Servius Tullius
Encyclopedia
- For the personal name, see Servius (praenomen)Servius (praenomen)Servius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was used throughout the period of the Roman Republic, and well into imperial times. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Servilia. The feminine form is Servia...
.
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, and the second of its Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
dynasty. He reigned 578-535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile
Slavery in ancient Rome
The institution of slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the Roman economy. Besides manual labor on farms and in mines, slaves performed many domestic services and a variety of other tasks, such as accounting...
origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC. Servius was said to have been the first Roman king to accede without election
Lex curiata de imperio
In the constitution of ancient Rome, the lex curiata de imperio was the law confirming the rights of higher magistrates to hold power, or imperium...
by the Senate
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...
, having gained the throne by popular support, at the contrivance of his mother-in-law.
Several traditions describe Servius' father as divine. Livy depicts Servius' mother as a captured Latin
Latins (Italic tribe)
The Latins were a people of ancient Italy who included the inhabitants of the early City of Rome. From ca. 1000 BC, the Latins inhabited the small part of the peninsula known to the Romans as Old Latium , that is, the region between the river Tiber and the promontory of Monte Circeo The Latins (or...
princess enslaved by the Romans; her child is chosen as Rome's future king after a ring of fire is seen around his head. The Emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
discounted such origins and described him as an originally Etruscan mercenary who fought for Caelius Vibenna
Caelius Vibenna
Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, (Etruscan Caile Vipina, was a noble Etruscan who lived c.900BC and brother of Aulus Vibenna (Etruscan Avile Vipina).Upon arriving at Rome, Vibenna aided Romulus in his wars against Titus Tatius. He and his brother Aulus are also recorded as having...
.
Servius was a popular king, and one of Rome's most significant benefactors. He had military successes against 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 the Etruscans, and expanded the city to include the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills. He is credited with the institution of the Compitalia
Compitalia
In ancient Roman religion, the Compitalia was a festival celebrated once a year in honor of the Lares Compitales, household deities of the crossroads, to whom sacrifices were offered at the places where two or more ways meet. The word comes from the Latin compitum, a cross-way.This festival is...
festivals, the building of temples
Roman temple
Ancient Roman temples are among the most visible archaeological remains of Roman culture, and are a significant source for Roman architecture. Their construction and maintenance was a major part of ancient Roman religion. The main room housed the cult image of the deity to whom the temple was...
to Fortuna
Fortuna
Fortuna can mean:*Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck -Geographical:*19 Fortuna, asteroid*Fortuna, California, town located on the north coast of California*Fortuna, United States Virgin Islands...
and Diana
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
, and the invention of Rome's first true coinage
Roman currency
The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius , the sestertius , the dupondius , and the as...
. Despite the opposition of Rome's patricians, he expanded the Roman franchise
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....
and improved the lot and fortune of Rome's lowest classes
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
of citizens and non-citizens. According to Livy, he reigned for 44 years, until murdered by his treacherous daughter Tullia
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...
and son-in-law Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus 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 and was a member of the so-called Etruscan...
. In consequence of this "tragic crime" and his hubris
Hubris
Hubris , also hybris, means extreme haughtiness, pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power....
tic arrogance as king, Tarquinius was eventually removed. This cleared the way for the abolition
Abolished monarchy
Throughout history, monarchies have been abolished, either through revolutions, legislative reforms, coups d'état, or wars. The twentieth century saw a major acceleration of this process, with many monarchies violently overthrown by revolution or war, or else abolished as part of the process of...
of Rome's monarchy
Roman Kingdom
The Roman Kingdom was the period of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a monarchical form of government of the city of Rome and its territories....
and the founding 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...
, whose groundwork had already been laid by Servius' reforms.
Background
From its legendary foundationFounding of Rome
The founding of Rome is reported by many legends, which in recent times are beginning to be supplemented by scientific reconstructions.- Development of the city :...
by Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
to its re-establishment as a 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...
