Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Encyclopedia
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (535 – 496 BC) was the legendary seventh and final King of Rome
, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 BC that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic
. He is more commonly known by his cognomen
Tarquinius Superbus (literally, Tarquin the Proud) and was a member of the so-called Etruscan dynasty of Rome
. According to Classical historians, he gained the kingship by ordering the assassination
of his predecessor, Servius Tullius
.
Tarquin's father, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, was the fifth King of Rome, reigning 616-579 BC. His grandfather was said to be Demaratus the Corinthian
, an immigrant from the Greek
city of Corinth
. Priscus himself originated in the Etruscan
city of Tarquinii. Disgruntled with his opportunities there, Priscus migrated to Rome
with his wife Tanaquil
, at her suggestion. On their arrival, Tanaquil interpreted an omen as predicting Priscus' future status as King of Rome. However, Tarquin the Proud was not the immediate successor of his father Priscus, since Servius Tullius took the throne on Priscus' death.
Few surviving sources provide reliable accounts of Tarquin's reign, which is often described as a tyranny. His kingship ended in 509 BC, after his son Sextus Tarquinius
raped Lucretia
, a married noblewoman. This outrage inspired an uprising led by the aristocrat Lucius Junius Brutus
, which resulted in the expulsion of Tarquin and his family from Rome.
. Both Tarquin and his brother Aruns married daughters of Servius Tullius
, the sixth king; both daughters were named Tullia, by Roman custom. . Tarquin's mother, Queen Tanaquil, had aided in the selection of Servius Tullius
as heir to the Roman throne when Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was assassinated by the sons of the previous king, Ancus Marcius
, in 579 BC.. Tarquin also had a sister, Tarquinia
, the mother of Lucius Junius Brutus
.
According to Livy
, the younger of the two
daughters of Servius Tullius was of fiercer temperament than her sister, yet she originally married Aruns, who had a milder disposition than his elder brother. The younger Tullia came to despise Aruns and developed a plot with Tarquin. Together, they arranged the murder of their respective siblings, in quick succession, and were thereafter married to each other.
Tarquin had three sons: Titus
, Aruns, and Sextus
.
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 King Tarquin. He then spoke to the senators, criticising Servius: for being 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 being gifted the throne by 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.
Immediately afterward, Servius Tullius was murdered in the streets of Rome by a group of men sent by Tarquin, possibly on the advice of Tullia. Tullia then drove in her chariot to the senate house, where she hailed her husband as king. He ordered her to return home, away from the tumult. She drove along the Cyprian street, where the king had been murdered, and turned towards the Orbian Hill, in the direction of the Esquiline Hill
. There she encountered her father's body and, on a street later to become known as wicked street because of her actions, she drove her chariot over her father's body. Livy also says that she took a part of her father's body, and his blood, and returned with it to her own and her husband's household gods
, and that by the end of her journey she was, herself, covered in the blood.
Early in his reign Tarquin called a meeting of the Latin
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 inveighed against the arrogance of Tarquinius, and warned his countrymen against putting trust in him. Tarquinius then secretly bribed Turnus' servant to store a large number of swords in Turnus' lodging. Tarquin called together the Latin leaders, and accused Turnus of plotting a coup. The Latin leaders accompanied Tarquin to Turnus' lodging and, the swords then being discovered, Turnus' guilt was then speedily inferred, and he was condemned and was thrown into a pool of water in the grove, and a wooden frame ("cratis") placed over his head, into which stones were thrown, thereby drowning him. The meeting of the Latin chiefs then continued, and Tarquin persuaded them to renew their treaty with Rome and become her allies rather than her enemies, and it was agreed that the troops of the Latins would attend at the grove on an appointed day to form a united military force with the troops of Rome. This was done, and Tarquin formed combined units of Roman and Latin troops.
