Overthrow of the Roman monarchy

Map of Italy around 500 b.C.

Scholars and the ancient sources themselves disagree on when the monarchy was overthrown and how old the resulting republic was. The most well known date for the establishment of the republic, and therefore, the expulsion of the kings, is 509 BC.^[2] The specific dating to 509 BC emerges from the Varronian chronology, assembled during the late republic by Marcus Terentius Varro and later used by the fasti Capitolini,^[3][4] which likely – in the earlier period – runs four years behind the actual dates (i.e. Varronian year 344 corresponds to real year 340 BC).^[5]

The simplest way for the Romans to have known how long their republic had existed would have been to look at the list of consuls, of which two were elected every year, and simply count the number of consular pairs to impute that the republic had existed for however many years corresponded. The fasti Capitolini – relying on the Varronian chronology – go back to 509 BC; Livy's list of consuls points to the republic having began around 502–1 BC. Of course, this would have relied on the lists of consuls being accurate. Later historians reported dates roughly around that time, implying that the republic was founded:^[6]

• according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in the first year of the 68th Olympiad or the year Isagoras was eponymous archon at Athens (implying 508–7 BC),^[6]
• according to Polybius, 28 years before Xerxes crossed into Greece (implying 508 BC),^[7] or
• according to a census in 389 or 388 BC, 119 years before it (implying 508 or 507 BC),^[8]

A further account is given by Gnaeus Flavius, who asserted his temple to Concordia was dedicated 204 years after the dedication of the capitol. Because his temple was dedicated in 303 BC, this implies the capitol – which traditionally was held to have been dedicated in the first year of the republic – was dedicated in 507.^[9]

However, modern scholars are sceptical of much of this traditional chronology, especially that related to the dedication of the capitol.^[10] This relates mainly to debate over whether the earlier entries on the consular fasti are fabrications. Many historians have argued that the fasti are "an unreliable product of the late republic whose accuracy regarding the early republic is minimal". Resolution of this topic is difficult, however, due to the absolute paucity of reliable sources such that – as the historian Fred Drogula remarks – "we have no way to prove or disprove most of the information contained [in the fasti]".^[11]

Discover more about Chronology related topics

Marcus Terentius Varro

Marcus Terentius Varro

Marcus Terentius Varro 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". He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.

Fasti Capitolini

Fasti Capitolini

The Fasti Capitolini, or Capitoline Fasti, are a list of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, extending from the early fifth century BC down to the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Together with similar lists found at Rome and elsewhere, they form part of a chronology referred to as the Fasti Annales, Fasti Consulares, or Consular Fasti, or occasionally just the fasti.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was atticistic – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.

Olympiad

Olympiad

An olympiad is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.

Isagoras

Isagoras

Isagoras, son of Tisander, was an Athenian aristocrat in the late 6th century BC.

Eponymous archon

Eponymous archon

In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called eponymous archon. "Archon" means "ruler" or "lord", frequently used as the title of a specific public office, while "eponymous" means that he gave his name to the year in which he held office, much like the Roman dating by consular years.

Polybius

Polybius

Polybius was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work The Histories, which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail.

Second Persian invasion of Greece

Second Persian invasion of Greece

The second Persian invasion of Greece occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece at the Battle of Marathon, which ended Darius I's attempts to subjugate Greece. After Darius's death, his son Xerxes spent several years planning for the second invasion, mustering an enormous army and navy. The Athenians and Spartans led the Greek resistance. About a tenth of the Greek city-states joined the 'Allied' effort; most remained neutral or submitted to Xerxes.

Gnaeus Flavius

Gnaeus Flavius

Gnaeus Flavius was the son of a freedman (libertinus) and rose to the office of aedile in the Roman Republic.

Concordia (mythology)

Concordia (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion, Concordia is the goddess who embodies agreement in marriage and society. Her Greek equivalent is usually regarded as Harmonia, with musical harmony a metaphor for an ideal of social concord or entente in the political discourse of the Republican era. She was thus often associated with Pax ("Peace") in representing a stable society. As such, she is more closely related to the Greek concept of homonoia, which was also represented by a goddess.

The Capitoline Brutus, an ancient Roman bust in the Capitoline Museums, is traditionally identified as a portrait of Lucius Junius Brutus.