, Rome was governed under a series of kings (Latin reges, singular rex). Rome's historical tradition lists seven in all, who reigned in more or less unbroken sequence until Rome's abolition of kingship. Given the time-span involved – estimated at around 250 years by most Roman historians – the list of kings is implausibly short. Some named kings probably represent the combined attributes and achievements of several distinct personalities. This applies in particular to the earliest, who offer various stereotypes and aspects of leadership. The nature and source of Roman kingship at any time is debatable. The kings held monarchic powers yet most were elected by the senate, as to a lifetime magistracy; some claimed succession through dynastic or divine right. Some were native Romans, some originally foreign. Modern historians regard each of these personalities and their achievements as a compound of history, legend and myth. Servius Tullius, traditionally Rome's sixth king, has been described as "the most complex and enigmatic" of all, and a kind of "proto-Republican magistrate".
Ancient sources
The earliest surviving literary sources for Servius' life and achievements are the Roman historian LivyLivy
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...
(59 BC – AD 17), his near contemporary Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...
, and Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
(c.46 – 120 AD). They acknowledge certain earlier sources in common, including works by Quintus Fabius Pictor
Quintus Fabius Pictor
Quintus Fabius Pictor was one of the earliest Roman historians and considered the first of the annalists. A member of the Fabii gens, he was the grandson of Gaius Fabius Pictor, a painter . He was a senator who fought against the Gauls in 225 BC, and against Carthage in the Second Punic War...
, Diocles of Peparethus
Diocles of Peparethus
Diocles of Peparethus was a historian from the Greek island of Peparethus. His works are lost, but they included histories of Persia and Rome: Quintus Fabius Pictor and Plutarch acknowledge their debts to the latter as a source for their histories of early Rome, its native traditions and ancestral...
and Quintus Ennius. Livy's copious sources probably included at least some official state records; he takes pains to arrange his material selectively, within an overarching chronology. Dionysus and Plutarch offer various alternatives not found in Livy. Not all Romans considered their own traditions and histories of Servius complete or authoritative. When the opportunity arose, Livy's own pupil, the etruscologist
Etruscology
Etruscology is the study of the ancient Italian civilization of the Etruscans, which was incorporated into an expanding Roman Empire during the period of Rome's Middle Republic...
, historian and emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
published a quite different tradition. In a speech to the senate, he identified Servius as an Etruscan mercenary named Macstarna who fought for Caelius Vibenna
Caelius Vibenna
Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, (Etruscan Caile Vipina, was a noble Etruscan who lived c.900BC and brother of Aulus Vibenna (Etruscan Avile Vipina).Upon arriving at Rome, Vibenna aided Romulus in his wars against Titus Tatius. He and his brother Aulus are also recorded as having...
, brought the remnants of his defeated army to Rome and settled one of its hills, thereafter named the Caelian.
Parentage and birth
Most Roman sources name Servius' mother as Ocrisia, a young noblewoman taken at the Roman siege of CorniculumCorniculum (ancient Latin town)
Corniculum was an ancient town in Latium in central Italy.In Rome's early semi-legendary history, the town was part of the Latin League, which went to war with Rome during the reign of Rome's king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus...
and brought to Rome, either pregnant by her husband, who was killed at the siege: or as a virgin. She was given to 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....
, wife of king Tarquinius, and though slave was treated with the respect due her former status. In one variant, she became wife to a noble client
Patronage in ancient Rome
Patronage was the distinctive relationship in ancient Roman society between the patronus and his client . The relationship was hierarchical, but obligations were mutual. The patronus was the protector, sponsor, and benefactor of the client...
of Tarquinius. In others, she served the domestic rites of the royal hearth as a Vestal Virgin
Vestal Virgin
In ancient Roman religion, the Vestals or Vestal Virgins , were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The College of the Vestals and its well-being was regarded as fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome, as embodied by their cultivation of the sacred fire that could not be...
, and on one such occasion, having damped the hearth flames with a sacrificial offering, she was penetrated by a disembodied phallus that rose from the hearth. According to Tanaquil, this was a divine manifestation, either of the household Lar
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....
or Vulcan
Vulcan (mythology)
Vulcan , aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. Vulcan is usually depicted with a thunderbolt. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
himself. Thus Servius was divinely fathered and already destined for greatness, despite his mother's servile status; for the time being, Tanaquil and Ocrisia kept this a secret.
