Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (died 495 BC) was the legendary seventh and final
king of Rome
The king of Rome ( la, rex Romae) was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 50 ...
, reigning 25 years until the popular uprising that led to the establishment of the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
.
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
, '' ab urbe condita libri'', I He is commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, from his
cognomen ''Superbus'' (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
for "proud, arrogant, lofty").
Ancient accounts of the
regal period mingle history and legend. Tarquin was said to have been either the son or grandson of
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, and to have gained the throne through the murders of both his wife and his elder brother, followed by the assassination of his predecessor,
Servius Tullius. His reign has been described as a tyranny that justified the abolition of
the monarchy.
Background
The most ancient sources, such as that of
Quintus Fabius Pictor, assert Tarquin was the son of
Tarquinius Priscus, but modern historians believe that to be "impossible" under the traditional chronology, indicating either he was Priscus' grandson or that the traditional chronology itself is "unsound".
His mother supposedly was
Tanaquil. Tanaquil had engineered her husband's succession to the Roman kingdom on the death of
Ancus Marcius
Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth king of Rome, who traditionally reigned 24 years. Upon the death of the previous king, Tullus Hostilius, the Roman Senate appointed an interrex, who in turn called a session of the assembly of the people wh ...
. When the sons of Marcius subsequently arranged the elder Tarquin's assassination in 579 BC, Tanaquil placed
Servius Tullius on the throne, in preference to her own sons or grandsons.
According to an Etruscan tradition, the hero Macstarna, usually equated with Servius Tullius, defeated and killed a Roman named
Gnaeus Tarquinius
Gnaeus, also spelled Cnaeus, was a Roman praenomen derived from the Latin ''naevus'', a birthmark. It was a common name borne by many individuals throughout Roman history, including:
Individuals
* Gnaeus Acerronius Proculus, a consul of the Roma ...
, and rescued the brothers
Caelius and Aulus Vibenna from captivity. This may recollect an otherwise forgotten attempt by the sons of Tarquin the Elder to reclaim the throne.
To forestall further dynastic strife, Servius married his daughters, known to history as Tullia Major and
Tullia Minor
Tullia Minor is a semi-legendary figure in Roman history who can be found in the writings of Livy, Cicero, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. She was the last queen of Rome.
''Tullia Minor'' was the younger daughter of Rome's sixth king, Servius Tu ...
, to Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the future king, and his brother
Arruns. One of Tarquin's sisters,
Tarquinia, married Marcus Junius Brutus, and was the mother of
Lucius Junius Brutus, one of the men who would later lead the overthrow of the
Roman Kingdom.
The elder sister, Tullia Major, was of mild disposition, yet married the ambitious Tarquin. Her younger sister, Tullia Minor, was of fiercer temperament, but her husband Arruns was not. She came to despise him, and conspired with Tarquin to bring about the deaths of Tullia Major and Arruns. After the murder of their spouses, Tarquin and Tullia were married. They had three sons:
Titus
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death.
Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...
,
Arruns, and
Sextus
Sextus is an ancient Roman ''praenomen'' or "first name". Its standard abbreviation is Sex., and the feminine form would be Sexta. It is one of the numeral ''praenomina'', like Quintus ("fifth") and Decimus ("tenth"), and means "sixth". Although i ...
, and a daughter,
Tarquinia, who married
Octavius Mamilius, the prince of
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...
.
Overthrow of Servius Tullius
Tullia encouraged her husband to advance his own position, ultimately persuading him to usurp her father, king Servius. Tarquin solicited the support of the patrician
senators, especially those from houses that had been raised to senatorial rank under Tarquin the Elder. He bestowed presents upon them, and spread criticism of Servius the king.
[Livy, i. 47.]
In time, Tarquin felt ready to seize the throne. He went to the senate house with a group of armed men, sat himself on the throne, and summoned the senators to attend upon him. He then spoke to the senators, denigrating Servius as a slave born of a slave; for failing to be elected by the senate and the people during an
interregnum, as had been the tradition for the election of kings of Rome; for having become king through the machinations of a woman; for favouring the lower classes of Rome over the wealthy, and for taking the land of the upper classes for distribution to the poor; and for instituting the census so that the wealth of the upper classes might be exposed in order to excite popular envy.
When word of this brazen deed reached Servius, he hurried to the curia to confront Tarquin, who leveled the same accusations against his father-in-law, and then in his youth and vigor carried the king outside and flung him down the steps of the senate-house and into the street. The king's retainers fled, and as he made his way towards the palace, the aged Servius was set upon and murdered by Tarquin's assassins, perhaps on the advice of his own daughter.