Roman tradition held that there were seven kings of Rome who reigned from the city's founding (traditionally dated to 753 BC)^[2] by Romulus up to the reign of Tarquin. Archaeological evidence indicates there were kings in Rome;^[12] but many modern scholars doubt the traditional narrative and believe its characters and details to be largely the product of later literary invention.^[13]

Account

According to the traditional account, a group of aristocrats overthrow the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, in response to the rape of the noblewoman Lucretia by the king's second son, Sextus Tarquinius; after revealing the rape to some noblemen, Lucretia commits suicide.^[14][15] The resulting outrage leads to an uprising against the ruling family, led by some of the king's relatives: Lucius Junius Brutus (the king's nephew), Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus (the king's cousin and Lucretia's husband), and Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus (Lucretia's father). They are also joined by an influential friend Publius Valerius Poplicola.^[16]

During this time, Tarquin was conducting a war against Ardea, but rushes back to Rome on news of the coup; however, the city is shut before him and the coup leaders convince the army at Ardea to join them, leading to the expulsion of the king's sons.^[16] Brutus and Collatinus then become the first consuls,^[17] with Brutus administering an oath before the people to never again tolerate a king in Rome and to kill anyone who attempts to restore the monarchy; among Brutus' reforms, he proposes the banishment of all members of the Tarquin clan, leading also to the banishment of his co-consul Collatinus, who is replaced in office by Poplicola.^[16][18] Note, however, that the Romans, also report that in this early period, the consuls were initially called praetores (deriving from "leader").^[19][20]

Soon after, Brutus' two sons, brothers of Brutus' wife, the Vitellii, the Aquilii, and relatives of Collatinus are discovered plotting to restore the monarchy.^[21] After the conspiracy is exposed by a slave, Brutus orders the death of his own sons and relatives. Meanwhile, Tarquin flees to Etruria and persuades various cities there to attack Rome and restore him to the throne. They are unsuccessful and defeated at the Battle of Silva Arsia, where Brutus falls in battle; Poplicola then returns to celebrate a triumph for victory over the Etruscans.^[22][23] Tarquin then requests aid from Lars Porsenna, the king of Clusium, who marches on Rome but is stopped by Horatius Cocles who defends a bridge alone against Porsenna's forces until it can be demolished.^[24] The heroism of the republic's youths and Rome's force of arms persuade Porsenna to give up his campaign.^[22][25]

Tarquin then appeals to his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum, who mobilises the Latin League against Rome, until they too are defeated at the Battle of Lake Regillus (with the Romans receiving divine assistance from Castor and Pollux).^[26] With no more allies willing to attack the Romans, Tarquin leaves for a more permanent exile in Cumae before dying in 495 BC.^[22][27] The Roman government then falls into the hands of a group of aristocratic families, the patricians, who then elect magistrates from among their number, setting up conditions for the so-called Conflict of the Orders.^[28]

Development

The traditional account likely derived from an earlier oral tradition.^[29] Barthold Georg Niebuhr, in the early nineteenth century, posited that the oral tradition may have been transmitted by poems sung or recited by bards at banquets during the republic. While this "ballad theory" has "generally been dismissed by modern scholars",^[30] T. P. Wiseman has more recently argued that the stories were transmitted by means of public performance of plays dramatising historical events. Such plays would be especially important in a society with low literacy, and are perhaps supported by archaeological evidence suggesting circulation of Greek myths and stories in Italy as far back as the archaic period.^[31] Attilio Mastrocinque, in A companion to Livy, for example, identifies Lucius Accius's tragedy Brutus as a source for some of the stories transmitted via Livy.^[32]

The sources we have today for the monarchy and the earliest parts of the republic are "notorious[ly] unreliable" literary sources:^[33] Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, along with some supporting work from Plutarch's Life of Poplicola.^[23] The first literary history in Rome was written by Quintus Fabius Pictor^[34] c. 200 BC,^[35] centuries after the actual fall of the monarchy. These early historians read the fragmentary evidence from early Rome "so that it read like a history of their own times" and the surviving accounts of Livy and others are based on these writers rather than the original evidence.^[33] Thus:^[33]

Most scholars now agree that as a result of this process the details of Livy's political and military narrative are unreliable, amounting to reconstruction or plausible invention by Livy himself or by his sources.^[33]

Similarly,^[36]

Few can now doubt that earlier times tended, both consciously and unconsciously, to be re-created by a succession of Roman writers in light of the conditions in the third and second century. This was true even before [133 BC and] a new political climate in which historians had more urgent motives to project the [contemporaneous] political concerns and conflicts [on] earlier Roman history.^[36]