Tarquin next began a war against the Volsci
. He took the wealthy town of Suessa Pometia
, with the spoils of which he commenced the erection of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus which his father had vowed. He also celebrated a triumph for his victory. He was next engaged in a war with Gabii
, one of the Latin cities, which had rejected the Latin treaty with Rome. Unable to take the city by force of arms, Tarquin had recourse to a clever 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. He put to death or banished, on false charges, all the leading men of the place, and then had no difficulty in compelling it to submit to his father.
Tarquin married his daughter to Octavius Mamilius
, one of the leading men of Tusculum
, and argued by some to be the most eminent of the Latin chiefs. This alliance secured Tarquin powerful assistance in the field.
Tarquin also agreed a peace with the Aequi
, and renewed the treaty of peace between Rome and the Etruscans. According to the Fasti Triumphales, Tarquin also won a victory over the Sabines.
Tarquin completed the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill
which had been vowed and possibly begun by his father. This involved the leveling of the top of the Tarpeian Rock
that overlooked the Forum
and the removal of a number of its ancient Sabine
shrines. He also ordered underground works carried out on the cloaca maxima
, and the erection of benches at the circus maximus
.
He established Roman colonies at the towns of Signia
and Circeii.
According to one story, when Tarquin was approached by the Cumaean Sibyl
, she offered him nine books of prophecy
at an exorbitant price. Tarquin refused abruptly, and the Sibyl proceeded to burn three of the nine. She then offered him the remaining books, but at the same price. Tarquin hesitated, but refused again. The Sibyl then burned three more books and again offered Tarquin the three remaining Sibylline Books
at the original price. At last Tarquin accepted. As the Sibylline Books
were housed in the fortress temple of Jupiter, their legend has been associated with him.
. According to Livy, the Rutuli were, at that time, a very wealthy nation and Tarquinius was keen to obtain the booty which would come with victory over the Rutuli in order, in part, to assuage the anger of his subjects.
Tarquin unsuccessfully sought to take the Rutulian capital Ardea
by storm, and subsequently began an extensive siege of the city.
Meanwhile, the king' son, Sextus Tarquinius snuck away from the camp to Collatia
, and raped Lucretia
, a beautiful noblewoman, who consequently committed suicide
. Lucretia's kinsman Lucius Junius Brutus
(himself a member of the Tarquin dynasty) and Lucretia's widowed husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus
(grand-nephew of Tarquinus Priscus and thus also a member of the dynasty) led the revolt, along with Publius Valerius Poplicola, and Lucretia's aging father, Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus
. That uprising resulted in the exile or Regifugium
, after a reign of twenty-five years, of Tarquin and his family, and the establishment of the Roman Republic
, with Brutus and Collatinus as the first consul
s.
It is unclear what was the outcome of the siege of Ardea, or indeed the war against the Rutuli.
Tarquin and his two eldest sons Titus and Aruns went into exile in Caere
.
After his exile, Tarquin made a number of attempts to regain the throne. At first he sent ambassadors to the Senate to request the return of his family's personal effects which had been seized in the coup. In secret, while the Senate debated his request, the ambassadors met with and subverted a number of the leading men of Rome to the royal cause, in the Tarquinian conspiracy
. The conspirators included two of Brutus' brothers-in-law, and his two sons Titus
and Tiberius
. The conspiracy was discovered, and the conspirators executed.
Although the Senate had initially agreed to Tarquin's request for a return of his family's effects, the decision was reconsidered and revoked after the discovery of the conspiracy, and the royal property was given over to be plundered by the Roman populace.
Tarquin next attempted to regain Rome by force of arms. He first gained the support of the cities of Veii
and Tarquinii, recalling to the former their regular losses of war and land to the Roman state, and to the latter his family ties. The armies of the two cities were led by Tarquin against Rome in the Battle of Silva Arsia
. The king commanded the Etruscan infantry. Although the result initially appeared uncertain, the Romans were victorious. Both Brutus (the consul) and Aruns (the king's son) were killed in battle.