Early life
Servius' birth to a slave of the royal household made him part of Tarquin's extended familia. Ancient sources infer him as protégé, rather than adopted son, as he married Tarquinius' and Tanaquil's daughter, named by some sources as Gegania. All sources agree that before his accession, either in his early childhood or later, members of the royal household witnessed a nimbus of fire about his head while he slept, a sign of divine favour, and a great portent. He proved a loyal, responsible son-in-law. When given governmental and military responsibilities, he excelled in both.Accession to the throne
The sons of Ancus MarciusAncus Marcius
Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth of the Kings of Rome.He was the son of Marcius and Pompilia...
, Tarquinius' predecessor as king of Rome, remained angry at Tarquinius during his reign. In their minds, he had usurped their rightful place by taking the crown, although they remained hopeful that they might succeed to the throne after Tarquinius' death. Upon the marriage of Servius to the king's daughter, and the general rise of Servius' public stature, the sons of Ancus began to realise that their prospects of succeeding Tarquinius were diminishing. Accordingly, they decided to have Tarquinius murdered, and attempt to seize the throne. The sons of Ancus hired two of the most ferocious shepherds, who approached the king in the palace and struck his head with an axe.
The king's wife, Tanaquil, immediately ordered the palace to be shut. She attended to the king's wound, but realised that the blow was fatal, and therefore approached Servius and entreated him to seize the throne. Tanaquil then addressed the people of Rome from the palace window, stating that the king was recovering from the blow, and had commanded the people to obey the orders of Servius as if he were king. For several days thereafter, Servius carried out the functions of the king, appearing on the throne wearing the royal toga
Toga
The toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a cloth of perhaps 20 ft in length which was wrapped around the body and was generally worn over a tunic. The toga was made of wool, and the tunic under it often was made of linen. After the 2nd century BC, the toga was a garment worn...
trabea, and with lictors. The death of Tarquin then became public knowledge, and the senate
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...
elected Servius as king. This was the first occasion that the people of Rome were not involved in the election of the king. Servius cemented his authority supported by a strong guard, and the sons of Ancus fled into exile to 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...
. In Plutarch, he consented to the kingship only at the death-bed insistence of Tanaquil, not for his own advantage but for the benefit of the Roman people.
Early in his reign, Servius warred against Veii and the Etruscans. He is said to have shown valour in the campaign, and to have routed a great army of the enemy. The war helped him to cement his position at Rome. According to the Fasti Triumphales, Servius celebrated three triumphs
Roman triumph
The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...
over the Etruscans, including on 25 November 571 BC and 25 May 567 BC (the date of the third triumph is not legible on the Fasti).
Reforms and innovations credited to Servius
As Rome's population was enlarged by treaty and conquest, Servius formed a comitia centuriata to replace Rome's comitia curiata as its central legislative body. This required the development of a censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
to determine voting rights among an expanded and culturally diverse population. People were assembled by tribe in the Campus Martius
Campus Martius
The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome...
. Under oath, each man told his name, address, social rank, family members, servants, tenants, and property to the registrar. Land, wealth and the ability to muster arms for military service remained the major qualifications, and provided the basis for traditionally Servian social classifications; Servius is credited as Rome's first censor. Neither the census nor the classification significantly altered social status in Rome. Servius required a minimum wealth qualification of 800,000 sesterces
Sestertius
The sestertius, or sesterce, was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions...
for 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...
, and a half of this for equites("knights").
Classes
Rome's expanded voting population was thus divided into classes according to age, wealth and occupation. These classes were further subdivided into centuriae, or centuries.The comitia centuriata met when summoned by the Senate to vote on legislation. Each century had some vote; the order of voting was determined by the number of centuries within a class, with the largest voting first. If these classes failed to reach unanimity, others were convened to break the deadlock; those with the most centuries met most frequently and had the most power. The classes are as follows:
- 1st, or classici: Men with 100,000 sesterces in assets. 40 centuries of men 45 and older, from which urban police were to be selected, and 40 centuries of men 17-45, prospective soldiers.
- 2nd: 75,000 sesterces in assets. 10 centuries of older men and 10 of younger.
- 3rd: 50,000 sesterces in assets. 10 of older, 10 of younger.
- 4th: 25,000 sesterces in assets. 10 older, 10 younger.
