Here comes the ‘Superbus’!Aim: to understand how Lucius Tarquinius (Superbus) came to power and assess this against previous kings.

Starter: What issues have plagued the previous 3 kings in their ascension to the Curial Throne?

Infidelity, murder, mutilation and corruption• The rise of Lucius Tarquinius is more ‘messed

up’ than even the dodgiest American T.V. Soap opera.

• It takes some explaining!

• USE A FULL PAGE FOR THIS!

Tarquinus Priscus

Servius Tullius

1st Tarquin King

‘Slave’ king/ Flame boy!

Adopts Servius and appoints him the next king.

Arruns

Lucius Tarquinius

Has 2 Sons (Grandsons)

Has 2 Daughters

Tullia ( 1 )

Tullia ( 2 )

Arruns

Lucius Tarquinius

“a mild-mannered young man”

“He was a hot-headed youth

himself”

Tullia (the younger)

Tullia (the elder)

“daughters of the king, although both named Tullia, themselves of widely different characters”.

Servius had them married to avoid any rift between the 2 families

“It was distressing to the headstrong Tullia (the younger) that her husband (Arruns) should be destitute of ambition and enterprise.”

Lucius Tarquinius starts spreading Rumours that Servius isn’t ruling with

the will of the people

What reasons would he have? Annotate your diagram!

Servius, who has distributed the land to the people calls for a vote. He wins with an overwhelming majority.

Tullia (the Younger) becomes annoyed with her husband due to his lack of drive. She turns to Lucius.

There are increasing ‘meetings’ between the two ambitious siblings.

“’You and I’ , she said, ‘would have better been single than bound in a marriage so incongruous and absurd, where each of us is forced by a cowardly partner to fritter out lives away in hopeless inactivity. Ah! If God had but given men the husband I deserve, I should soon see my own house…[becomes the next king]”

Soon after: Arruns and Tullia the elder die!

Lucius and Tullia the younger are married

Tullia starts goading Lucius to take the throne…

“’Did I want a man, ‘ she urged, ‘simply to call husband, simply to endure slavery with him in silence? No! I wanted a man who knew he was worthy of a crown, who remembered that his father was a king, who would sooner reign now than languish in hope’.”

What is she proposing?

Lucius now starts courting the support of the ‘lesser patrician’ families ( who had been given

roles in the Senate by his father).

When he thinks he has enough support he rushes into the Forum with an armed guard.

He sits on the Curial Throne and declares himself king! He demands all senators come and

acknowledge him as king.

Servius confronts Lucius. Lucius claims Servius has no right to be king as there was no interregnum.

The senate is divided.

There is a ‘struggle’ between the 2 sides. Lucius grabs the elderly Servius and throws him down the

senate stairs into the street

Servius tries to make his way back to the Palace to gather his forces but is killed by 2 assassins (sent by

Tullia)

But then….“There followed an act of bestial inhumanity- history preserves the memory of it in the name of the street, the Street of Crime… The crazed woman (Tullia), driven to a frenzy by the avenging ghosts of her sister and husband, drove the carriage over her father’s body. Blood from the corpse stained her clothes and spattered the carriage, so that a grim relic of the murdered man was brought by those gory wheels to the house where she and her husband lived”. Livy 1.48

Assessment• What role do Lucius and Tullia play in

the usurping of the throne?

• How do Lucius Tarquinius and Tarquinius Priscus compare?

• What similarities are there between Tanaquil and Tullia?