L3H • Roman History Part I — Ch.3 The Kings of Rome

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The Forgotten Kings: Rome’s Early Rulers

Introduction
Numa Pompilius
Tullus Hostilius
Ancus Marcius
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus
Servius Tullius
Epilogue
Bibliography

Summary

Thousands of years ago, before Rome was the great empire that it would one day become, it was ruled by seven kings who each had a lasting impact on the city. However, of those seven only two of them are well known today. This essay is about those other five kings who have long been forgotten by history, and do not get the credit that they deserve for all that they did for Rome. Today, historians debate whether these kings ever existed. Most have determined that there is no proof that the first four ever existed. Whether they existed or not, understanding the kings is crucial to understanding the Romans because the kings were important to the Romans. They were the ones whom the Romans credited with most of their traditions. Without the kings, or the legend of the kings, Rome would never have become as powerful as it did.

Introduction

Before there was Caesar, Cicero, and Augustus, there were seven kings who ruled Rome and each had a lasting impact on the city. Despite the fact that there were seven kings in all, only two of them, the first and the last, are well known today. The other five have long faded into history, almost exclusively spoken of by historians debating their authenticity. In fact, it is widely believed that the first four kings are myth. Whether or not they were all real, they were all crucial to what Rome would become. It was not only Romulus and Tarquin Superbus who were important to Rome. Without the other five kings Rome would have been nothing. Numa Pompilius brought peace and religion to the city while Tullus Hostilius made the army great. Ancus Marcius expanded Rome and brought a sense of calm to the city. Lucius Tarquin Priscus constructed the Cloaca Maxima and brought the games to Rome, and then Servius Tullius created the census among many other things. Without these five men Rome would not have become what it did. Their stories deserve to be told.

Numa Pompilius

After the death of Romulus, the Sabines decided that since the first king had been a Latin, the next should be a Sabine. The Romans agreed to have a Sabine king on one condition: that they alone would pick which Sabine. The Sabines agreed to the deal, and this was how Numa Pompilius, son in law of King Tatius of the Sabines, was chosen to be the second king of Rome. Numa, born around 750 BCE, was living a quiet life in the woods when a delegation arrived asking him to be king. At first he refused, but the delegation managed to convince him and he reluctantly became king around 715 BCE (Matyszak, 22-23).

Numa’s first goal when he became king was to make Rome civilized. At this time Rome was still divided by tribal lines. The Romans and the Sabines were still two separate groups, and they were both against the runaway slaves and fugitives who were joining the civil body. Many fugitives had fled to Rome from their homeland to escape punishment for crimes. When they arrived they kept their old traditions and made Rome a place where many crimes were committed. To unify the Roman people, Numa divided them into smaller groups of both Sabines and Romans, and he set up communities for peasant farmers. Because of these changes ethnic differences were soon forgotten (Matyszak, 23).

Above all Numa was a man of religion, and most of his accomplishments were religious ones. He brought over the Vestil Virgins from Alba Longa and created the feticiles, who were priests who mediated in war disputes. He also reorganized the calendar. Before Numa there were ten months and three hundred and sixty days, with extra days added at random. It was Numa who is credited for adding January and February to the calendar. Numa’s reign is mostly remembered as a time of peace. He founded the Temple of Janus, whose doors were open at wartime and closed at peacetime. The doors of the temple were closed throughout his entire forty-three year reign. In the following years they were only closed one more time, and very briefly (Matyszak, 25).

Many historians today believe Numa Pompilius to be a myth. There are some aspects of his life that sound mythological. After his wife died Numa fell in love with a nymph named Egeria who gave him messages from the gods about what he should do for Rome. He was also said to have had magical powers. He once disclosed a spell for making thunder and lightning that required an onion, human hair, and live pilchards. One thousand years after his death Romans were still showing visitors his house on the Quirinal Hill (Matyszak, 23-24). Roman historians had a difficult time separating fact from fiction because when they started researching the kings they found that there were no written records from this period, and fact had long ago been mixed with oral tradition (Scullard, 52). Numa Pompilius’ reign of peace is said to have ended around 673 BCE with his death at the age of eighty seven. His death left Rome with the responsibility of finding a new king.

