#kingdomofrome

[thelastromanemperor117]

The Kingdom of Rome - Part 3 From Monarchy to Republic

While Rome was initially a monarchy she would also at times in her history be a Republic and an Empire. The shortest of these three would be the monarchy which would last from her founding to 510BC.

In 510BC an event which we will call the ‘Rape of Lucretia’ occurred. Of this event there are two stories of how the event occurred. Both versions of the tale have Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (The Seventh King of Rome), raping Lucretia, the wife of  Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus and the daughter of the prefect of Rome Spurius Lucretius. What differs in each version is the set of events leading up to the deed. One account of the event tells us that while his father led a military campaign against the Rutuli, Sextus was sent on a military errand, though what that errand was is lost to time, to Collatia. In Collatia it is said he was entertained at the home of Collatinus. Lucretia, ensured that Sextus was treated with all the respect that his rank pertained.

Another story has Sextus and Lucius at a wine party and debating the virtues of wives when Lucius volunteered to settle the debate by heading to his home to check up on Lucretia and what she was doing. She was found to be weaving with her maids. The party was said to have awarded her the palm of victory and returned to camp.

Where the accounts do not differ is in the events that followed; it is said that Sextus made his way into her bed chamber, sneaking past the slaves that slept outside her door. She quickly awakened and he offered her two choices; she would submit to his sexual advances and become his future wife and queen or he would kill her and one of the male slaves and claim they were committing adultery. She submitted to his advances.

The next day, Lucretia travelled to her fathers house in Rome dressed all in black and cast herself at his feet and hugged his legs. She wept and her father demanded she explain herself. She would demanded the summoning of witnesses and after they arrived, she would disclose the events of the rape and demand vengeance. A plea that could not be ignored and upon drawing a concealed dagger, Lucretia would kill herself due to the shame of what had occurred. She would die in her fathers arms. A different telling of this event had Lucretia summoning people to her rather than heading for Rome, but the event of her telling her tale and suicide do not differ.

One of the men present, Lucius Junius Brutus - one of Romes’ leading citizens and the grandson of Romes’ fifth king, would spear head the vengeance for Lucretia and would call upon the people of Rome to rise up against the tyrannical kings of the city. The people, so spurred on by both Brutus and the tale of Lucretia, would vote for the expulsion of the Kings of Rome.  A Republican system with two Consuls at its head was swiftly decided to be Romes’ new form of Government. Brutus and, Lucretias’ husband, Lucius would be the first consuls of the new Roman Republic.

Leaving Lucius in charge in Rome, Brutus rode for the Roman Camp at Ardea with armed men to arrest the King, but by then the King had fled. The army greeted Brutus like a hero and the King and his family fled into exile.

The Roman Republic would last until the end of the civil war between Octavian and Mark Anthony when it would be replaced by the Roman Empire.

[thelastromanemperor117]

The Kingdom of Rome Part 1

The Foundation of Rome - The Kingdom of Rome

Legend and myth would have us believe that the city of Rome was founded by either Romulus and Remus or the survivors from the siege of Troy. While these myths are very well know in today’s society to anyone with a passing interest in history, they are completely unsupported by any historical evidence yet to be discovered.

The legend of Romulus and Remus concerns two brothers that were abandoned as babies because it had been prophesised that the two brothers would overthrow their uncle Amilius. It is said that Amilius ordered the two babies to be thrown into the Tiber river, but the two servants tasked with the deed left the babies in the wild instead. Legend then claims that a she-wolf raised the two boys. Upon ascending to adulthood the two brothers would fulfil the prophecy and successfully overthrow their uncle. From this point the brothers would, according to the legend, decide to found a city but would fallout over either the naming of this new city or the location to build this new city. Romulus would kill Remus and the city would be named Rome after the victorious brother.

Romulus would go onto rule Rome for nearly forty years and in those thirty seven years he would oversee the strengthening of the Kingdom of Rome. One of the most infamous and defining events regarding the early days of the Kingdom of Rome would be the ‘Rape of the Sabine Women’.

‘The Rape of the Sabine Women’ is an event which would spark war in Ancient Italy. Rome had been founded and populated by this point and the populace had been divided into three tribes by Romulus (The Ramnes, the Titenses and the Luceres). From the top families of each tribe, Romulus would form the hundred strong senate. To encourage the growth of his new city, Romulus would first outlaw infanticide and make Rome an asylum where both freemen and slaves could claim protection.

Though the population of Rome swiftly swelled with colonists, most of these colonists were young, unmarried men. Thus in the early days of Roman History, the number of men in the city vastly outnumbered the number of women. Romulus knew that without women that the city would swiftly die. Though Romulus and the Senate would try and negotiate with neighbouring settlements to allow intermarrying between them and the Romans, these settlements would refuse. This refusal would lead to the ‘Rape of the Sabine Women’.

Following the refusal of what they saw as a reasonable request, the Roman Senate and Romulus began to plot to take Sabine Women for their own. They held a large festival in honour of the sea god Neptune and invited the neighbouring Sabines. According to the historian Livy, the festival attracted attendants from other towns as well as the Sabine, but it is not clear whether any women were taken from these other attendants or just the Sabine.

With the festival in full swing, Romulus gave a signal and the Roman men suddenly grabbed the Sabine women and made off with them while other Romans fought off the Sabine men.

While the event itself is referred to as the ‘Rape of the Sabine Women’, according to Livy, no actual sexual assault took place. What is suggested is a gradual seduction of these women by Romulus by promising them free choice as well as rights that they didn’t have with the Sabines.

The events that follow we will refer to as the ‘Rome - Sabine War’, but in actuality it is a conflict that history hasn’t named. The conflict encompassed more than just the Romans and the Sabines as a number of the nearby tribes (Ones who had attended and witnessed the abductions) would attack Rome.

Tribes known as the Caeninenses and the Antemnates were the first to enter Roman territory. The Romans, led by Romulus, defeated first the Caeninenses and then the Antemnates in battle before capturing their towns. A third tribe the Crustumini would start a war with Rome, but the same fate would befall them as that which had befallen the Caeninenses and the Antemnates.

Romulus would waste no time in ensuring that Roman colonists set up in these towns and some of the natives would even migrate to Rome.

The Sabines would finally declare war on the Romans and would be led by their King against the Romans, and the Sabines even came very close to conquering the city and perhaps changing the course of human history forever, but during the final battle between the two sides (The Battle of Lacus Curtius) the Sabine Women suddenly rushed the battlefield and put themselves between both armies. They implored both sides to stop the fighting and accept each other as family as the Sabine women had done. Ashamed, Romulus and Tatius ended the fighting between their people.

Following the end of the Roman - Sabine War, the Romans and the Sabine would become one people with Titus and Romulus sharing rule of Rome.