[Livy, i. 48.]
Tullia drove in her chariot to the senate-house, where she was the first to hail her husband as king. But Tarquin bade her return home, concerned that the crowd might do her violence. As she drove toward the Urbian Hill, her driver stopped suddenly, horrified at the sight of the king's body, lying in the street. But in a frenzy, Tullia herself seized the reins, and drove the wheels of her chariot over her father's corpse. The king's blood spattered against the chariot and stained Tullia's clothes, so that she brought a gruesome relic of the murder back to her house. The street where Tullia disgraced the dead king afterward became known as the ''Vicus Sceleratus,'' the Street of Crime.
Reign
Tarquin commenced his reign by refusing to bury the dead Servius, and then putting to death a number of leading senators, whom he suspected of remaining loyal to Servius. By not replacing the slain senators, and not consulting the senate on matters of government, he diminished both the size and the authority of the senate. In another break with tradition, Tarquin judged capital crimes without the advice of counselors, causing fear amongst those who might think to oppose him. He made a powerful ally when he betrothed his daughter to
Octavius Mamilius of
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...
, among the most eminent of the Latin chiefs.
Early in his reign, Tarquin called a meeting of the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
leaders to discuss the bonds between Rome and the Latin towns. The meeting was held at a grove sacred to the goddess
Ferentina. At the meeting,
Turnus Herdonius inveighed against Tarquin's arrogance, and warned his countrymen against trusting the Roman king. Tarquin then bribed Turnus' servant to store a large number of swords in his master's lodging. Tarquin called together the Latin leaders, and accused Turnus of plotting his assassination. The Latin leaders accompanied Tarquin to Turnus' lodging and, the swords then being discovered, the Latin's guilt was then speedily inferred. Turnus was condemned to be thrown into a pool of water in the grove with a wooden frame, or ''cratis'', placed over his head, into which stones were thrown, drowning him. The meeting of the Latin chiefs then continued, and Tarquin persuaded them to renew their treaty with Rome, becoming her allies rather than her enemies. It was agreed that the soldiers of the Latins would attend at the grove on an appointed day, and form a united military force with the
Roman army
The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...
.
Next, Tarquin instigated a war against the
Volsci, taking the wealthy town of
Suessa Pometia. He celebrated a triumph, and with the spoils of this conquest, he commenced the erection of the
Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, which Tarquin the Elder had vowed. He then engaged in a
war with
Gabii, one of the Latin cities that had rejected the treaty with Rome. Unable to take the city by force of arms, Tarquin resorted to another stratagem. His son, Sextus, pretending to be ill-treated by his father, and covered with the bloody marks of stripes, fled to Gabii. The infatuated inhabitants entrusted him with the command of their troops, and when he had obtained the unlimited confidence of the citizens, he sent a messenger to his father to inquire how he should deliver the city into his hands. The king, who was walking in his garden when the messenger arrived, made no reply, but kept striking off the heads of the tallest poppies with his stick. Sextus took the hint, and put to death, or banished on false charges, all the leading men of Gabii, after which he had no difficulty in compelling the city to submit.
Tarquin agreed upon a peace with the
Aequi, and renewed the treaty of peace between Rome and the
Etruscans
The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roug ...
. According to the
Fasti Triumphales
The ''Acta Triumphorum'' or ''Triumphalia'', better known as the ''Fasti Triumphales'', or Triumphal Fasti, is a calendar of Roman magistrates honoured with a celebratory procession known as a ''triumphus'', or triumph, in recognition of an imp ...
, he won a victory over the
Sabines, and established Roman colonies at the towns of
Signia and
Circeii
Circeii was an ancient Roman city on the site of modern San Felice Circeo and near Mount Circeo, the mountain promontory on the southwest coast of Italy. The area around Circeii and Mount Circeo was thickly populated with Roman villas and other ...
.
At Rome, Tarquin leveled the top of the
Tarpeian Rock, overlooking the
Forum, and removed a number of ancient
Sabine shrines in order to make way for the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the
Capitoline Hill
The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. ...
. He constructed tiers of seats in the circus, and ordered the excavation of Rome's great sewer, the ''
cloaca maxima''.
According to one story, Tarquin was approached by the
Cumaean Sibyl
The Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. The word ''sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word ''sibylla'', meaning prophetess. There were many siby ...
, who offered him nine books of prophecy at an exorbitant price. Tarquin abruptly refused, and the Sibyl proceeded to burn three of the nine. She then offered him the remaining books, but at the same price. He hesitated, but refused again. The Sibyl then burned three more books before offering him the three remaining books at the original price. At last Tarquin accepted, in this way obtaining the
Sibylline Books
The ''Sibylline Books'' ( la, Libri Sibyllini) were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, that, according to tradition, were purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and were consulted at ...