Tullus Hostilius

Since Numa had been a Sabine, it was once again time for a Roman king. The Romans chose Tullus Hostilius to be the next king. Hostilius, born around 710 BCE, came from a family of warriors. His grandfather had fallen in the war after the rape of the Sabine women. Hostilius became king around 673 BCE, and almost right away he had to deal with military conflict with a major power. This major power was Alba Longa, which shared a border with Rome. Alba Longa had had a problem with the success of Rome for a long time. Now that there was a new king Rome was vulnerable, and so it was the perfect time to make their move. The cause of the war was cattle raiding. Because of the shared border, cattle raiding had been going on for many years between the two cities. Usually when a conflict such as this arose Rome would send envoys to solve the problem but this time it escalated and war was declared. Had it been another king ruling Rome the Alba Longans might have won the war, but they did not know that Hostilius was a man of military genius. Hostilius knew that after the peaceful reign of Numa, the Romans were not used to war, so in an effort to avoid war he made a plan. He and Mettius, king of Alba Longa, agreed to each choose three brothers. These brothers would compete against the brothers of the opposing city. The city whose brothers lost would have to swear allegiance to the winning city. Rome’s brothers won, and Alba Longa swore allegiance to Rome (Matyszak, 26-27).

However this was not the end of the story. Mettius was unwilling to accept Rome’s rule, but he didn’t want to break their deal, so he decided to provoke the Fidenates, another neighbor of Rome, into attacking Rome. The Albans then joined the Fidenates in the war. It was then that Hostilius came up with another clever plan. In a battle Hostilius yelled to his men that the enemy was withdrawing in order to strike them. Both his men and the enemy believed him, so the enemy withdrew. Once they did this, the Romans attacked them and won the battle. At this turning point in the war Mettius rejoined the Romans and swore his loyalty to Hostilius. Hostilius pretended to believe him, but that night they surrounded and took over the Albans. Hostilius then had Mettius torn apart by chariots moving in different directions. The Albans joined Rome as regular citizens with no discrimination. Even the Alban nobles were allowed to join the Roman nobles (Matyszak, 28-29).

Because of this population increase Hostilius is said to have formed another senate house called the Curia Hostilia, located in the corner of the forum where it has remained until today. Today the modern Italian parliament is located near it. Most historians say that the Curia Hostilia was probably not named after a single man, so they do not attribute it to Hostilius (Matyszak, 29).

In his later years Hostilius, who had previously denounced the gods, ended up becoming very religious. This turn to religion started when he waged war on the Sabines, which angered the gods. The gods did things like hurling stones onto the Aelian Hill in protest, but Hostilius still would not stop the campaign until he and the other Romans got the plague. This finally made Hostilius become religious and in an effort to save Rome he frantically began worshipping the gods. For many years things were alright again, until Hostilius began studying the books of Numa. In one of the books Hostilius learned of a rite of Jupiter and he performed it so well that Jupiter became jealous. Jupiter struck Hostilius palace killing him around 641 BCE (Matyszak, 29). Today, most historians say that Hostilius almost definitely did not exist.

Ancus Marcius

Of all the Roman kings, there is the least amount of information today on Ancus Marcius. To continue their pattern, the Romans needed another Sabine king. They chose the grandson of Numa, Ancus Marcius who was born around 676 BCE. After the years of war during the reign of Hostilius, all the Romans wanted was peace, but they were not so lucky. The enemies saw that Marcius was not a warlike man, so they decided to attack. The old latins, who had been on the land of Rome first, wanted their land back. Marcius sent out envoys in an effort to peacefully solve the problem. When they came back with nothing he knew that his enemies were testing his military skills, so he called back his soldiers. Then he sent them back to take over the Latin’s leading citystate and absorbed it into Rome (Matyszak, 30).