Tarquin's final attempt relied on military support from Lars Porsenna, king of Clusium
. The war led to the siege of Rome, and finally a peace treaty. However, Tarquin failed to achieve his aim of regaining the throne. Tarquinius and his family left Clusium, and instead sought refuge in Tusculum with his son-in-law Octavius Mamilius..
Tarquin died in exile at Cumae
, Campania
in 496 BC.
(1593-4). Macbeth
also mentions Tarquin in his famous dagger soliloquy (2.1.55). The libretto from Benjamin Britten
's opera The Rape of Lucretia (1946) was adapted by librettist Ronald Duncan from The Rape of Lucrece, in which Tarquin is a key role. According to Livy
, Tarquin cut off the heads of the tallest poppies in his garden as an allegory to instruct his son Sextus to pacify a recently-conquered enemy city by executing its leading citizens. This is the one of many stories which leads to the modern expression of "Tall Poppy Syndrome
" to describe the phenomenon of tearing down individuals who rise too far above the majority. A quote concerning Tarquin and the poppy allegory appears in Kierkegaard
's Fear and Trembling
. Patrick Henry
refers to Tarquin in his famous speech ending, "If this be treason, then make the most of it." Furthermore, in George Lucas' Star Wars universe, the character of Grand Moff Tarkin, who controlled the first Death Star and arrogantly believed that it could not be destroyed, is considered to be based on his Etruscan namesake.
King of Rome
The King of Rome was the chief magistrate 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 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for...
, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 BC that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. He is more commonly known by his cognomen
Cognomen
The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...
Tarquinius Superbus (literally, Tarquin the Proud) and was a member of the so-called Etruscan dynasty of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. According to Classical historians, he gained the kingship by ordering the assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of his predecessor, Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 578-535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC...
.
Tarquin's father, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, was the fifth King of Rome, reigning 616-579 BC. His grandfather was said to be Demaratus the Corinthian
Demaratus the Corinthian
Demaratus the Corinthian was the father of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth King of Rome and the grandfather of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king.-Life:...
, an immigrant from the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
city of Corinth
Ancient Corinth
Corinth, or Korinth was a city-state on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta. The modern town of Corinth is located approximately northeast of the ancient ruins...
. Priscus himself originated in the Etruscan
Etruria
Etruria—usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia—was a region of Central Italy, an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Umbria. A particularly noteworthy work dealing with Etruscan locations is D. H...
city of Tarquinii. Disgruntled with his opportunities there, Priscus migrated to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
with his wife Tanaquil
Tanaquil
Tanaquil was the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome.-History:She had four children, two daughters and two sons. One of the daughters became the wife to Servius Tullius, when he became the successor....
, at her suggestion. On their arrival, Tanaquil interpreted an omen as predicting Priscus' future status as King of Rome. However, Tarquin the Proud was not the immediate successor of his father Priscus, since Servius Tullius took the throne on Priscus' death.
Few surviving sources provide reliable accounts of Tarquin's reign, which is often described as a tyranny. His kingship ended in 509 BC, after his son Sextus Tarquinius
Sextus Tarquinius
Sextus Tarquinius was a Roman prince, the third and youngest son of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus . He is primarily known for his rape of Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, wife of Collatinus....
raped Lucretia
Lucretia
Lucretia is a legendary figure in the history of the Roman Republic. According to the story, told mainly by the Roman historian Livy and the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus , her rape by the king's son and consequent suicide were the immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the...
, a married noblewoman. This outrage inspired an uprising led by the aristocrat Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Caesar's assassins.- Background :...
, which resulted in the expulsion of Tarquin and his family from Rome.
Early life and family
Tarquin's parents were the fifth king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, and his wife TanaquilTanaquil
Tanaquil was the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome.-History:She had four children, two daughters and two sons. One of the daughters became the wife to Servius Tullius, when he became the successor....
. Both Tarquin and his brother Aruns married daughters of Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 578-535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC...
, the sixth king; both daughters were named Tullia, by Roman custom. . Tarquin's mother, Queen Tanaquil, had aided in the selection of Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 578-535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC...
as heir to the Roman throne when Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was assassinated by the sons of the previous king, Ancus Marcius
Ancus Marcius
Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth of the Kings of Rome.He was the son of Marcius and Pompilia...
, in 579 BC.. Tarquin also had a sister, Tarquinia
Tarquinia (daughter of Tarquinius Priscus)
In Rome's early semi-legendary history, Tarquinia was the daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, and brother to Rome's seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. She was the mother of Lucius Junius Brutus, who overthrew the monarchy and became one of Rome's first...
, the mother of Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Caesar's assassins.- Background :...
.
According to Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
, the younger of the two
Tullia (daughter of Servius Tullius)
Tullia was the last queen of Rome. She was the younger daughter of Rome's sixth king, Servius Tullius, and she married Lucius Tarquinius. Along with her husband, she arranged the murder and overthrow of her father, securing the throne for her husband...
daughters of Servius Tullius was of fiercer temperament than her sister, yet she originally married Aruns, who had a milder disposition than his elder brother. The younger Tullia came to despise Aruns and developed a plot with Tarquin. Together, they arranged the murder of their respective siblings, in quick succession, and were thereafter married to each other.
Tarquin had three sons: Titus
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 witnessed by the king.In 509 BC, upon the overthrow of...
, Aruns, and Sextus
Sextus Tarquinius
Sextus Tarquinius was a Roman prince, the third and youngest son of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus . He is primarily known for his rape of Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, wife of Collatinus....
.
Overthrow of Servius Tullius
Tullia continued to encourage Tarquin to increase his own position. In time, she convinced him to attempt to usurp the throne. Tarquin began to solicit the support of the patrician senators, especially those families who had been given senatorial rank by his father. He bestowed presents upon them, and to them he criticised the king Servius Tullius.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
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
to attend upon King Tarquin. He then spoke to the senators, criticising Servius: for being a slave born of a slave; for failing to be elected by the Senate and the people during an interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
, as had been the tradition for the election of kings of Rome; for being gifted the throne by 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.
Immediately afterward, Servius Tullius was murdered in the streets of Rome by a group of men sent by Tarquin, possibly on the advice of Tullia. Tullia then drove in her chariot to the senate house, where she hailed her husband as king. He ordered her to return home, away from the tumult. She drove along the Cyprian street, where the king had been murdered, and turned towards the Orbian Hill, in the direction of the Esquiline Hill
Esquiline Hill
The Esquiline Hill is one of the celebrated Seven Hills of Rome. Its southern-most cusp is the Oppius .-Etymology:The origin of the name Esquilino is still under much debate. One view is that the Hill was named after the abundance of holm-oaks, exculi, that resided there...
. There she encountered her father's body and, on a street later to become known as wicked street because of her actions, she drove her chariot over her father's body. Livy also says that she took a part of her father's body, and his blood, and returned with it to her own and her husband's household gods
Lares
Lares , archaically Lases, were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries or fruitfulness, hero-ancestors, or an amalgam of these....
, and that by the end of her journey she was, herself, covered in the blood.
Reign
Tarquin commenced his reign by refusing burial to his predecessor Servius, thereby earning for himself the name "Superbus" ('proud'), and then putting to death a number of the leading senators, whom he suspected of remaining loyal to Servius. By not replacing the slain senators, and not consulting the Senate on all matters of government, he diminished both the size and also the authority of the Senate. In another break with tradition, he also judged capital criminal cases without the advice of counsellors, thereby creating fear amongst those who might think to oppose him.Early in his reign Tarquin called a meeting of the Latin
Latin league
The Latin League was a confederation of about 30 villages and tribes in the region of Latium near ancient Rome, organized for mutual defense...
leaders to discuss the bonds between Rome and the Latin towns. The meeting was held at a grove sacred to the goddess Ferentina
Ferentina
Ferentina was the patron goddess of the city Ferentinum, Latium. She was protector of the Latin commonwealth. She was also closely associated with the Roman Empire....
