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Years BC ImageSize = width:800 height:75 PlotArea = width:700 height:50 left:65 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:time value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # id:period value:rgb(1,0.7,0.5) # id:age value:rgb(0.95,0.85,0.5) # id:era value:rgb(1,0.85,0.5) # id:eon value:rgb(1,0.85,0.7) # id:filler value:gray(0.8) # background bar id:black value:black Period = from:-753 till:-509 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:-753 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:5 start:-753 PlotData = align:center textcolor:black fontsize:10 mark:(line,black) width:15 shift:(0,-5) bar:Rulers color:era from:-753 till:-716 text:
Romulus from:-716 till:-673 text:
Numa from:-673 till:-642 text:
Tullus from:-642 till:-616 text:
Ancus from:-616 till:-579 text:
Priscus from:-579 till:-535 text:
Servius from:-535 till:-509 text:
Superbus :::''Dates follow
Livy's chronology of reign-lengths. Consult particular article for details of each king.''
Romulus Son of the
Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, ostensibly by the god
Mars, the legendary
Romulus was Rome's founder and first king. After he and his twin brother
Remus had deposed
King Amulius of Alba and reinstated the king's brother and their grandfather
Numitor to the throne, they decided to build a city in the area where they had been
abandoned as infants. After killing Remus in a dispute, Romulus began building the city on the
Palatine Hill. His work began with fortifications. He permitted men of all classes to come to Rome as citizens, including slaves and freemen without distinction. He is credited with establishing the city's religious, legal and political institutions. The kingdom was established by unanimous acclaim with him at the helm when Romulus called the citizenry to a council for the purposes of determining their government. Romulus established the
Senate as an advisory council with the appointment of 100 of the most noble men in the community. These men he called
patres (from
pater, father, head), and their descendants became the
patricians. To project command, he surrounded himself with attendants, in particular the twelve lictors. He created three divisions of
horsemen (equites), called
centuries:
Ramnes (Romans),
Tities (after the Sabine king) and
Luceres (Etruscans). He also divided the populace into 30
curiae, named after 30 of the Sabine women who had intervened to end the war between Romulus and Tatius. The
curiae formed the voting units in the
popular assemblies (
Comitia Curiata). Romulus was behind one of the most notorious acts in Roman history, the incident commonly known as
The Rape of the Sabine Women. To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighbouring tribes to a festival in Rome where the Romans committed a
mass abduction of young women from among the attendees. The accounts vary from 30 to 683 women taken, a significant number for a population of 3,000 Latins (and presumably for the Sabines as well). War broke out when Romulus refused to return the captives. After the Sabines made three unsuccessful attempts to invade the hill settlements of Rome, the women themselves intervened during the
Battle of the Lacus Curtius to end the war. The two peoples were united in a joint kingdom, with Romulus and the Sabine king
Titus Tatius sharing the throne. In addition to the war with the Sabines, Romulus
waged war with the Fidenates and Veientes and others. He reigned for thirty-seven years. According to the legend, Romulus vanished at age fifty-four These were set aside after an
esteemed nobleman testified that Romulus had come to him in a vision and told him that he was the god
Quirinus. He became not only one of the
three major gods of Rome, but the very likeness of the city itself. A replica of
Romulus's hut was maintained in the centre of Rome until the end of the Roman Empire.
Numa Pompilius '' After Romulus died, there was an
interregnum for one year, during which ten men chosen from the Senate governed Rome as successive
interreges. Under popular pressure, the Senate finally chose the Sabine
Numa Pompilius to succeed Romulus, on account of his reputation for justice and piety. The choice was accepted by the Curiate Assembly. Numa's reign was marked by peace and religious reform. He constructed a new temple to
Janus and, after establishing peace with Rome's neighbours, closed the doors of the temple to indicate a state of peace. They remained closed for the rest of his reign. He established the
Vestal Virgins at Rome, as well as the
Salii, and the
flamines for
Jupiter,
Mars and
Quirinus. He also established the office and duties of
pontifex maximus. Numa reigned for 43 years. He reformed the
Roman calendar by adjusting it for the solar and lunar year, as well as by adding the months of January and February to bring the total number of months to twelve. Tullus is attributed with constructing a new home for the Senate, the
Curia Hostilia, which survived for 562 years after his death. According to Livy, Tullus neglected the worship of the gods until, towards the end of his reign, he fell ill and became superstitious. However, when Tullus called upon Jupiter and begged assistance, Jupiter responded with a bolt of lightning that burned the king and his house to ashes. His reign lasted for 32 years.