During Marcius’s reign he had many accomplishments. He, like his grandfather, was very religious and he refined the roman religious system. He also designed an elaborate system for declaring war. He is said to have brought water to Rome by aqueduct and given Rome it’s first saltwater port (Matyszak, 30-31). He probably extended Rome to Ostia and the Tiber by taking over the saltwater pans on the Tiber in competition with the Etruscans. This salt helped Rome to trade with other tribes. He is also sometimes credited with building Rome’s first bridge, called the Pons Sublicius, which was entirely made of wood (Scullard, 52-53).

Historians today go back and forth on the authenticity of Ancus Marcius. His family definitely did exist, and they did not gain consulship until 357 BCE as plebeians (Scullard, 52). According to the Romans, Ancus Marcius was known as a good, calm king. He died of natural causes around 616 BCE.

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus

The next king of Rome would not be Sabine or Roman. To everyone’s surprise, it would be an Etruscan known as Lucius Tarquin Priscus. Tarquin Priscus was born as Lucumo the Corinthian around 650 BCE to a poor family. He married an upper class woman named Tanaquil, but since he was not of a wealthy class, the upper class shunned the couple. It was for this reason that Lucumo and Tanaquil moved to Rome. On the way to Rome an eagle took off Lucumo’s hat and flew away, then returned and put it back on this head. Tanaquil interpreted the sign and said that it meant that he would become king by his own work, but that the gods would favor him (Matyszak, 32-33).

The couple is said to have arrived humbly in Rome in a cart (Scullard, 54). In Rome Lucumo changed his name to Lucius Tarquin, and became well known for his generosity. This reputation brought him to the attention of Ancus Marcius, and the two became fast friends. They were so close that Tarquin was made guardian of Marcius’ two sons. When Marcius died the ambitious Tarquin suggested that his two sons go off hunting for a few days. As soon as they left he suggested that he be elected king. His plan worked, and he became king around 616 BCE (Matyszak, 33, 36).

When he was made king Rome’s enemies attacked harder. There were some tough battles but Rome managed to survive. In order to win these battles he added three squadrons to the cavalry. However this change violated one of Rome’s religious codes, so he doubled the size of the three squadrons and divided them into two parts, thereby getting his way. Some of Tarquin’s other accomplishments are adding one hundred of the petty nobility to the senate (Matyszak, 36) and getting more Etruscan families to move to Rome. He also probably set up the Cloaca Maxima, to drain the forum valley, and the Roman games. Historians say that he probably did do these things as they were both Etruscan traditions, however historians have trouble attributing things to him specifically, probably because he shared his name with a later king (Scullard, 54).

Throughout the reign of Tarquin, Marcius’s sons became more and more angry. It was the last straw when Tanaquil claimed that her protégé, Servius Tullius, was favored by the gods. Marcius’ sons hired two hit men to kill Tarquin. These hit men went to him disguised as litigants in a dispute. After the first hit man had presented his case, the other snuck up behind Tarquin and hit him in the back of the head with an axe. This caused the death of Tarquin around 579 BCE (Matyszak, 37).

Knowing that her husband had been murdered for the throne, Tanaquil did not want his attackers to win, so she claimed that Tarquin had only been wounded and that while he recovered Servius Tullius would be king regent. By the time everyone figured out that Tarquin was dead, Servius had been king for so long that they let him stay (Matyszak, 37).

Servius Tullius

The origins of Servius Tullius are uncertain. He is believed to have been born around 607 BCE, and some sources say that he like Tarquin was Etruscan (Boak, 43). Because of his name, he was probably a slave, yet Romans said that he was fated to be king (Cary). When he was a boy it is said that his parents found his head was a blaze of flames one night as he slept. He was groomed by Tanaquil to be the successor of her husband. He even married Tarquin’s daughter, Tarquinia. However, because some Romans could not stand the thought of being ruled by a slave, they would say that he was a kidnapped prince of Corniculum. (Matyszak, 37-38).

