The Foundations of Rome from Kingship to Republic 753-440 BC Key sources: Source Period Aims and agenda Key problems Views on Rome Dionysius Lived Wrote the Dionysius’ history Overall, (of Halicarnassus*) 60 BC- ‘Roman History’ has a huge scope, so Dionysius 7 BC from Rome’s he had to collect makes the mythical evidence second point that beginnings to the hand from earlier Romans first Punic War texts. derive from (264 BC). Greek Dionysius’ Greek origins and Emphasises the background shapes benefit positive qualities the way he presents form Greek of Roman the Romans. virtues. conquerors and traced their Dionysius embraces ancestors back to Roman origin myths Greeks. into his history, such *Halicarnassus is as Romulus and modern day Bodrum, His work and Remus. Turkey. The same place Livy’s are our only that the historian continuous Herodotus was from. ancient histories of Rome. Livy Lived Livy’s writings Livy is heavily critical In sum, Livy 59 BC- contain of Rome’s enemies manipulates AD 17 elementary because of his myth when mistakes on Roman bias. writing military matters, about indicating that he Rome’s probably never Like Dionysius, Livy’s early kings, served in history includes to glorify the Roman army. mythological Roman elements on the ancestry. Chronological but founding of Rome, narrative style which are based on that is highly Greek myths e.g. descriptive. Aeneas as the Roman founder. Livy’s history emphasizes the Only 35 of Livy’s 142 great triumphs of books survive. Rome because he was writing under the reign of Augustus. 2 Time line of the Roman Kings: Legendary (753-616 BC) and Etruscan (616-509 BC) Portrait Name Lifespan Reign Succession c.772 BC 753 BC Proclaimed himself king after Romulus to to murdering his brother, Remus. 716 BC 716 BC L (aged 56) e g e n 753 BC Elected king by the Curiate d Numa 716 a to Assembly, after the death of r Pompilius to y 672 BC Romulus. Brother in law of 672 BC K (aged 80) Romulus. i n g s 7 5 Tullus ? 672 BC Elected king by the Curiate 3 - Hostilius to to Assembly, after the death of 6 1 642 BC 642 BC Numa Pompilius. 6 B C Son in law of Tullus Hostilius,grandson of Numa Ancus c. 677 642 BC Pompilius; five years old at the Marcius to to time of his grandfathers' death, 616 BC 616 BC he was elected king by the Curiate Assembly after the death of Tullus Hostilius. After the death of Ancus Marcius, he became regent due T to Marcius' sons being too h Tarquinius ? 616 BC e young, but was soon elected Priscus to to E king by the Curiate Assembly. t 578 BC 578 BC r He was the first Etruscan king, u s and was originally known as c a Lucumo. n K Son in law of Lucius Tarquinius i Servius ? 578 BC n Priscus. He seized the kingship g Tullius to to s after Ancus' sons had Tarquinius 534 BC 535 BC 6 Priscus assassinated. 1 6 - 5 0 Son of Tarquinius Priscus; seized 9 Tarquinius ? 535 BC the kingship after the B Superbus to to assassination of Servius Tullius C 495 BC 509 BC which he and his wife (daughter of Tullius) helped orchestrate. 1.1: The Founder Aeneas and the Legendary Kings (753-616 BC) 3 Aeneas Livy 1.1 First of all, then, it is generally agreed that when Troy was taken vengeance was wreaked upon the other Trojans, but that two, Aeneas and Antenor, were spared all the penalties of war by the Achivi, owing to long- standing claims of hospitality, and because they had always advocated peace and the giving back of Helen. They then experienced various vicissitudes. Antenor, with a company of Eneti who had been expelled from Paphlagonia in a revolution and were looking for a home and a leader—for they had lost their king, Pylaemenes, at Troy—came to the inmost bay of the Adriatic. There, driving out the Euganei, who dwelt between the sea and the Alps, the Eneti and Trojans took possession of those lands. And in fact the place where they first landed is called Troy, and the district is therefore known as Trojan, while the people as a whole are called the Veneti. Aeneas, driven from home by a similar misfortune, but guided by fate to undertakings of greater consequence, came first to Macedonia; thence was carried, in his quest of a place of settlement, to Sicily; and from Sicily laid his course towards the land of Laurentum. This place too is called Troy. 4 Landing there, the Trojans, as men who, after their all but immeasurable wanderings, had nothing left but their swords and ships, were driving booty from the fields, when King Latinus and the Aborigines, who then occupied