to be a republic (510/509 BC). The army quickly came over to the rebels and Tarquin the Proud was forced into exile. The early days of the Roman republic saw a bitter struggle for independence against Tarquin’s attempts to regain his throne. Nonetheless Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the tyrant of Rome, would never achieve control again. The Roman monarchy had fallen.