- 5th: 11,000 sesterces in assets. 30 centuries of specific types of artisan, such as 3 of carpenters.
- 6th, or proletarii: No estate. One century.
The classes below the classici were the infra classem. The fixed parameters were the number of centuries, regardless of population density.
New tribal division
Archaic society at Rome was divided into three ancestral tribes: the Ramnes, the Tities, and the Luceres, further divided into 30 curiaCuria
A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...
e and held to represent the entire populus Romanus (Roman people)
SPQR
SPQR is an initialism from a Latin phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus , referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and used as an official emblem of the modern day comune of Rome...
. Servius created a four-part division of Rome into regiones, "quarters" that remained in use until 7 BC, when Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
redistricted the city into 14 new regiones.
Before Servius Tullius, the Ramnes were Latins who lived on the Palatine
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city...
, the Tities were Sabines who lived on the Quirinal and Viminal, and the Luceres were Etruscans who lived on the Caelian. These tribes and their curiae were further divided into approximately 200 gentes
Gens
In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...
(clans). Each clan contributed one senator ("elder") to the deliberative and consultative body of the Senate, who advised the rex (king) and devised laws in his name. These laws required the approval of the 30 curiae into which the three tribes were divided; the curiae met as the comitia curiata ("the going together of the curiae") to vote on new laws or their amendments, probably one curia at a time, and probably by voice ("yes" or "no").
The senators were the patres (fathers) of their clans. In time Rome was flooded with people not belonging to any of the gentes and who lived in districts around the three established. They had no say in the government. These Italic peoples became the plebs
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
, from an Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European may refer to:*Proto-Indo-European language, the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages.*Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language....
root *ple-, "fill", in the sense of multitude. The three original clans "of the fathers" became the patricii, the "patricians."
By the time of Servius the patricii had become the minority, excluding the majority from a role in government. In order to correct the imbalance, Servius moved the pomerium
Pomerium
The pomerium or pomoerium , was the sacred boundary of the city of Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within the pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory belonging to Rome.-Location and extensions:Tradition maintained that it was the original line ploughed by Romulus around the...
, the sacred boundary of the city as established by Romulus, to add to the existing hill districts, thus creating the Seven Hills of Rome
Seven hills of Rome
The Seven Hills of Rome east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the ancient city.The seven hills are:* Aventine Hill * Caelian Hill...
, as celebrated in the festival of the Septimontium
Septimontium
The Septimontium was a Roman festival of the seven hills of Rome. It was celebrated in September . They sacrificed seven animals at seven times in seven different places within the walls of the city near the seven hills. On that day the emperors were very liberal to the people...
. The space enclosed he divided into four urban tribes, the Suburana, Esquilina, Collina, and Palatina.
The redistricting brought new families into the social structure. It isn't clear that they received their own curiae; probably not, as Servius innovated a new class system. Their assemblies met on the same field and took over most functions of the curiae, and yet the curiae continued to exist.
Army
Servius established the Roman army's centuria system and its order of battle, based on the civilian classifications established for his census. The military selection process picked men from civilian centuriae and slipped them into military ones. Their function depended on their age, experience, and the equipment they could afford; the wealthier men of combat age were armed as hopliteHoplite
A hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states. Hoplites were primarily armed as spearmen and fought in a phalanx formation. The word "hoplite" derives from "hoplon" , the type of the shield used by the soldiers, although, as a word, "hopla" could also denote weapons held or even...
s, heavy infantry with helmet
Helmet
A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...
, greave
Greave
A greave is a piece of armour that protects the leg.-Description:...
s, breastplate
Breastplate
A breastplate is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. A breastplate is sometimes worn by mythological beings as a distinctive item of clothing.- Armour :...
, shields (clipeus
Clipeus
In the military of classical antiquity, a clipeus was a large shield worn by the Greeks and Romans as a piece of defensive armor, which they carried upon the arm, to secure them from the blows of their enemies...
), and spears (hastae
Hasta (spear)
Hasta is a Latin word meaning spear. Hastae were carried by early Roman Legionaries, in particular they were carried by and gave their name to those Roman soldiers known as Hastati...
). Each battle line in the phalanx formation
Phalanx formation
The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons...
was composed of a single class.
