Sunday, September 24, 2017

Western History 37: How did Rome emerge?

The mantle of Western Civilization so brandished by the Greeks would be transferred to their natural successors the Romans. Legend has it that the Rome itself was built by Romulus who killed his brother Remus after arguing about the site location for the city. Virgil saw the Romans as the descendants of the city state of Troy who had so valiantly (but ultimately unsuccessfully) battled the Achaean Greeks in the period between 1194-1184 BC in what was to be known as the Trojan Wars (The same conflict described by Homer in his epic poem The Iliad). However it is more likely that the Romans emerged from a settlement population of Italian origin who developed along the Tiber River.
          
The First Roman King was indeed named Romulus (753-716 BCE) and early Roman history was very much entangled with the history of the Etruscans who around 900-500 BC were the dominant group on the Italian peninsula


However the kingdom collapsed in 509 BC with L. Tarquin Superbus serving as its last monarch. Events leading to the downfall of the last king were bought to a head by a revolt of the nobility. This followed the saga of the rape of the aristocrat woman Lucretia by the king’s son. It would be replaced by the Republic.

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