Ancus Marcius '' Following the mysterious death of Tullus, the Romans elected a peaceful and religious king in his place, Numa's grandson,
Ancus Marcius. Much like his grandfather, Ancus did little to expand the borders of Rome and only fought wars to defend the territory. He also built Rome's first prison on the
Capitoline Hill. Ancus further fortified the
Janiculum Hill on the western bank, and built the first bridge across the
Tiber River. He also founded the port of
Ostia Antica on the
Tyrrhenian Sea and established Rome's first salt works, as well as the city's first
aqueduct. Rome grew, as Ancus used diplomacy to peacefully unite smaller surrounding cities into alliance with Rome. Thus, he completed the conquest of the Latins and relocated them to the
Aventine Hill, thus forming the
plebeian class of Romans. He died a natural death, like his grandfather, after 25 years as king, marking the end of Rome's Latin–Sabine kings. One of his first reforms was to add 100 new members to the Senate from the conquered Etruscan tribes, bringing the total number of senators to 200. He used the treasures Rome had acquired from the conquests to build great monuments for Rome. Among these were Rome's great sewer systems, the
Cloaca Maxima, which he used to drain the swamp-like area between the Seven Hills of Rome. In its place, he began construction on the
Roman Forum. He also founded the Roman games. Priscus initiated great building projects, including the city's first bridge, the
Pons Sublicius. The most famous is the
Circus Maximus, a giant stadium for
chariot races. After that, he started the building of the temple-fortress to the god Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill. However, before it was completed, he was killed by a son of Ancus Marcius, after 38 years as king.
Servius Tullius . The
seven hills of Rome are shown in green, with Latin names. Priscus was succeeded by his son-in-law
Servius Tullius, Rome's second king of Etruscan birth, and the son of a slave. Like his father-in-law, Servius fought successful wars against the Etruscans. He used the booty to build the first wall all around the Seven Hills of Rome, the
pomerium. He also reorganized the army. Servius Tullius instituted a new constitution, further developing the
citizen classes. He instituted Rome's first
census, which divided the population into five economic classes, and formed the
Centuriate Assembly. He used the census to divide the population into four urban tribes based on location, thus establishing the
Tribal Assembly. He also oversaw the construction of the
Temple of Diana on the
Aventine Hill. Servius' reforms made a big change in Roman life: voting rights based on socio-economic status, favouring elites. However, over time, Servius increasingly favoured the poor in order to gain support from
plebeians, often at the expense of patricians. After a 44-year reign, In the first century AD, the emperor
Claudius mentioned Mastarna, an Etruscan adventurer who became king of Rome after the death of his chief
Caelius Vibenna; Claudius identified Mastarna with Servius Tullius. Mastarna and Caelius Vibenna are also depicted on the
François Tomb, a painted tomb with Etruscan inscriptions usually dated to the fourth or third century BC. Mastarna—whose name appears to be the Etruscan form of the Latin title 'leader'—may have become king of Rome in the time of the
Tarquinii. Momigliano writes that Mastarna "is so different from the traditional Servius Tullius that it appears prudent to keep the two apart."
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus The seventh and final king of Rome was
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. He was the son of Priscus and the son-in-law of Servius, whom he and his wife had killed. He ruled for 25 years. Tensions came to a head when the king's son,
Sextus Tarquinius, raped
Lucretia, wife and daughter to powerful Roman nobles. Lucretia told her relatives about the attack, and committed suicide to avoid the dishonour of the episode. Four men, led by
Lucius Junius Brutus, and including
Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus,
Publius Valerius Poplicola, and
Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus incited a revolution that
deposed and expelled Tarquinius and his family from Rome in 509 BC.
Lucius Junius Brutus and
Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus became Rome's first
consuls, marking the beginning of the
Roman Republic. An attempt by the Etruscan ruler
Lars Porsena to restore the Tarquinii to power was abandoned, and a subsequent attack by Porsena's son on
Aricia was beaten back by the Latins and their allies from
Cumae. In the first century AD, the Roman historians
Tacitus and
Pliny recorded an alternative tradition, according to which Porsena had actually captured Rome and imposed humiliating conditions on the Romans. Thus, some modern scholars have suggested that Porsena took Rome and from there attacked Aricia, withdrawing after his defeat. According to
Tim Cornell, rather than trying to restore the Tarquinii at all, it is more likely that Porsena abolished the Roman monarchy, and that the republic was established after his departure. ==Notes and references==