. At the meeting Turnus inveighed against the arrogance of Tarquinius, and warned his countrymen against putting trust in him. Tarquinius then secretly bribed Turnus' servant to store a large number of swords in Turnus' lodging. Tarquin called together the Latin leaders, and accused Turnus of plotting a coup. The Latin leaders accompanied Tarquin to Turnus' lodging and, the swords then being discovered, Turnus' guilt was then speedily inferred, and he was condemned and was thrown into a pool of water in the grove, and a wooden frame ("cratis") placed over his head, into which stones were thrown, thereby drowning him. The meeting of the Latin chiefs then continued, and Tarquin persuaded them to renew their treaty with Rome and become her allies rather than her enemies, and it was agreed that the troops of the Latins would attend at the grove on an appointed day to form a united military force with the troops of Rome. This was done, and Tarquin formed combined units of Roman and Latin troops.
Tarquin next began a war against the Volsci
Volsci
The Volsci were an ancient Italic people, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. They then inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the south, the Hernici on the east, and stretching roughly from...
. He took the wealthy town of Suessa Pometia
Suessa Pometia
Suessa Pometia was an ancient city of Latium, which had ceased to exist in historical times.It bordered on the Pomptinus ager or Pomptinae Paludes, to which it was supposed to have given name. Virgil reckons it among the colonies of Alba, and must therefore have considered it as a Latin city : it...
, with the spoils of which he commenced the erection of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus which his father had vowed. He also celebrated a triumph for his victory. He was next engaged in a war with Gabii
Gabii
Gabii was an ancient city of Latium, located due east of Rome along the Via Praenestina, which was in early times known as the Via Gabina....
, one of the Latin cities, which had rejected the Latin treaty with Rome. Unable to take the city by force of arms, Tarquin had recourse to a clever 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. He put to death or banished, on false charges, all the leading men of the place, and then had no difficulty in compelling it to submit to his father.
Tarquin married his daughter to Octavius Mamilius
Octavius Mamilius
Octavius Mamilius was princeps of Tusculum, an ancient city of Latium. He was the son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome...
, one of the leading men of Tusculum
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy.-Location:Tusculum is one of the largest Roman cities in Alban Hills. The ruins of Tusculum are located on Tuscolo hill—more specifically on the northern edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano...
, and argued by some to be the most eminent of the Latin chiefs. This alliance secured Tarquin powerful assistance in the field.
Tarquin also agreed a peace with the Aequi
Aequi
thumb|300px|Location of the Aequi in central Italy.The Aequi were an ancient people of northeast Latium and the central Appennines of Italy who appear in the early history of ancient Rome. After a long struggle for independence from Rome they were defeated and substantial Roman colonies were...
, and renewed the treaty of peace between Rome and the Etruscans. According to the Fasti Triumphales, Tarquin also won a victory over the Sabines.
Tarquin completed the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill
Capitoline Hill
The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It was the citadel of the earliest Romans. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium. The English word capitol...
which had been vowed and possibly begun by his father. This involved the leveling of the top of the Tarpeian Rock
Tarpeian Rock
The Tarpeian Rock was a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Roman Forum in Ancient Rome. It was used during the Roman Republic as an execution site. Murderers, traitors, perjurors, and larcenous slaves, if convicted by the quaestores parricidii, were flung...
that overlooked the Forum
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...
and the removal of a number of its ancient Sabine
Sabine
The Sabines were an Italic tribe that lived in the central Appennines of ancient Italy, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome...
shrines. He also ordered underground works carried out on the cloaca maxima
Cloaca Maxima
The Cloaca Maxima is one of the world's earliest sewage systems. Constructed in Ancient Rome in order to drain local marshes and remove the waste of one of the world's most populous cities, it carried an effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city....
, and the erection of benches at the circus maximus
Circus Maximus
The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire...
.