Specialists were chosen from the 5th class. Officers were not part of the class selection process but were picked beforehand, often by vote of the civilian century.
Religion
Servius is credited with the foundation of Diana's templeTemple of Diana (Rome)
The Temple of Diana in ancient Rome was a Roman temple which, according to the early semi-legendary history of Rome, was built in the 6th century BC during the reign of the king Servius Tullius....
on the Aventine Hill
Aventine Hill
The Aventine Hill is one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the twelfth rione, or ward, of Rome.-Location and boundaries:The Aventine hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills...
to mark the foundation of the so-called Latin League
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...
. Roman tradition associated the Aventine with the ancient kingdom of Alba Longa
Alba Longa
Alba Longa – in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga – was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of...
: Remus
Remus
Remus is the twin brother of the mythical founder of Rome.Remus may also refer to:* Remus , a fictional planet in Star Trek* Remus , a moon of the asteroid 87 Sylvia...
, the murdered bother of Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
in Rome's founding-myth): the Sabines who were thought to have been settled there by Romulus: the Latins resettled there once defeated by Ancus Marcius
Ancus Marcius
Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth of the Kings of Rome.He was the son of Marcius and Pompilia...
, Rome's fourth legendary king: and a series of actual or threatened secessions by Rome's plebeians.
Servius' traditional birth-mythos and social reforms appear to justify his foundation of Compitalia
Compitalia
In ancient Roman religion, the Compitalia was a festival celebrated once a year in honor of the Lares Compitales, household deities of the crossroads, to whom sacrifices were offered at the places where two or more ways meet. The word comes from the Latin compitum, a cross-way.This festival is...
, celebrated by the local communities of his re-organised vici.
Civic works
He expanded the city to include the Quirinal HillQuirinal Hill
The Quirinal Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian Head of State, who resides in the Quirinal Palace; by metonymy "the Quirinal" has come to stand for the Italian President.- History :It was...
and the Viminal Hill
Viminal Hill
The Viminal Hill is the smallest of the famous seven hills of Rome. A finger-shape cusp pointing toward central Rome between the Quirinal Hill to the northwest and the Esquiline Hill to the southeast, it is home to the Teatro dell'Opera and the Termini Railway Station.At the top of Viminal Hill...
. He expanded the settlement on 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...
, and moved his own residence there to increase its reputation. He also built a rampart, moat and wall around the city and expanded the pomerium
Pomerium
The pomerium or pomoerium , was the sacred boundary of the city of Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within the pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory belonging to Rome.-Location and extensions:Tradition maintained that it was the original line ploughed by Romulus around the...
.
In modern Rome, an ancient portion of surviving wall
Servian Wall
The Servian Wall was a defensive barrier constructed around the city of Rome in the early 4th century BC. The wall was up to 10 metres in height in places, 3.6 metres wide at its base, 11 km long, and is believed to had 16 main gates, though many of these are mentioned only from...
is attributed him, the remainder supposedly being rebuilt after the sack of Rome
Battle of the Allia
The Battle of the Allia was a battle of the first Gallic invasion of Rome. The battle was fought near the Allia river: the defeat of the Roman army opened the route for the Gauls to sack Rome. It was fought in 390/387 BC.-Background:...
in 390/387 BC by the Gauls. No firm evidence can be offered in support of either attribution.
Later life and death
Servius Tullius arranged the marriage of his two daughters to the two sons of his predecessor Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. The sons were named Lucius Tarquinius and Aruns TarquiniusAruns (son of Tarquinius Priscus)
Aruns Tarquinius was the son of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the semi-legendary fifth king of Rome, and was brother to the seventh and last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus....
. 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 daughters had the fiercer disposition, and yet she was married to Aruns, who was the milder of the two sons. "Tarquin and the younger Tullia, did not, in the first instance, become man and wife; for Rome was there by granted a period of reprieve." Livy says that the similar temperament of the younger Tullia and Lucius Tarquinius drew them to each other, and she inspired Lucius to greater daring. The younger Tullia and Lucius Tarquinius next arranged the murder of their respective siblings, the elder Tullia and Aruns, in quick succession, and Lucius and the younger Tullia were afterwards married.
She then encouraged Lucius Tarquinius to seek the throne. Lucius was convinced, and 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.
