Lucius Tarquinius the Proud - according to Roman legend, the last, seventh king of Ancient Rome in 534-509 BC. e. Known for his tyranny. He was expelled from Rome.
The father of Tarquin the Proud was the fifth king of Rome: Tarquinius Priscus. After his assassination in 578 BC. e. sons of Ancus Marcius, the favorite of Tanaquil (wife of Tarquinius Priscus) - Servius Tullius - took power into his own hands. The sons of Tarquinius Priscus - Lucius and Arun - were still babies at that time. In order to prevent his possible overthrow by the sons of the predecessor king, Servius Tullius tried to bind them to himself. The king decided to give them his daughters as wives: the meek and affectionate one for the proud Lucius, and the ambitious younger one for the indecisive Arun. However, the younger Tullia, against her father's will, married Lucius Tarquinius. They plotted and killed Arun and the elder Tullia.
The dissatisfaction of the patricians with the reforms of Servius Tullius led to the fact that the king lost the support of the Senate. Lucius Tarquin took advantage of this and tried to remove his father-in-law. The first time he did not succeed - according to legend, the people stood up for the king. Lucius Tarquinius was forced to flee. Having drawn conclusions, the next time he decided to take decisive action when the people were busy in the fields. Lucius Tarquinius convened the Senate (this was the privilege of the king) and announced that he, and not Servius Tullius, was the legal heir to the throne. When Servius Tullius (by that time already a very old man) appeared at the Senate in order to drive out the impostor, Tarquinius threw him down the steps onto a stone platform. Servius Tullius tried to escape, but was killed in the street by Lucius' followers. His body was immediately run over by a chariot by his youngest daughter Tullia.
Immediately after his election to the kingdom, Lucius Tarquin surrounded himself with lictors and began to pursue a policy of repression against the adherents of the deceased Servius Tullius. The number of the Senate, which counted on Lucius Tarquinius returning the former privileges to the patricians, was reduced by almost half as a result of intrigues and denunciations. The tsar not only did not replenish it, but also began to convene it as rarely as possible. The functions of the Senate were actually replaced by the council of the king's associates.
Thanks to the large military spoils, Lucius Tarquin began active construction in Rome. Under him, the Temple of Jupiter was completed on Capitol Hill, and the construction of the sewer system was completed. Tarquinius the Proud destroyed the Sabine sanctuaries and leveled the Tarpeian Rock, which towered above the forum, from where the condemned were thrown into the Tiber.
Lucius Tarquin the Proud pursued an active aggressive foreign policy. He strengthened the alliance between Rome and the Latin cities by physically eliminating those who considered Rome the enslaver of Latium and creating kinship alliances. So he married his daughter to Octavius Mamilius, king of Tusculum. Under Tarquinius Proud, Roman troops for the first time invaded the Volscian region - the cities of Suessa-Pompecia and Anxur were conquered. The Sabines and Etruscans were suppressed.
Under Tarquinius Proud, they stopped taking representatives of the lower classes into the army - they were used in construction. The army was staffed mainly from mercenaries.
The tyranny of the king and the abuses of his sons turned all sectors of society against him. The rape of the virtuous Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius was the last straw of patience: Lucretia's relatives Lucius Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius Publicola brought her body to the forum and convinced the citizens to expel the king and establish republican rule. Tarquinius the Proud was not allowed into Rome, and he and his three younger sons were forced to seek refuge in Etruria. Sextus Tarquinius was killed during the uprising in Gabia.
In exile, Lucius Tarquin tried to gain the support of the Etruscan and Latin kings, convincing them that Rome wanted to extend republican rule throughout Latium. The Etruscan king Lars Porsena, on whom Lucius Tarquin counted most, despite the victories over the Romans, was forced to conclude a peace treaty with the republic. Lucius Tarquinius managed to turn the Latins against Rome, but at the Battle of Lake Regilus in 496 BC. e. the allied army was defeated by the Romans. All of Tarquin's remaining sons died in the battle. The former king was forced to flee to the Etruscan city of Cumae to King Aristodemus, where he died in 495 BC. e.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru