Tarquin the Proud

 

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus

                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The history of Tarquin the Proud is a mixture of fact and fiction, as in all the best stories.

Tarquin was the seventh and final King of Rome, presiding over a despotic reign from 534-509 BC that led to the elimination of the monarchy. He acquired power through a succession of monstrous acts, culminating in the assassination of the reigning king, Servius Tullius. Tarquin’s wife, Tullia Minor, the dead king’s daughter, drove her chariot over his body as it lay in the street.

After seizing the throne, Tarquin proceeded to rule without Senate approval, ignoring Roman law and passing judgements decided only on his own authority. He protected himself with an armed guard and any political opponents he distrusted were murdered or outlawed. Some were falsely implicated in plots and executed.

The end of his corrupt, tyrannical reign came about through the actions of his son Sextus, who raped a noblewoman he had trapped into submitting to him. Lucretia committed suicide. It was the inspiration for Shakespeare’s narrative poem of 1594, The Rape of Lucrece.

Lucretia’s husband and father swore to overthrow Tarquin and his family, who were banished from Rome. Tarquin tried many times to regain power, but died in exile in 495 BC.

 Thereafter the Roman Empire was established.