.
Overthrow and exile
In 509 BC, having angered the Roman populace through the pace and burden of constant building, Tarquin embarked on
a campaign against the
Rutuli
The Rutuli or Rutulians were an ancient people in Italy. The Rutuli were located in a territory whose capital was the ancient town of Ardea, located about 35 km southeast of Rome.
Thought to have been descended from the Umbri and the Pelas ...
. At that time, the Rutuli were a very wealthy nation, and Tarquin was keen to obtain the spoils that would come with victory, in hopes of assuaging the ire of his subjects. Failing to take their capital of
Ardea by storm, the king determined to take the city by siege instead.
With little prospect of battle, the young noblemen in the king's army fell to drinking and boasting. When the subject turned to the virtue of their wives,
Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus claimed to have the most dedicated of spouses. With his companions, they secretly visited each other's homes, and discovered all of the wives enjoying themselves, except for
Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, who was engaged in domestic activities. Lucretia received the princes graciously, and together her beauty and virtue kindled the flame of desire in Collatinus' cousin, Sextus Tarquinius, the king's son. After a few days, Sextus returned to
Collatia
Collatia was an ancient town of central Italy, c. 15 km northeast of Rome by the ''Via Collatina''.
It appears in the legendary history of Rome as captured by Tarquinius Priscus. Vergil speaks of it as a Latin colony of Alba Longa. In ...
, where he implored Lucretia to give herself to him. When she refused, he threatened to kill her, and claim that he had discovered her in the act of adultery with a slave, if she did not yield to him.
To spare her husband the shame threatened by Sextus, Lucretia submitted to his whims. But when he had departed for the camp, she sent for her husband and father, revealing the whole affair, and accusing Sextus. Despite the pleas of her family, Lucretia took her own life out of shame. Collatinus, together with his father-in-law,
Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, and his companions,
Lucius Junius Brutus and
Publius Valerius, swore an oath to expel the king and his family from Rome.
As
Tribune of the Celeres, Brutus was head of the king's personal bodyguard, and entitled to summon the Roman comitia. This he did, and by recounting the various grievances of the people, the king's abuses of power, and by inflaming public sentiment with the tale of the rape of Lucretia, Brutus persuaded the comitia to revoke the king's
imperium and send him into exile. Tullia fled the city in fear of the mob, while Sextus Tarquinius, his deed revealed, fled to Gabii, where he hoped for the protection of the Roman garrison. However, his previous conduct there had made him many enemies, and he was soon assassinated. In place of the king, the ''comitia centuriata'' resolved to elect two
consuls
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
to hold power jointly. Lucretius, the
prefect of the city, presided over the election of the first consuls, Brutus and Collatinus.
When word of the uprising reached the king, Tarquin abandoned Ardea, and sought support from his allies in Etruria. The cities of
Veii
Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan civilization, Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the Comuni of the Province of Rome, comune ...
and
Tarquinii sent contingents to join the king's army, and he prepared to march upon Rome. Meanwhile, Brutus prepared a force to meet the returning army. In a surprising reversal, Brutus demanded that his colleague Collatinus resign the consulship and go into exile, because he bore the hated name of Tarquinius. Stunned by this betrayal, Collatinus complied, and his father-in-law was chosen to succeed him.
Meanwhile, the king sent ambassadors to the senate, ostensibly to request the return of his personal property, but in reality to subvert a number of Rome's leading men. When this plot was discovered, those found guilty were put to death by the consuls. Brutus was forced to condemn his two sons Titus and Tiberius to death because they had taken part in the conspiracy. Leaving Lucretius in charge of the city, Brutus departed to meet the king upon the field of battle. At the
Battle of Silva Arsia, the Romans won a hard-fought victory over the king and his Etruscan allies. Each side sustained painful losses; the consul Brutus and his cousin,
Arruns Tarquinius, fell in battle against each other.
After this failure, Tarquin turned to
Lars Porsena
Lars Porsena (or Porsenna; Etruscan: ) was an Etruscan king (lar) known for his war against the city of Rome. He ruled over the city of Clusium ( Etruscan: ; modern Chiusi). There are no established dates for his rule, but Roman sources often ...
, the king of
Clusium
Clusium ( grc-gre, Κλύσιον, ''Klýsion'', or , ''Kloúsion''; Umbrian:''Camars'') was an ancient city in Italy, one of several found at the site. The current municipality of Chiusi ( Tuscany) partly overlaps this Roman walled city. The R ...
. Porsena's march on Rome and the valiant defense of the Romans achieved legendary status, giving rise to the story of
Horatius at the bridge, and the bravery of
Gaius Mucius Scaevola. Accounts vary as to whether Porsena finally entered Rome, or was thwarted, but modern scholarship suggests that he was able to occupy the city briefly before withdrawing. Ultimately, his efforts were of no avail to the exiled Roman king.
Tarquin's final attempt to regain the Roman kingdom came in 498 or 496 BC, when he persuaded his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius, dictator of Tusculum, to march on Rome at the head of a Latin army. The Roman army was led by the dictator
Albus Postumius Albus and his
Master of the Horse,
Titus Aebutius Elva
__NoToC__
Titus Aebutius Helva was a Roman senator and general from the early Republic, who held the consulship in 499 BC. He was '' magister equitum'' under Aulus Postumius Albus at the Battle of Lake Regillus. He was the father of Lucius Aeb ...
, while the elderly king and his last remaining son,
Titus Tarquinius
Titus was the eldest son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. During his father's reign, he accompanied his younger brother Aruns and his cousin Lucius Junius Brutus to consult the Oracle at Delphi to have interpreted an omen witn ...
, accompanied by a force of Roman exiles, fought alongside the Latins. Once more the battle was hard-fought and narrowly decided, with both sides suffering great losses. Mamilius was slain, the master of the horse grievously injured, and Titus Tarquinius barely escaped with his life. But in the end, the Latins abandoned the field, and Rome retained her independence.
After the Latin defeat and the death of his son-in-law, Tarquin went to the court of
Aristodemus at
Cumae, where he died in 495.
Modern representations
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
alludes to Tarquin in his plays, ''
Titus Andronicus'', ''
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
'', ''
Coriolanus'', ''
Macbeth'', and ''
Cymbeline''.
In 1765,
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...
gave a speech before the Virginia
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been establishe ...
in opposition to the
Stamp Act of 1765
The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (5 Geo. III c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials ...
. Toward the end of his speech, he inserted as a rhetorical flourish a comparison between
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great B ...
and various historical figures who were brought low by their enemies, including
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
,
Caesar, and, in some accounts, Tarquin.
The cultural phenomenon known as "
tall poppy syndrome
The tall poppy syndrome is a cultural phenomenon in which people hold back, criticise or sabotage those who have or are believed to have achieved notable success in one or more aspects of life, particularly intellectual or cultural wealth; "cut ...
," in which persons of unusual merit are attacked or resented because of their achievements, derives its name from the episode in
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
in which Tarquin is said to have instructed his son Sextus to weaken the city of Gabii by destroying its leading men. The motif of using an unwitting messenger to deliver such a message through the metaphor of cutting the heads off the tallest poppies may have been borrowed from
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
, whose ''
Histories
Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to:
* the plural of history
* ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus
* ''The Histories'', by Timaeus
* ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius
* ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...
'' contain a similar story involving ears of wheat instead of poppies. A passage concerning Livy's version of the story appears in
Kierkegaard's ''
Fear and Trembling''.
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
employed the character in his 1946
chamber opera ''
The Rape of Lucretia''.
[Andrew Clements,]
The Origins of Britten's Controversial Opera, ''The Rape of Lucretia''
, in ''The Guardian'', 1 June 2001.
Tarquin also appears in the fourth book of ''
The Trials of Apollo
''The Trials of Apollo'' is a pentalogy of fantasy adventure and mythological fiction novels written by American author Rick Riordan that collectively form a sequel to the '' Heroes of Olympus'' series. It is set in the same world as the Rio ...
'' series by
Rick Riordan. He is depicted as a zombie king who attacks the demigods for trying to rewrite the Sybilline Books.
References
Bibliography
Modern sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
Ancient sources
*
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Romaike Archaiologia'' (Roman Antiquities).
* Titus Livius (
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
), ''
History of Rome
The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced ...
''.
* Gaius Plinius Secundus (
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
), ''
Historia Naturalis'' (Natural History).
*
Maurus Servius Honoratus
Servius was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in Italy; he authored a set of commentaries on the works of Virgil. These works, ''In tria Virg ...
(Servius), ''Ad Virgilii Aeneidem Commentarii'' (Commentary on Vergil's Aeneid).
External links
Britannica: Tarquin, King of RomeStemma Tarquiniorum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarquiniussuperbus, Lucius
6th-century BC births
495 BC deaths
5th-century BC Romans
6th-century BC Romans
6th-century BC monarchs
Kings of Rome
Monarchs who abdicated
Etruscan kings
Tarquinii