that country, rushed down from their city and their fields to repel with arms the violence of the invaders. From this point the tradition follows two lines. Some say that Latinus, having been defeated in the battle, made a peace with Aeneas, and later an alliance of marriage. Others maintain that when the opposing lines had been drawn up, Latinus did not wait for the charge to sound, but advanced amidst his chieftains and summoned the captain of the strangers to a parley. He then inquired what men they were, whence they had come, what mishap had caused them to leave their home, and what they sought in landing on the coast of Laurentum. He was told that the people were Trojans and their leader Aeneas, son of Anchises and Venus; that their city had been burnt, and that, driven from home, they were looking for a dwelling-place and a site where they might build a city. Filled with wonder at the renown of the race and the hero, and at his spirit, prepared alike for war or peace, he gave him his right hand in solemn pledge of lasting friendship. The commanders then made a treaty, and the armies saluted each other. Aeneas became a guest in the house of Latinus; there the latter, in the presence of his household gods, added a domestic treaty to the public one, by giving his daughter in marriage to Aeneas. This event removed any doubt in the minds of the Trojans that they had brought their wanderings to an end at last in a permanent and settled habitation. They founded a town, which Aeneas named Lavinium, after his wife In a short time, moreover, there was a male scion of the new marriage, to whom his parents gave the name of Ascanius. 5 Livy 1.2 War was then made upon Trojans and Aborigines alike. Turnus was king of the Rutulians, and to him Lavinia had been betrothed before the coming of Aeneas. Indignant that a stranger should be preferred before him, he attacked, at the same time, both Aeneas and Latinus. Neither army came off rejoicing from that battle. The Rutulians were beaten: the victorious Aborigines and Trojans lost their leader Latinus. Then Turnus and the Rutulians, discouraged at their situation, fled for succour to the opulent and powerful Etruscans and their king Mezentius, who held sway in Caere, at that time an important town. Mezentius had been, from the very beginning, far from pleased at the birth of the new city; he now felt that the Trojan state was growing much more rapidly than was altogether safe for its neighbours, and readily united his forces with those of the Rutulians. Aeneas, that he might win the goodwill of the Aborigines to confront so formidable a force, and that all might possess not only the same rights but also the same name, called both nations Latins; and from that time on the Aborigines were no less ready and faithful than the Trojans in the service of King Aeneas. Accordingly, trusting to this friendly spirit of the two peoples, which were growing each day more united, and, despite the power of Etruria, which had filled with the glory of her name not only the lands but the sea as well, along the whole extent of Italy from the Alps to the Sicilian Strait, Aeneas declined to defend himself behind his walls, as he might have done, but led out his troops to battle. The fight which ensued was a victory for the Latins: for Aeneas it was, besides, the last of his mortal labours. He lies buried, whether it is fitting and right to term him god or man, on the banks of the river Numicus; men, however, call him Jupiter Indiges. Cinerary Urn with Aeneas and Turnus, Etruscan, 200-100 BC, Getty Museum 71.AA.294. Etruscans cremated the dead and placed their remains in stone or terracotta urns. Aeneas, crouches on one knee at the centre, over Turnus, who collapses on his shield at the far right. A woman supports Turnus’ body, possibly his sister Juturna. King Latinus, raises his hand in a victory salute. Behind him, the agitated woman who gesticulates in anguish may be Lavinia or her mother Amata. A winged female demon stands at left, signalling the funerary character of the scene. Key learning: Aeneas travelled from Troy to eventually reach Latium. Aeneas led his Trojan forces to victory and married Lavinia, after fighting her betrothed Turnus. Mezentius challenged Aeneas’ rule by banding together with neighbouring regions and was overcome. 6 Romulus and Remus Dionysius 1.85 I am now going to relate the events that happened at the very time of its founding; for this part of my account still remains.