The stories that were written down by the time of the second century BC were done so by a time the Romans had lost any reliable sources on the fall of the monarchy; the purpose of that history as well was not to record the past in its terms, but for senators to describe and celebrate the republic as it existed in their time.^[37] Senatorial historiography served to advertise and embellish writers' families rather than describe political or social contexts already lost from memory.^[38] For example, T. P. Wiseman argues that many of the kings themselves and figures from the traditional story were ahistorical inventions of the fourth and third centuries BC.^[39] Wiseman and the more critical historians similarly dismiss even the earliest Roman historians, such as Fabius Pictor, as having had little knowledge of their own past beyond the fourth century BC.^[40] Other scholars go further, such as James Richardson, who believes that one of the central figures of the traditional story, Lucius Junius Brutus, "never existed".^[41]

As to the sources of the early republic generally, scholars usually accept the timing and occurrence of major events such as "the passing of a law[,] agreement of a treaty[,] or the capture of a town".^[42] The narratives and details of the early republic are, therefore, doubtful even as the events are accepted in their most general terms.^[43] These difficulties are especially challenging when there is little middle ground between a critical reading of the sources and blind acceptance of self-contradictory and unsatisfactory sources: reconstructing the earliest parts of the republic based on a critical reading "runs the risk of simply producing [a] modern narrative with no basis at all in the evidence".^[44]

This distrust is why "[Livy's narrative] has failed to carry much conviction among modern scholars, who have attacked its historical credentials in all kinds of ways".^[22] While the ancient tradition could be accepted in terms that there was a king who was corrupt and ineffective and that he was deposed, "the ancient tradition is so overlaid with later stereotypical features customary in the portrayal of a tyrant that we cannot be sure what details, if any, should be accepted as genuine".^[45]

Inconsistencies

By the time of Fabius Pictor, it seems the tales of the monarchy and its overthrow were already well developed. Many of the legendary events bear uncanny similarities to Greek tales: the rape of Lucretia perhaps being an adaptation of a similar love affair which led to the expulsion of the Peisistratid tyranny in Athens also c. 510 BC.^[46] Moreover, sexual violence against innocent and virtuous young women was a common trope characterising tyrants and bad kings in ancient literature.^[47] Furthermore, the depiction of Collatinus' exile may be paralleled on the ostracism of Hipparchos, son of Peisistratus, and Tarquinius' war on Rome to retain his crown a parallel to Darius' attempt to restore the last Peisistratid tyrant to power in Athens.^[48] The extent, however, to which these Roman tales are copies of Greek tales or are genuine Roman tales embellished with Greek details is hotly debated.^[46]

The historian Tim Cornell makes the point that "as a dynastic history[,] the bare catalogue of events within the Tarquin family is, in itself, perfectly credible". Yet, it is only that dynastic history which is credible. The parts around it are less compatible: a palace coup orchestrated by possible royal claimants "sits rather uncomfortably with the notion [that the uprising was] inspired by republican ideals".^[29] The hatred of the Tarquinii is also incompatible with the election of Collatinus (a patrilineal member of the Tarquinii) and of Lucius Junius Brutus (related to the Tarquinii maternally).^[29] The intervention and defeat of Lars Porsenna also is questionable; other ancient accounts place him as defeating the nascent republic and imposing harsh peace terms.^[26][49][50]

The specific listing of the consuls in the first year of the republic is muddled and internally inconsistent. Tradition notes five: Lucius Junius Brutus, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Publius Valerius Poplicola, Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, and Marcus Horatius Pulvillus.^[51] The sources themselves report inconsistencies: Livy indicates that in older writing, Lucretius' consulship was nowhere to be found.^[52] Polybius asserts that a treaty signed in the first year of the republic was dated to the consulship of Brutus and Horatius, even though the two, according to Livy and Dionysius, never held office at the same time.^[53][54] Cicero and Pliny themselves note a consular pair: that of Brutus and Valerius Poplicola, without Collatinus.^[26] Cassius Dio – according to a quote in Zonaras – dissents from the consular tradition entirely, saying that Brutus initially ruled alone but was given a colleague to prevent him from declaring himself king.^[55]

Gary Forsythe, a historian, argues more broadly that the names follow a pattern observed elsewhere in the ancient narrative sources of using names appearing in later years of the consular fasti for characters set in a previous year; he therefore dismisses Valerius and Lucretius' consulships in 509, speculating that Valerius was brought from the second year of the republic into the first so that the character could pass a lex Valeria which is itself fictitious and patterned on a real law from 300 BC. Furthermore, there is disagreement as to when the Capitoline temple, which was firmly associated with Horatius, was dedicated: Livy places it in the first year of the republic, while Tacitus and Dionysius both assign it to the third year of the republic, during Horatius' "second" consulship. Forsythe argues it is more likely that, to have the temple dedicated in the "momentous first year of the republic, later writers moved Horatius back two years and made him one of the first consuls".^[10]

