Kings of Rome

History of the founding of Rome and its kings

Kings of Rome

italian colonies Between the III and the I millennium b.C. the Italian peninsula was inhabited by two kind of peoples: the Italics ones (like Liguri, Sardi, Piceni, Elimi, Sicani), who were Italian in origin since long time, and the Indo-European ones (like Veneti, Osco-Umbri, Latini, Sabines, Samnites, Mesatti, Iapigi, Lucani, Bruzi, Siculi), came in Italy from the central Europe via the north of the Peninsula and the Aegean Sea. Still unknown is the origin of the Etruscans, one of the main civility in the central Italy at that time. Moreover, since the VIII century b.C. in the south of the country colonies of other Mediterranean peoples were founded, like the Phoenicians in Sicily and Sardinia founded by Carthage and the Greeks in the southern Italian coasts constituting the Magna Greece.

rome hills In the first millennium b.C., in the western coast of the Central Italy the Tiber divided the Italic peoples from the Etruscans in the north and west. Ancient Rome was built on the hills on the east bank of the Tiber, being a healthful and relatively safe place to live as free from the malaria that had been the bane of the low-lying plains of Latium. The seven hills where Rome was built are the Palatine in the center and, from the northwest to the southwest, the Capitoline, the Quirinal, the Viminal, the Esquiline, the Caelian, and Aventine.

The founding of Rome

Tradition tells of the founding of Rome by Romulus on 21 April 753 b.C.. Romulus, whose name inspired Rome's name, was the first of seven Kings of Rome, the last of whom, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed in 509 b.C. when the Roman Republic was established. The 244 years of the monarchy doesn't fit with the number of the kings, with a mean timeframe for a kingdom of 35 years, very long for that times.

Common believes is that the founding of the city was written in the III century b.C. as a legend under the influence of the Greek culture of the colonies in the southern part of the peninsula.

According the legend, when Amulius usurped the throne of his brother Numitor, king of Alba Longa, he forced Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, to become a vestal virgin so that she would bear no children. However, she became the mother of twin sons, Romulus and Remus, by the god Mars. Amulius then imprisoned Rhea Silvia and set the infants adrift in a basket on the Tiber. They floated safely ashore, where a she-wolf suckled and tended them until the royal shepherd Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia, found and reared them.

When they were grown, the brothers learned their true identity, killed Amulius, and restored Numitor to the throne. They then decided to establish a city of their own where they had been first rescued from the Tiber. When Romulus was chosen by an omen as the true founder of the new city, strife arose between the brothers, and Romulus killed Remus.

The roman kingdom

Following Romulus, according to the writings of Livy, the mythical Roman kings were three Roman-Sabinian at the beginning (Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius), followed by three Etruscan King (Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, Tarquinius Superbus).

King	Reign
Romulus	753 b.C.-716 b.C.
Numa Pompilius	715 b.C.-674 b.C.
Tullus Hostilius	673 b.C.-642 b.C.
Ancus Marcius	642 b.C.-617 b.C.
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus	616 b.C.-579 b.C.
Servius Tullius	578 b.C.-535 b.C.
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus	535 b.C.-510 b.C./509 b.C.

The First king of Rome was Romulus, after the murder of his brother Remus. He populated his city with fugitives from other countries; to get wives he and his fellow Romans abducted the women of the neighboring Sabine tribe. After a long reign, Romulus disappeared in a thunderstorm and was thereafter worshiped as the god Quirinus.

The origin of Roman ceremonial law and religious rites was ascribed to the successor of Romulus: Numa Pompilius. Among other achievements, he was supposedly responsible for the pontifices, flamens (sacred priests), vestal virgins, worship of Terminus (the god of landmarks), the building of the temple of Janus, and the reorganization of the calendar into days for business and holidays.

Tullus Hostiius is the third king of Rome. His successful wars with Alba, Fidenae and Veii shadow forth the earlier conquests of Latian territory and the first extension of the Roman domain beyond the walls of Rome. It was during his reign that the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii, the representatives of Rome and Alba, took place. He is said to have been struck dead by lightning as the punishment of his pride. As Romulus and Numa represent the Ramnes and Tities, so, in order to complete the list of the four traditional elements of the nation, Tullus was made the representative of the Luceres, and Ancus the founder of the Plebs. The distinctive event of this reign is the destruction of Alba, even if the destruction of the city is uncertain and probably at a later date by the Latins.

Ancus Marcius, fourth legendary king of Rome, was a friend of peace and religion like his grandfather Numa, but was obliged to make war to defend his territories. He conquered the Latins, and a number of them he settled on the Aventine formed the origin of the Plebeians. He fortified the Janiculum, threw a wooden bridge across the Tiber, founded the port of Ostia, established salt-works and built a prison. The legend makes Ancus Marcius the constructor of the first wooden bridge over the Tiber (pontifex: bridge-builder).

The fifth king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, is represented as the son of a Greek refugee, who removed from Tarquinii in Etruria to Rome, by the advice of his wife, the prophetess Tanaquil. Appointed guardian to the sons of Ancus Marcius, he succeeded in supplanting them on the throne on their father's death. He laid out the Circus Maximus, instituted the "great" games, built the great sewers (cloacae), and began the construction of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol. He carried on war successfully against the Sabines and subjugated Latium. He is said to have raised the number of the senators to 300, and to have doubled the number of the knights. The introduction of many of the insignia both of war and of civil office is assigned to his reign, and he was the first to celebrate a Roman triumph, after the Etruscan fashion, in a robe of purple and gold, and borne on a chariot drawn by four horses. He was assassinated at the instigation of the sons of Ancus Marcius.

After the murder of Tarquinius Priscus, his consort Tanaquil placed the husband of her daughter, Servius Tullius, in power as the king over her son Lucius Tarquinius, although he had not been elected to become king. During his reign, Tullius held a referendum on his monarchy, which overwhelmingly approved of him. An important event of his reign was the conclusion of an alliance with the Latins, whereby Rome and the cities of Latium became members of one great league, whose common sanctuary was the temple of Diana on the Aventine. His reign of forty-four years was brought to a close by a conspiracy headed by his son-in-law, Tarquinius Superbus.

Servius Tullius was overthrown by his son-in-law Tarquin II (the proud), son of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and son-in-law of Servius Tullius. On his accession he proceeded at once to repeal the recent reforms in the constitution, and attempted to set up a pure despotism. Many senators were put to death, and their places remained unfilled; the lower classes were deprived of their arms and employed in erecting splendid monuments, while the army was recruited from the kings own retainers and from the forces of foreign allies. The completion of the fortress-temple on the Capitoline confirmed his authority over the city, and a fortunate marriage of his son to the daughter of Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum secured him powerful assistance in the field. His reign was characterized by bloodshed and violence; the outrage of his son Sextus upon Lucretia precipitated a revolt, which led to the expulsion of the entire family. All Tarquiniuss efforts to force his way back to the throne were vain, and he died in exile at Cumae.

Tarquin II would be the last Roman monarch. The expulsion of the last king in 510 b.C. set up the Roman Republic, with the Roman leaders Brutus and Collatinus as the republic's first consuls.