When Marcius’ sons heard that they had failed to become king again, they fled into exile. This left Tarquin’s two sons Lucius and Arruns. In an effort to stop either one from stealing the throne, he married them off to his daughters. In each marriage he paired the more ambitious son with the less ambitious daughter and vice versa (Matyszak, 38).

Since he had become king a bit unfairly, he had to work extra hard to keep the position. At the beginning of his reign the Etruscans attacked. He fought back so fiercely that he never had to fight again for the next forty-four years of his reign. As for the rest of his accomplishments, it is difficult for historians to figure out what he really did do because the Romans would use his reign as a catch-all to explain when most of their traditions were made. For example he was credited for a long time for making the Servian wall, but archaeology has since proven that the wall was constructed one hundred and fifty years after his death (Scullard, 58). He also might have created the cult of Diana on the Aventine Hill, which was in a plebeian quarter, but this is also questionable (Cary, 42).

Servius’ most important accomplishment was a census. In his census, the Roman people were divided into six classes. The first five classes were determined by how much property the person owned. The more property a man had, the more armor and weapons he had, therefore his class rating was higher. The sixth class was made up of the poor, and they were excused from military service. This class was called the Capite Censi because a head count was used to count them. In the census, there were eighty centuries of first class citizens made up of forty seniors and forty juniors. There were twenty centuries of the second, third, fourth, and fifth classes. These classes were made up of ten seniors and ten juniors. The equites, or knights, had eighteen centuries and were ranked even higher than the first class. In voting, the equites and the first class voted first, followed by the rest of the classes in order. Since the equites and the first class outnumbered the rest of Rome, if they both voted the same they would choose everything. In the first census eighty thousand Romans were fit for battle, so Servius brought the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline Hills into Rome (Matyszak, 38-39). This reform would become known as the Servian Reform, but some sources say that there is evidence that even this reform happened long after his death (Nardo, 23).

The rest of Servius’ reign went very well. By 535 BCE he was an old man of seventy-two. He had no idea that his downfall would result from members of his own family. Years ago he thought that he had solved the problem of the next generation overthrowing him with his marriage scheme, but he did not count on the fact that his own daughter Tullia was desperate to be queen. Tullia wanted to be just like Tanaquil, and her brother in law Lucius Tarquin also wanted to be king. The two carried out a plan in which they killed their respective spouses and married each other. Then Tarquin began to talk about Servius’ slave origins in the senate and he also told the upper class that Servius was beginning to favor the lower class with land distribution. Then one day Tarquin went to the senate in royal garb and told the senators to attend to him as a king. When Servius heard of this he rushed to the senate house, but Tarquin was too strong and he literally through Servius out. As Servius sadly walked home, he was attacked and murdered by assassins. Legend has it that after his death Tullia came to the senate to congratulate her husband. On her way home she unknowingly ran over the body of her father, splattering his blood on her carriage. This act caused Tullia to go down as one of the most hated figures in all of Roman history (Matyszak, 39).

Epilogue

The stories of the five kings are each incredibly important to Roman history. Though we will never know whether they were real or myth, they are all crucial to understanding one of the greatest civilizations that has ever existed. They truly do deserve more attention than they get.

Images

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Snowstorm: Hannibal Crossing the Alps
(Turner)

PIC
Caption

Bibliography

Boak, Arthur E. R. and William G. Sinnegan. A History of Rome To A.D. 565. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965.

Cary, M., and H.H. Scullard. A History of Rome. London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1935.

Matyszak, Phillip. Chronicle of the Roman Republic. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2003.

Nardo, Don. From Founding to Fall: A History of Rome. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Lucent Books, 2003.

Scullard, H.H. A History of the Roman World. New York: Routledge, 1935.