According to the Roman foundation myth, Titus Tatius was the king of the

Sabines The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines di ...

from Cures and joint-ruler of the

Kingdom of Rome The Roman Kingdom (also referred to as the Roman monarchy, or the regal period of ancient Rome) was the earliest period of Roman history when the city and its territory were ruled by kings. According to oral accounts, the Roman Kingdom began wit ...

for several years. During the reign of

Romulus Romulus () was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these ...

, the first

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 ...

, Tatius declared war on Rome in response to the incident known as

The Rape of the Sabine Women The Rape of the Sabine Women ( ), also known as the Abduction of the Sabine Women or the Kidnapping of the Sabine Women, was an incident in Roman mythology in which the men of Rome committed a mass abduction of young women from the other citi ...

. After he captured the stronghold atop 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. ...

through the treachery of

Tarpeia In Roman mythology, Tarpeia (), daughter of the Roman commander Spurius Tarpeius, was a Vestal Virgin who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines at the time of their women's abduction for what she thought would be a reward of jewelry. She ...

, the Sabines and Romans fought an epic battle that concluded when the abducted Sabine women intervened to convince the two sides to reconcile and end the war. The two kingdoms were joined and the two kings ruled jointly until Tatius' murder five years later. The joint kingdom was still called Rome and the citizens of the city were still called Romans, but as a community, they were to be called '' Quirites''. The Sabines were integrated into the existing tribes and curies, yet Tatius is not counted as one of the traditional "Seven Kings of Rome". Tatius had one daughter, Tatia, who married

Numa Pompilius Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions ar ...

(Romulus' successor), and one son, who was the ancestor of the patrician ''Tatii'' family.

War with Rome

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary styl ...

( 60 BCE – after 7 BCE) reports that after a year of preparation, Rome and the Sabines engaged in several skirmishes and minor engagements before fighting two major battles. Two days after the first battle, the second and final battle between them took place in between the two Roman hills they were occupying. It was an epic contest, featuring multiple reversals wherein each army had, and then lost the upper hand. At the end of the day, the Sabines retreated to the citadel and the Romans didn't pursue them. Before combat could be resumed, the Sabine women, some in funerary attire, some carrying their children with them, convinced Tatius and Romulus to end the fighting. After a ceasefire, the nations signed a treaty creating a single kingdom under the joint rule of both kings, who reigned together until the death of Tatius.

Death

The two kings together oversaw an expansion of Rome and the building of several landmarks, as well as the conquest of Cameria. Their first disagreement came in the sixth year of their reign. Dionysius relates that some of Tatius' friends had victimized some Laurentii and when the city sent ambassadors to demand justice, Tatius would not allow Romulus to hand over the perpetrators. After the ambassadors had left for home, a group of Sabines waylaid them as they slept. Some escaped and when word got back to Rome, Romulus promptly arrested and surrendered the men responsible – including a member of Tatius' own family – over to a new group of ambassadors. Tatius followed the group out of the city and freed the accused men by force. Later, while both kings were participating in a sacrifice in

Lavinium Lavinium was a port city of Latium, to the south of Rome, midway between the Tiber river at Ostia and Antium. The coastline then, as now, was a long strip of beach. Lavinium was on a hill at the southernmost edge of the ''Silva Laurentina'', ...

, he was killed in retribution. Dionysius also tells the account of

Licinius Macer Gaius Licinius Macer (died 66BC) was a Roman annalist and politician. Life A member of the ancient plebeian clan Licinia, he was tribune in 73BC. Sallust mentions him agitating for the people's rights. He became praetor in 68BC, but in 66BC Cic ...

, wherein Tatius was killed when he went alone to try to convince the victims in Lavinium to forgive the crimes committed. When they discovered he had not brought the men responsible with him, as the senate and Romulus had ordered, an angry mob stoned him to death.

History

According to

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centur ...

, the story of Tatius' death seems to be a legend explaining the abolition of blood-revenge, presented as-if it were actual history, and that Tatius, who in some respects resembles Remus, is not a historical personage, but the eponymous hero of the religious college called Sodales Titii. The members of the sodales were bound to offer a yearly sacrifice at Tatius' grave; all of its members were of senatorial rank. In two different books,

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

expresses two different opinions, which Mommsen interprets as representing two different traditions: * That either it was instituted by Tatius himself to preserve a

Sabine The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines di ...

cult in Rome; or * That it was instituted by Romulus in honour of Tatius. The Titii had fallen into abeyance by the end of the republic, but were revived by emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

and existed to the end of the 2nd century CE. Augustus himself, and the

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

belonged to the college.

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

mentions him as a king of Rome who enlarged the city and established certain

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

s, but he may just have been the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of the tribe Titiae, or even an invention to serve as a precedent for collegial magistracy. Gary Forsythe suggests instead, that Titus Tatius could well have been the first real king of Rome, who was later replaced in the accepted narrative by an unhistorical

Romulus and Remus In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus (, ) are twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the founding of the city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his fratricide of Remus. The image of a she-wolf sucklin ...

, whose names have been construed to derive from that of the city itself.

Notes

References

* Endnotes: **

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 ''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an ex ...

'', 1:10-14. **

. ''

Annals Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

'', i. 54 **

. ''

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), ...

'', ii. 95. **

. '' Roman Antiquities'', ii. 36–52. **

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, ''

'', 19–24. **

Joachim Marquardt Karl Joachim Marquardt (19 April 1812 – 30 November 1882) was a German historian and writer on Roman antiquities. In his later life he was Rector of the Ernestine Gymnasium, Gotha. Biography Marquardt was born at Danzig.

(1885). ''Romische Staatsverwaltung'', iii. 446. ** Schwegler. ''Romische Geschichte'', bk. ix. 3, 14; x. 5. {{Authority control 8th-century BC Romans 8th-century BC monarchs Kings of Rome Kings in Roman mythology Italic people Sabine people Mythological kings Regicides