He established Roman colonies at the towns of Signia
Segni
Segni is an Italian town and comune located in Lazio. The city is situated on a hilltop in the Lepini Mountains, and overlooks the valley of the Sacco River.-Early history:...
and Circeii.
According to one story, when Tarquin was approached by the Cumaean Sibyl
Cumaean Sibyl
The ageless Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy.The word sibyl comes from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. There were many Sibyls in different locations throughout the ancient world...
, she offered him nine books of prophecy
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
at an exorbitant price. Tarquin refused abruptly, and the Sibyl proceeded to burn three of the nine. She then offered him the remaining books, but at the same price. Tarquin hesitated, but refused again. The Sibyl then burned three more books and again offered Tarquin the three remaining Sibylline Books
Sibylline Books
The Sibylline Books or Libri Sibyllini were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Republic and the Empire...
at the original price. At last Tarquin accepted. As the Sibylline Books
Sibylline Books
The Sibylline Books or Libri Sibyllini were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Republic and the Empire...
were housed in the fortress temple of Jupiter, their legend has been associated with him.
Overthrow and exile
Tarquinius next went to war with the RutuliRutuli
The Rutuli or Rutulians were members of a legendary Italic tribe...
. According to Livy, the Rutuli were, at that time, a very wealthy nation and Tarquinius was keen to obtain the booty which would come with victory over the Rutuli in order, in part, to assuage the anger of his subjects.
Tarquin unsuccessfully sought to take the Rutulian capital Ardea
Ardea
The name Ardea may refer to:*Ardea, Lazio, town in Lazio, Italy*Ardea , genus of herons*Ardea , ornithological journal published by the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union*The Ardea, a condominium high-rise building in Portland, Oregon, USA...
by storm, and subsequently began an extensive siege of the city.
Meanwhile, the king' son, Sextus Tarquinius snuck away from the camp to Collatia
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. Virgil speaks of it as a Latin colony of Alba Longa...
, and raped Lucretia
Lucretia
Lucretia is a legendary figure in the history of the Roman Republic. According to the story, told mainly by the Roman historian Livy and the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus , her rape by the king's son and consequent suicide were the immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the...
, a beautiful noblewoman, who consequently committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Lucretia's kinsman Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Caesar's assassins.- Background :...
(himself a member of the Tarquin dynasty) and Lucretia's widowed husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus
Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus
Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus was one of the four leaders of the revolution which overthrew the Roman monarchy, and became one of the first two consuls of Rome in 509 BC, together with Lucius Junius Brutus...
(grand-nephew of Tarquinus Priscus and thus also a member of the dynasty) led the revolt, along with Publius Valerius Poplicola, and Lucretia's aging father, Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus
Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus
Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus is a semi-legendary figure in early Roman history. He was the first Suffect Consul of Rome and was also the father of Lucretia, whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius, followed by her suicide, resulted in the dethronement of King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, therefore...
. That uprising resulted in the exile or Regifugium
Regifugium
In the Roman religion, Regifugium or Fugalia was an annual observance that took place every February 24. In Latin, the name of the observance transparently means "flight of the king."...
, after a reign of twenty-five years, of Tarquin and his family, and the establishment of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, with Brutus and Collatinus as the first consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
s.
It is unclear what was the outcome of the siege of Ardea, or indeed the war against the Rutuli.
Tarquin and his two eldest sons Titus and Aruns went into exile in Caere
Caere
Caere is the Latin name given by the Romans to one of the larger cities of Southern Etruria, the modern Cerveteri, approximately 50-60 kilometres north-northwest of Rome. To the Etruscans it was known as Cisra and to the Greeks as Agylla...
.
After his exile, Tarquin made a number of attempts to regain the throne. At first he sent ambassadors to the Senate to request the return of his family's personal effects which had been seized in the coup. In secret, while the Senate debated his request, the ambassadors met with and subverted a number of the leading men of Rome to the royal cause, in the Tarquinian conspiracy
Tarquinian conspiracy
The Tarquinian conspiracy was a conspiracy amongst a number of senators and leading men of ancient Rome in 509 BC to reinstate the monarchy, and to put Lucius Tarquinius Superbus back on the throne. The conspirators were discovered and executed...