The details aside, the traditional account supports the abolition of the monarchy c. 505 BC and the creation of a nascent republic.^[6] Not all modern scholars, however, accept a revolutionary new government as emerging so dramatically, viewing "the transition to republican government as a process rather than a single event, in which the powers of the kings were gradually eroded... onto which later historians imposed a shorter time-frame and dramatic personal narrative".^[56]

Discover more about Traditional account related topics

Capitoline Brutus

Capitoline Brutus

The Capitoline Brutus is an ancient Roman bronze bust commonly thought to depict the Roman consul Lucius Junius Brutus, usually dated to the late 4th to early 3rd centuries BC, but perhaps as late as the 2nd century BC, or early 1st century BC. The bust is 69 cm (27 in) in height and is currently located in the Hall of the Triumphs within the Capitoline Museums, Rome. Traditionally taken to be an early example of Roman portraiture and perhaps by an Etruscan artist influenced by Hellenistic art and contemporary Greek styles of portraiture, it may be "an archaizing work of the first century BC". The Roman head was provided with a toga-clad bronze bust during the Renaissance.

Capitoline Museums

Capitoline Museums

The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing on the central trapezoidal piazza in a plan conceived by Michelangelo in 1536 and executed over a period of more than 400 years.

Roman portraiture

Roman portraiture

Roman portraiture was one of the most significant periods in the development of portrait art. Originating from ancient Rome, it continued for almost five centuries. Roman portraiture is characterised by unusual realism and the desire to convey images of nature in the high quality style often seen in ancient Roman art. Some busts even seem to show clinical signs. Several images and statues made in marble and bronze have survived in small numbers. Roman funerary art includes many portraits such as married couple funerary reliefs, which were most often made for wealthy freedmen rather than the patrician elite.

Lucius Junius Brutus

Lucius Junius Brutus

Lucius Junius Brutus was the semi-legendary founder of the Roman Republic, and traditionally one of its first consuls in 509 BC. He was reputedly responsible for the expulsion of his uncle the Roman king Tarquinius Superbus after the suicide of Lucretia, which led to the overthrow of the Roman monarchy. He was involved in the abdication of fellow consul Tarquinius Collatinus, and executed two of his sons for plotting the restoration of the Tarquins.

Roman Kingdom

Roman Kingdom

The Roman Kingdom 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 with the city's founding c. 753 BC, with settlements around the Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in central Italy, and ended with the overthrow of the kings and the establishment of the Republic c. 509 BC.

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final king of Rome, reigning 25 years until the popular uprising that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, from his cognomen Superbus.

Founding of Rome

Founding of Rome

The tale of the founding of Rome is recounted in traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves as the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, twins who were suckled by a she-wolf as infants. Another account, set earlier in time, claims that the Roman people are descended from Trojan War hero Aeneas, who escaped to Italy after the war, and whose son, Iulus, was the ancestor of the family of Julius Caesar. The archaeological evidence of human occupation of the area of modern-day Rome dates from about 14,000 years ago.

Lucretia

Lucretia

According to Roman tradition, Lucretia, anglicized as Lucrece, was a noblewoman in ancient Rome, whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius (Tarquin) and subsequent suicide precipitated a rebellion that overthrew the Roman monarchy and led to the transition of Roman government from a kingdom to a republic. The incident kindled the flames of dissatisfaction over the tyrannical methods of Tarquin's father, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. As a result, the prominent families instituted a republic, drove the extensive royal family of Tarquin from Rome, and successfully defended the republic against attempted Etruscan and Latin intervention.

Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus

Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus

Lucius Tarquinius Ar. f. Ar. n. Collatinus was one of the first two consuls of the Roman Republic in 509 BC, together with Lucius Junius Brutus. The two men had led the revolution which overthrew the Roman monarchy. He was forced to resign his office and go into exile as a result of the hatred he had helped engender in the people against the former ruling house.

Publius Valerius Poplicola

Publius Valerius Poplicola

Publius Valerius Poplicola or Publicola was one of four Roman aristocrats who led the overthrow of the monarchy, and became a Roman consul, the colleague of Lucius Junius Brutus in 509 BC, traditionally considered the first year of the Roman Republic.

Ardea, Lazio

Ardea, Lazio

Ardea is an ancient town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, 35 kilometres south of Rome and about 4 kilometres from today's Mediterranean coast.

Roman consul

Roman consul

A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the cursus honorum after that of the censor. Each year, the Centuriate Assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated in holding fasces – taking turns leading – each month when both were in Rome. A consul's imperium extended over Rome and all its provinces.

