Download The 7 Kings of Rome

They started it all!
This presentation will focus on the
Monarchy and at the end of it you
will be able to name the 3 periods
of Roman history as well as each
king and several facts about him.
Generally Roman history is divided into 3 eras with
each being defined by the type of government at
the time. Thus, we have the following time periods:
 Monarchy (Kings) from 753BC – 509BC
 Republic (Consuls) from 509BC – 27BC
 The Republic is further divided
 During the Early Republic, the Romans
conquered the rest of Italy.
 During the Late Republic, the Romans
conquered several other lands outside of Italy.
 Empire 27BC-476AD
Before we can get to the 7 kings of
Rome, we need to go back in time just a
bit. Virgil chronicles the origin of the
Romans in the Aeneid as originating
with Aeneas who was the son of Venus.
His son, Ascanius, who was also called
Iulus, became king of Alba Longa.
Eventually, the 12th king after Ascanius
was Numitor, who would become the
grandfather of Romulus. Romulus
would be the one to found Rome in 753
BC.
Once upon a time, according to
Plutarch, the king of Alba
Longa was Numitor. Numitor
had a daughter named Rhea
Silva and a brother named
Amulius. Amulius wanted to be
king, so he dethroned his
brother and made Rhea Silva a
Vestal Virgin, hoping to keep her from having children who
could lay claim to the throne. But, Rhea Silva did become
pregnant and the punishment for breaking the vow of
chastity was being buried alive. Rhea Silva maintained that
Mars raped her and some Romans thought Amulius might be
the father, so they refused to allow her to be killed. She gave
birth to twins who where promptly exposed, by being thrown
into a flooded Tiber River.
Luckily, they were nursed by a she
wolf until a shepherd, named
Faustulus, found them and raised
them as his own. One day, it so
happened that Remus came into
contact with Numitor, who realized
that Remus could be his grandson.
Numitor convinced Remus to join
him in taking back his throne,
while Romulus gathered men to go
get his brother. Together, Romulus
and Remus were able to defeat
Amulius and get Numitor back his
throne, but they decided to found
their own city. But in doing so,
Romulus killed his brother Remus,
for jumping over the walls he was
building to fortify their city.
• 753-716 BC
• founded Rome (1st King)
• Stole women from the
neighboring Sabines to populate
Rome
• Is credited with establishing the
Senate
• Is said to have not died as much
as ascended to heaven during a
thunderstorm (the other
possibility is that he was
murdered by senators, each
taking a piece of his body)
• Known as Quirinus after his
deification
• 715-673 BC
• Reluctantly served after having been picked by the Romans
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because the Sabines stated it was their turn to have a king
Credited with establishing religion, in that he formalized
rites and rituals, brought over the Vestal Virgins from Alba
Longa and created a priesthood
Credited with a calendar reform which moved from 10
months to 12 months, to assist with keeping up with the
religious rituals
Built the temple of Janus, a 2 headed god of
beginnings and doorways. The doors to his
temple were open during war and closed
during times of peace. (They were never
opened during Numa’s reign.)
Credited with establishing the boundaries of
Rome
• 673-641 BC
• Was a Latin, since it was their turn
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again
For as much as Numa was peaceful,
Tullus was hostile
He defeated the Albans and
Curia
destroyed Alba Longa; Legend has it
that the dispute was settled by each side sending 3
brothers to fight for their city
Is credited with building the Curia Hostilia, a larger
senate house after the Albans were absorbed into
Rome
Turned to religion after being struck by the plague and
in performing a religious ritual was struck by lightning
 641-616 BC
 Defeated the “Old Latins” (those who had not
joined Rome with Tatius and Romulus)
 Added the Aventine and Janiculum hills by
fortifying them and thus including them inside
the city’s walls
 Is credited with building the first aqueduct
 Is credited with establishing the
port Ostia
 Is credited with creating the
manner in which the Romans
declared war.
• 616-579 BC
• Was an Etruscan (The Etruscans had been gaining power and
were an up and coming civilization.)
• When he and his wife, Tanaquil, first came to Rome an eagle took
the hat off his head and then replaced it. Tanaquil would later
use this as an omen foretelling of his divine right to power.
• Had been a friend of Ancus Marcius and was considered
to be “very honest”, but after convincing the sons of
Ancus Marcius to go hunting he presented himself as
candidate for the job of king and won it due to his
honest rep.
• Doubled the size of the cavalry.
• Added 100 less wealthy noble seats to the senate.
• Defeated the Sabines, who had not joined Rome.
• Possibly started the Temple of Iupiter Capitolinus
• Was assassinated by the sons of Ancus Marcius
• 579-535 BC
• When Tarquinius Superbus was asassinated, Tanaquil
claimed he was merely wounded and that Servius
Tullius would act for him and should be treated as the king. (Servius was
married to Tanaquil’s daughter and may have once been their slave.)
• He established that a citizen’s tribe is determined by where they
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lived and not family or amount of property.
He created the census in which the liability for military service
was determined by amount of property. Each group was a
century of 100 members. The richest could provide a horse and
could be cavalry; the poorest would serve as infantry since they
could only bring sticks and stones with them.
The highest ranking centuries or classes got to vote first and thus
their vote was worth more.
The first census numbered 80,000 capable of bearing arms.
He added the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills to Rome.
He is credited with building the Temple of Diana.
He is credited with the first walls (The Servian Wall) but it
was not built until much later.
• 535-509 BC (The last king)
• Was married to Tullia who was the daughter of Servius
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Tullius and convinced him to dethrone Servius.
Tarquinius Superbus went to the senate claiming that
Servius was just a slave and physically threw the
elderly king out of the Curia. Servius was killed in the
streets.
Made Rome the head of the Latin League.
Finished or built the Temple of Iupiter Capitolinus or
Iupiter Otimus Maximus which became the religious
focal point.
Built the Cloaca Maxima, a large sewer/drainage ditch.
It allowed the forum as well as surrounding areas to be
drained.
The downfall of Tarquinius Superbus was his son Sextus.
Legend has it that Sextus and other nobles had been away
fighting when they decided to go check on the wives. Only
Lucretia, the wife of his cousin, was behaving
appropriately. This caused Sextus to desire her and he
forced her to have sex with him by threatening to ruin her
pious reputation.
Lucretia killed herself and her suicide
and Sextus’ crime were avenged by
Lucius Junius Brutus. Lucius Junius
Brutus pretended to be stupid after his
father and uncle had been killed by
Superbus. Thus, he had all the more
reason to want to get rid of Superbus.
Lucius Junius Brutus
The republic is born. Lucius Junius Brutus is credited
with helping to shape the Roman constitution. In it,
the office of consul was created. There would be 2
consuls elected by the Comitia Centuriata, each serving
for only a year. Brutus and Lucretia’s husband were the
first 2. Brutus added non-aristocrats to the emaciated
senate, thus establishing the patricians and the
plebeians.
The position of Ponitfex
Maximus, or chief priest,
was created to uphold the
religious duties of the
former kings. The office of
king was forbidden.
However, a dictator could
be named in an
emergency, but was
supposed to resign after
no more than 6 months.
This is what eventually
allowed the republic to
become an empire ruled
by emperors and not
kings.
Augustus as Pontifex Maximus
The assignment for this chapter is a
discussion board. You will need to both
POST and RESPOND to a classmate’s post for
FULL credit. Both your post and response
must be thoughtful. For the post you should
answer the question using what you have
learned through this presentation. For your
response, you need to explain why that is the
post to which you chose to respond. You will
need to explain why you agree or not and/or
what it was about this post in particular that
moved you to respond to it.