Tarquinius then seized 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 Tarquinius. Tarquin 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.
When Servius Tullius arrived at the senate-house to defend his position, Tarquinius threw him down the steps. Servius returned home, but 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.
Tarquinius refused to permit Servius to be buried, thereby earning for himself the name "Superbus", translated as 'proud'.
For Livy, Servius' death is a "tragic crime" (tragicum scelus), a dark episode in Rome's history and just cause for the abolition of the monarchy. Servius thus becomes the last of Rome's benevolent kings; the place of this outrage – which Livy seems to suggest as a crossroads – is known thereafter as Vicus Sceleratus (street of shame, infamy or crime). His murder is parricide, the worst of all crimes. This morally justifies Tarquin's eventual expulsion and the abolition of Rome's aberrant, "un-Roman" monarchy. Livy's Republic is partly founded on the achievements and death of Rome's last benevolent king.
Servius' birth mythos
Servius is presented as an extraordinary admixture of the divine and servile. Claims to divine paternity and divine favour were standard fare for dynasts and magnates, whether Roman or Greek; but a semi-divine slave-king was inexplicable. If hierarchy was to mean anything at all, slaves should not become kings. So while Servius' foreign noble ancestry – even in servitude – is preferable to none, and while Livy and Dionysius reject or sidestep the supernatural virgin birth, Servius receives signs of divine favour as of birthright. His humble birth is an accident of fate, and his character and virtues are entirely Roman, even Republican. Fortuna plays her part and is duly acknowledged, but not to excess. Servius is evidently favoured by the gods but has innate personal merit, and he undertakes his deeds and reforms on behalf of the Roman people, not for personal gain.Stories of Servius servile birth-connections evidently circulated beyond Rome, confirmed by Mithridates sneer at Rome's servos vernasque Tuscorum; and so did those of his divine parentage. The latter would have been unsurprising; they were standard in hero-myth genealogy, and were often attached to charismatic individuals who rose "as if from nowhere" to become dynasts, tyrants and hero-founders of the Mediterranean world. Yet all these legends offer the father as divine, the mother – virgin or not – as princess of a ruling house, never as slave. The disembodied phallus, and its impregnation of a virgin-slave of Royal birth are unique to Servius.
While the miraculous stories surrounding his birth were doubtless embellished after his own time, their core must have been propagated in Servius' own reign. According to Grandazzi, the myths of Servius' divine birth and his links with divine Fortuna were contemporary with the man himself. Servius lacked any form of traditional legitimacy, save by marriage or adoption. The manner of his accession was unusual, even unconstitutional. Personal charisma would have been a central element in his success. A heroic, semi-divine Roman precursor was available in Romulus, son of a god and a Vestal Virgin, founder of Rome, its original sacred boundary, its armies and its citizenship. When Servius expanded Romes influence and boundaries, and reorganised its citizenship and armies, this "new Rome" was still centered on the Comitium, the casa Romuli. Servius became a second Romulus, a benefactor to his people; and like Romulus, he must be part human, part divine. In all this, Servius' slave origins remain without parallel, and make him all the more remarkable: for Cornell, this is "the most important single fact about him".
The Etruscan version
Claudius' story of Servius as an Etruscan named Macstarna, was published as an incidental scholarly comment within the Oratio Claudii Caesaris of the Lugdunum Tablet. There is some support for an Etruscan version of Servius' history; perhaps even an origin, though this cannot be proved, and any version familiar to Claudius had probably long been merged with Roman traditions. However, wall paintings in the François TombFrançois Tomb
The François Tomb is an important painted Etruscan tomb from the Ponte Rotto Necropolis in the Etruscan city of Vulci, in what is now central Italy. It was discovered in 1857 by Alessandro François and Adolphe Noël des Verges. It dates to the last quarter of the fourth century BC...
in the Etruscan remains of Vulci, commissioned at some time in the 2nd half of the 4th cent BC, might offer supporting evidence for at least some of the story. One wall illustrates an episode from the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, in which Greeks sacrifice Trojan
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
prisoners at the funeral of Patroclus
Patroclus
In Greek mythology, as recorded in the Iliad by Homer, Patroclus, or Patroklos , was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms....