There are many different theories about what happened at the start of the republic. The evidence is sufficiently sparse that many stories can be plausibly put forth. Modern views range from a semi-traditional account accepting the general facts of Roman tradition to hyper-critical accounts which argue that basically all of Rome's early history are the result of "artificial numerological exercises" and almost pure invention from association with other historical events.^[57]

Semi-traditionalist approach

The semi-traditionalist approach is built on a methodology of accepting Roman tradition as correct in terms of broad events, but discarding the narrative details themselves as fictitious. This theory was presented in its most complete form in Tim Cornell's 1995 book, Beginnings of Rome, and has some support among scholars.^[58]

Accepting those broad events, a domestic crisis provides a spark which causes a revolution in Rome c. 500 BC which overthrows the existing monarchy in the city; Rome becomes involved around this time in a greater conflagration affecting most of Tyrrhenian Italy,^[59] as around the same time there were also similar revolutions in other states.^[60]

Lars Porsenna intervenes in northern Latium as part of this conflagration, though his role in the downfall of the Tarquins or if Tarquin requested his assistance is unknown. Porsenna's Etruscan forces probably take Rome and move south to engage the Latins, but suffer a decisive defeat at Aricia. This story also has the added benefit of being supported by a Dionysius of Halicarnassus' history of Aristodemus of Cumae which confirms a defeat of Lars Porsenna and a date of 504 BC for the battle of Aricia from a separate Greek historical tradition.^[59][61]

Also suggesting anti-royal sentiment, around 500 BC, there is evidence in the archaeological record of destruction around the comitium. The royal sanctuary near Sant'Omobono at the foot of the Capitoline hill also was destroyed and abandoned for around a century.^[59] Cornell argues that the abandonment of the site at Sant'Omobono "contributes to the general impression... of an oligarchic coup against a populist tyranny" which was then forced to concede power to the army represented in the comitia centuriata. If the king had been in the habit of nominating two army officers for the approval from the comitia, "an attractive hypothesis is that... it was they who overthrew their master and took over the state".^[62]

Cornell also argues that this populist tyranny had for some time reduced the older traditionalist kingship into the ceremonial rex sacrorum, as its existence makes it "easy to speculate" that the title descended from a real king whose political powers had been reduced to ceremony only (as in the modern British monarchy or the archon basileus at Athens).^[63] One suggestion in this vein is that the previous king Servius Tullius ruled as a popular life-magistrate – a "tyranny" in ancient Greek terms – with some speculation that Tullius' supposed original name – Mastarna – is an Etruscan corruption of Latin magister (as in magister populi, one of the Roman dictator's other titles).^[64] The survival of a vestigial dictatorship, normally replaced by two consuls, also suggests similarity to other Latin towns which were ruled by dictators, including Alba Longa, which supposedly had replaced its king with two annually elected dictators before its destruction.^[65]

Intervention by Porsenna

Alternatively, another theory also accepted among scholars, including Gary Forsythe, is that the republic arose from Lars Porsenna's invasion itself.^[58][66] This theory was first presented by Andreas Alföldi in 1965.^[67] Accepting the tradition – specifically in Tacitus and Pliny the Elder^[68] – that Porsenna was successful in capturing Rome, he either abolishes the monarchy directly or puts the existing king to flight.^[45] Tarquin flees to other Latin cities for support while Porsenna uses Rome as a bridgehead to invade Latium. But after the Etruscan defeat at the Battle of Aricia in 504 BC, Porsenna is forced to withdraw and leave the Romans to face Latin attempts to restore Tarquin as king.^[50]

When the Latins are unable to prevail by force of arms at Lake Regillus, Tarquin then goes into exile in Cumae, leaving the republic standing.^[69] If this theory is true, it also would explain the appointment of Brutus and Collatinus: Porsenna would want to install someone to govern the city and members of the former royal house would lend legitimacy to his occupation and a co-equal pair would check against abuses. In this story, upon Porsenna's withdrawal, the two officials were retained and turned into the classical consuls.^[70]

This theory could also be plausibly combined with Cornell's semi-traditionalist account above, by proposing that Porsenna's intervention was opportunistically related to Rome's overthrow of its monarchy and the resulting unstable power struggle.^[49] There is also substantial archaeological evidence of destruction in central Etruria around at the end of the sixth century, suggesting major inter-state conflict, making the use of military force, even without an internal Roman political crisis, not implausible.^[69]