. The conspirators included two of Brutus' brothers-in-law, and his two sons Titus
Titus Junius Brutus
Titus Junius Brutus was the elder son of Lucius Junius Brutus, who was one of Rome's first two consuls in 509 BC. His mother was Vitellia....
and Tiberius
Tiberius Junius Brutus
Tiberius Junius Brutus was the younger son of Lucius Junius Brutus, who was one of Rome's first two consuls in 509 BC. His mother was Vitellia....
. The conspiracy was discovered, and the conspirators executed.
Although the Senate had initially agreed to Tarquin's request for a return of his family's effects, the decision was reconsidered and revoked after the discovery of the conspiracy, and the royal property was given over to be plundered by the Roman populace.
Tarquin next attempted to regain Rome by force of arms. He first gained the support of the cities of Veii
Veii
Veii was, in ancient times, an important Etrurian city NNW of Rome, Italy; its site lies in Isola Farnese, a village of Municipio XX, an administrative subdivision of the comune of Rome in the Province of Rome...
and Tarquinii, recalling to the former their regular losses of war and land to the Roman state, and to the latter his family ties. The armies of the two cities were led by Tarquin against Rome in the Battle of Silva Arsia
Battle of Silva Arsia
The Battle of Silva Arsia was a battle in 509 BC between the republican forces of ancient Rome on the one hand, and Etruscan forces of Tarquinii and Veii led by the deposed Roman king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus on the other...
. The king commanded the Etruscan infantry. Although the result initially appeared uncertain, the Romans were victorious. Both Brutus (the consul) and Aruns (the king's son) were killed in battle.
Tarquin's final attempt relied on military support from Lars Porsenna, king of Clusium
Clusium
Clusium was an ancient city in Italy, one of several found at the site. The current municipality of Chiusi partly overlaps this Roman walled city. The Roman city remodeled an earlier Etruscan city, Clevsin, found in the territory of a prehistoric culture, possibly also Etruscan or proto-Etruscan...
. The war led to the siege of Rome, and finally a peace treaty. However, Tarquin failed to achieve his aim of regaining the throne. Tarquinius and his family left Clusium, and instead sought refuge in Tusculum with his son-in-law Octavius Mamilius..
Tarquin died in exile at Cumae
Cumae
Cumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy , and the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl...
, Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
in 496 BC.
Cultural references
Tarquin appears as the villain in Shakespeare's narrative poem, The Rape of LucreceThe Rape of Lucrece
The Rape of Lucrece is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis , Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in which he promised to write a "graver work"...
(1593-4). Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
also mentions Tarquin in his famous dagger soliloquy (2.1.55). The libretto from Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's opera The Rape of Lucretia (1946) was adapted by librettist Ronald Duncan from The Rape of Lucrece, in which Tarquin is a key role. According to Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
, Tarquin cut off the heads of the tallest poppies in his garden as an allegory to instruct his son Sextus to pacify a recently-conquered enemy city by executing its leading citizens. This is the one of many stories which leads to the modern expression of "Tall Poppy Syndrome
Tall poppy syndrome
Tall poppy syndrome is a pejorative term primarily used in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Anglosphere nations to describe a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticised because their talents or achievements elevate them above...
" to describe the phenomenon of tearing down individuals who rise too far above the majority. A quote concerning Tarquin and the poppy allegory appears in Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
's Fear and Trembling
Fear and Trembling
Fear and Trembling is an influential philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio...
. Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
refers to Tarquin in his famous speech ending, "If this be treason, then make the most of it." Furthermore, in George Lucas' Star Wars universe, the character of Grand Moff Tarkin, who controlled the first Death Star and arrogantly believed that it could not be destroyed, is considered to be based on his Etruscan namesake.