. The opposite wall shows significant episodes from Etruscan historical tradition, in which heroic Etruscans put foreign captives to the sword. The victims include a Roman named Gnaeus Tarquinius. The victors include Aule and Caile Vipinas – known to the Romans as the Vibenna
Caelius Vibenna
Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, Caelius Vibenna, (Etruscan Caile Vipina, was a noble Etruscan who lived c.900BC and brother of Aulus Vibenna (Etruscan Avile Vipina).Upon arriving at Rome, Vibenna aided Romulus in his wars against Titus Tatius. He and his brother Aulus are also recorded as having...
brothers – and their ally or countryman Macstrna, who seems instrumental in winning the day. He must be identical, in some sense, with the Macstarna of Claudius' 48 AD speech: Claudius was certain that Macstarna was simply another name for Servius Tullius, who started his career as an Etruscan ally of the Vibenna brothers and helped them settle Rome's Caelian Hill. Claudius' account evidently drew on Etruscan sources either unavailable to his fellow-historians, or rejected by them. There may have been two different Servius-like figures: or two different traditions or cultural perceptions concerning the same figure. Mcstarna is speculated as a once well-known Etruscan hero, or perhaps an Etruscan rendering of Roman magister (magistrate). Claudius' "Etruscan Servius" seems less monarch than a freelance Roman magister, an "archaic condottiere
Condottieri
thumb|Depiction of [[Farinata degli Uberti]] by [[Andrea del Castagno]], showing a 15th century condottiero's typical attire.Condottieri were the mercenary soldier leaders of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages...
" who placed himself and his own band of armed clients at Vibenna's service, and may later have seized, rather than settled Rome's Caelian Hill. The "Roman Servius" may be less monarch then some kind of proto-Republican magistrate, perhaps a magister populi, a war-leader. In Republican times he might be termed dictator.
Legacy
Servius' reforms, and those of his successor Tarquinius Superbus – despite the latter's unsavoury reputation as a "tyrant pure and simple" – undermined the bases of aristocratic power and transferred them in part to the plebeian commoners. The Servian reforms in particular re-created Rome's ordinary citizens as a distinct force within Roman politics and entitled to participate in government and bear arms on its behalf, despite the opposition and resentment of the Roman elite. Rome's last king was overthrown by a conspiracy of Patricians, not of plebeians. In the Republican era, the very idea of kingship seemed anathema; but possibly more to the Republic's elite than to its plebeian commoners.Servius' connections to the Lar, the Servian vici reforms and Compitalia justify his traditional founding of Compitalia
Compitalia
In ancient Roman religion, the Compitalia was a festival celebrated once a year in honor of the Lares Compitales, household deities of the crossroads, to whom sacrifices were offered at the places where two or more ways meet. The word comes from the Latin compitum, a cross-way.This festival is...
, instituted to publicly and piously honour his divine parentage – assuming the Lar as his father – to extend his domestic rites into the broader community, to mark his maternal identification with the lower ranks of Roman society and to assert his regal sponsorship and guardianship of their rights. Before the Augustan Compitalia reforms of 7 BC, Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...
reports Servius' fathering by a Lar and his founding of Compitalia as anciently received Roman traditions. In Servius, Augustus found ready association with a popular benefactor and refounder of Rome, whose reluctance to adopt kingship distanced him from its taints. Augustus brought the Compitalia and its essentially plebian festivals, customs and political factions under his patronage and if need be, his censorial powers. He did not, however, trace his lineage and his re-founding to Servius – who even with part-divine ancestry still had servile connections – but with Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
, patrician founding hero, ancestor of the divine Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, descendant of Venus and Mars.
Plutarch admires the Servian reforms for their imposition of good order in government, the military and public morality, and Servius himself as the best of all Rome's kings: wise, personally courageous and so exceptionally fortunate that "it was even thought that Fortune consorted with him, descending into his chamber through a certain window which they now call the Porta Fenestella". Plutarch credits Servius with the appreciative foundation of two Temples to the goddess - one to Fortuna Primigenia and one to Fortuna Obsequens – and "the greater part" of her titles and honours: due gratitude from one who "through good fortune, had been promoted from the family of a captive enemy to the kingship."