Later foundation of the republic

Some scholars also reject the c. 500 BC dating of the republic's foundation.^[71] One hypothesis is that the Capitoline temple is older than the republic and that the republic's fasti were artificially lengthened to make the foundation of the temple and the republic line up. Robert Werner argued this in a 1963 monograph.^[72] He believed that some of the names of the fasti, mostly Etruscan ones, were fake, dismissing plebeian names under the assumption they could not hold the consulship. Doing so brings the republic's establishment to 472 BC, which coincides with the collapse of Etruscan power in central Italy.^[73]

Alternatively, the Capitoline temple's foundation may coincide with the introduction of eponymous magistrates – magistrates giving their names to the year – but without the formation of a republic (in which those magistrates held state power). Eponymous magistrates and a Roman kingdom are not necessarily incompatible: the ephors of Sparta were ruled by kings but still gave their names to the years; nor was the eponymous magistrate abolished during the Pisistratid tyranny in Athens.^[74] This hypothesis, proposed by Krister Hanell, argues that the fasti have nothing to do with the republic at all, which in his view emerged gradually when royal power faded away into the hands of the eponymous magistrates who became the consuls.^[75] Cornell argues that Hanell's hypothesis only makes sense if one assumes, ab initio, the republic's creation was gradual and that there is little evidence one way or the other.^[76]

Also alternatively, Einar Gjerstad argued that moving the expulsion of the kings to a cultural break c. 450 BC matches both with archaeological evidence of impoverishment and the disappearance of Etruscan names from the consular fasti, which synthesises both acceptance of the fasti and the argument that the republic's foundation might not coincide with that of the temple's.^[77] Gjerstad's theory, however, requires the end of Etruscan rule to coincide with the monarchy's expulsion, for which there is no evidence.^[78]

Cornell rejects all of these views as overly revisionist and dependent on a "a complex mixture of archaeological and literary data" while having strong assumptions about the changes that the expulsion of the kings created.^[74] More critical historians, like Forsythe, however, believe Cornell's treatment is "too trusting and overly optimistic" about the nature of the source material.^[79]

Critical approach

Scholars have recognised that many of the traditional stories are "replete with fictionalised individuals who are nothing more than duplications of later personalities and events" and that the dates given for them are likely copied over from other Hellenistic historical traditions.^[80] In those traditions, the large number of events in various societies that lacked firm dates was resolved by assigning the same dates to similar events in those different societies.^[81]

That early Roman history was reconstructed (or, less generously, in Cicero's description "a forgery") was well known even to the Romans themselves.^[82][83] The primary sources of Roman history to the ancient Romans were lists noting the achievements of family ancestors and priestly notices, all of which lacked chronological significance.^[84] Specific years were then assigned by synchronism with various other events under various different reconstructions; for even major events such as the Gallic sack of Rome, the surviving ancient historians disagreed at what occurred in what years.^[85]

For example, Alexander Koptev argued in 2010 that the placement of dates in early Roman history was rooted in a single source by Timaeus of Tauromenium, which "as chronological urvater... shaped the chronological skeleton of Roman history, basing it on a comparison with the Hellenistic world",^[86] directly influencing the annalists, whose works flow forward to the sources we have today. Timaeus performed "artificial numerological exercises" which provided a chronology onto which dimly remembered oral stories, like that of the expulsion of the kings, could be placed. Here, Timaeus' dating the start of the republic was an arbitrary synchronism: it started in merely the same year in which Cleisthenes established democracy in Athens (510–9 BC). This also neatly explains why Roman history accords with Dionysius' discussion of war between Cumae and Etruria: it was placed there deliberately.^[87]

Similarly, some historians believe that Livy's account of the early republic is structured by a cyclic approach to history in which a rise in moral virtues precedes their decline, with a period of a great year consisting of 360–365 years.^[88][89] Starting with Romulus, the cycle reaches a peak under king Servius Tullius before a second founding under Camillus, completing the cycle. This causes a second peak in the time of Scipio Africanus before Augustus enters as the figure to re-found Rome again and restart the great year, with Livy suggesting that Romulus, Camillus, and Augustus are coequal heroic figures.^[90]

The critical approach also stresses the extent to which the sources available today were shaped and moulded "by ideologies, by the political background, and by the geopolitical stakes in the depiction of the beginnings of Rome" for then-contemporaries.^[91]

Discover more about Modern theories related topics

Aristodemus of Cumae

Aristodemus of Cumae

Aristodemus, nicknamed Malakos, was a strategos and then tyrant of Cumae. As a strategos, he twice defeated Etruscan armies. He gained popularity amongst the people of Cumae due to his opposition to the city's aristocracy and his proposals to more fairly share land and to forgive debts. He was then successful in overthrowing the aristocratic faction, yet became a tyrant himself. He was assassinated by the aristocratic faction around 490 BC.

Comitium

Comitium

The Comitium was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of the Roman Forum was later lost in the city's growth and development, but was rediscovered and excavated by archaeologists at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of Rome's earliest monuments; including the speaking platform known as the Rostra, the Columna Maenia, the Graecostasis and the Tabula Valeria were part of or associated with the Comitium.

Centuriate Assembly

Centuriate Assembly

The Centuriate Assembly of the Roman Republic was one of the three voting assemblies in the Roman constitution. It was named the Centuriate Assembly as it originally divided Roman citizens into groups of one hundred men by classes. The centuries initially reflected military status, but were later based on the wealth of their members. The centuries gathered into the Centuriate Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The majority of votes in any century decided how that century voted. Each century received one vote, regardless of how many electors each Century held. Once a majority of centuries voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended, and the matter was decided. Only the Centuriate Assembly could declare war or elect the highest-ranking Roman magistrates: consuls, praetors and censors. The Centuriate Assembly could also pass a law that granted constitutional command authority, or "Imperium", to Consuls and Praetors, and Censorial powers to Censors. In addition, the Centuriate Assembly served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases, and ratified the results of a Census.

Archon basileus

Archon basileus

Archon basileus was a Greek title, meaning "king magistrate": the term is derived from the words archon "magistrate" and basileus "king" or "sovereign".

Alba Longa

Alba Longa

Alba Longa was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy, 19 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Rome, in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by the Roman Kingdom around the middle of the 7th century BC, and its inhabitants were forced to settle in Rome. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, had come from the royal dynasty of Alba Longa, which in Virgil's Aeneid had been the bloodline of Aeneas, a son of Venus.

Andreas Alföldi

Andreas Alföldi

András (Andreas) Ede Zsigmond Alföldi was a Hungarian historian, art historian, epigraphist, numismatist and archaeologist, specializing in the Late Antique period. He was one of the most productive 20th-century scholars of the ancient world and is considered one of the leading researchers of his time. Although some of his research results are controversial, his work in several areas is viewed as groundbreaking.

Latium

Latium

Latium is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire.

Ephor

Ephor

The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs.

Einar Gjerstad

Einar Gjerstad

Einar Nilson Gjerstad was a Swedish archaeologist. He was most noted for his research of the ancient Mediterranean, particularly known for his work on Cyprus, as well as his studies of early Rome.

Cleisthenes

Cleisthenes

Cleisthenes, or Clisthenes, was an ancient Athenian lawgiver credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC. For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy." He was a member of the aristocratic Alcmaeonid clan. He was the younger son of Megacles and Agariste making him the maternal grandson of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon. He was also credited with increasing the power of the Athenian citizens' assembly and for reducing the power of the nobility over Athenian politics.

Athens

Athens

Athens is a major coastal urban area in the Mediterranean and is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With its surrounding urban area’s population numbering over three million, it is also the seventh largest urban area in the European Union. Athens dominates and is the capital of the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE.

Cumae

Cumae

Cumae was the first ancient Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BC and soon became one of the strongest colonies. It later became a rich Roman city, the remains of which lie near the modern village of Cuma, a frazione of the comune Bacoli and Pozzuoli in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, Italy.

Political influence

A coin depicting Lucius Junius Brutus, minted by his descendant Marcus Junius Brutus during his term as triumvir monetalis in 54 BC.^[92]

The role of Lucius Junius Brutus in the abolition of the kings was referenced by the public as part of a campaign to convince one of his descendants, Marcus Junius Brutus, to organise the assassination of Julius Caesar.^[93]

During the French Revolution, images of both Lucius Brutus and Marcus Brutus "were ubiquitous [in]... Jacobin clubs, public buildings, and popular societies"; the stories of his overthrow of the kings "embodied evolving ideals of civic virtue" and "the populace at large embraced [Brutus as] a heroic model of citizenship".^[94] Boys, and whole towns, were named after Brutus.^[95] The leaders of the French Revolution, according to Mona Ozouf, drew on "legendary antiquity... to rise to the level of the events which they were living".^[96] Contemporaneously, in the debate over ratification of what would become the Constitution of the United States, the authors of The Federalist Papers signed with the pseudonym "Publius", a reference to the Publius Valerius Poplicola of the Livian narrative.^[97]

In literature and the arts

In the ancient world, the playwright Lucius Accius composed a tragedy depicting the events of the overthrow, titled Brutus, that combined elements from Greek myth and tragic dramas with the Roman story.^[32]

Shakespeare's 1594 poem Lucrece "enjoyed immense acclaim when it was first published... telling the story of Lucretia in melodramatic rather than narrative fashion".^[98] His play Macbeth also borrowed elements from the ancient stories of Tarquin's fall: Attilio Mastrocinque argues Macduff, Malcolm, and Siward of Northumbria are modelled on Brutus, Lucretius, Collatinus, and Poplicola.^[99] Nathaniel Lee, an English playwright, dramatised the story of Lucretia and the overthrow of the Tarquins in a late 17th century play, Lucius Junius Brutus.^[100]

Voltaire wrote a play, Brutus (c. 1730), dramatising Lucius Junius Brutus' overthrow of Tarquin, which, while not immediately successful, became enormously popular in the 1790s during the French Revolution after abolition of the French monarchy and the establishment of a republic.^[101] Thomas Babington Macaulay also published a poetic telling of the expulsion in Lays of Ancient Rome which was "once extremely well known".^[98]

The death of Lucretia and the death of Brutus' sons also were subjects of many neoclassical paintings in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.^[102][103]

Discover more about Legacy related topics

Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was retained as his legal name. He is often referred to simply as Brutus.

Assassination of Julius Caesar

Assassination of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March of 44 BC during a meeting of the Senate at the Curia of Pompey of the Theatre of Pompey in Rome where the senators stabbed Caesar 23 times. They claimed to be acting over fears that Caesar's unprecedented concentration of power during his dictatorship was undermining the Roman Republic. At least 60 to 70 senators were party to the conspiracy, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, and Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus. Despite the death of Caesar, the conspirators were unable to restore the institutions of the Republic. The ramifications of the assassination led to the Liberators' civil war and ultimately to the Principate period of the Roman Empire.

French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, while the values and institutions it created remain central to French political discourse.

Mona Ozouf

Mona Ozouf

Mona Ozouf born Mona Annig Sohier is a French historian and philosopher. Born into a family of schoolteachers keen on preserving the language and culture of Brittany, she graduated as a teacher of philosophy from the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles. After teaching philosophy, she joined the CNRS as a historian. Her research and writings are centred on the French Revolution and on the French secular education system. Notable publications include L'École, l'Église et la République, 1871–1914 (1963) and La fête révolutionnaire, 1789–1799 (1976), published in English as Festivals and the French Revolution (1988).

Constitution of the United States

Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the national frame and constraints of government. The Constitution's first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress ; the executive, consisting of the president and subordinate officers ; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Article IV, Article V, and Article VI embody concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments, the states in relationship to the federal government, and the shared process of constitutional amendment. Article VII establishes the procedure subsequently used by the 13 states to ratify it. The Constitution of the United States is the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force in the world today.

Lucius Accius

Lucius Accius

Lucius Accius, or Lucius Attius, was a Roman tragic poet and literary scholar. Accius was born in 170 BC at Pisaurum, a town founded in the Ager Gallicus in 184 BC. He was the son of a freedman and a freedwoman, probably from Rome.

Macbeth

Macbeth

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, Macbeth most clearly reflects his relationship with King James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.

Macduff (Macbeth)

Macduff (Macbeth)

Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife, is a character and the main antagonist in William Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1603–1607) that is loosely based on history. Macduff, a legendary hero, plays a pivotal role in the play: he suspects Macbeth of regicide and eventually kills Macbeth in the final act. He can be seen as the avenging hero who helps save Scotland from Macbeth's tyranny in the play.

Malcolm (Macbeth)

Malcolm (Macbeth)

Malcolm is a character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The character is based on the historical king Malcolm III of Scotland, and is derived largely from the account in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of Britain. He is the elder son of King Duncan, the heir to the throne, and brother to Donalbain. In the end, he regains the throne after mustering support to overthrow Macbeth.

Nathaniel Lee

Nathaniel Lee

Nathaniel Lee was an English dramatist. He was the son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian clergyman who was rector of Hatfield and held many preferments under the Commonwealth; Dr Lee was chaplain to George Monck, afterwards Duke of Albemarle, but after the Restoration he conformed to the Church of England, and withdrew his approval for Charles I's execution.

Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy

Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy

During the French Revolution, the proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy was a proclamation by the National Convention of France announcing that it had abolished the French monarchy on 21 September 1792, giving birth to the French First Republic.

French First Republic

French First Republic

In the history of France, the First Republic, sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic, was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire on 18 May 1804 under Napoléon Bonaparte, although the form of the government changed several times.