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The Kings and Tradition

Once Romulus found the city of Rome he became one of the seven kings to rule the city of Rome. One of versions of this story is told by Marcus Terentius Varro, one of Rome’s great scholars in the early first century B.C. Varro is the man who we get the traditional founding date of Rome and the years to which each king ruled until the formation of the Republic, it goes as follows.

Romulus 753-715

Numa Pompilius 715-673

 Tullus Hostilius 673-642

Ancus Marcius 642-617

Lucius Tarquinius Pirsicus 616-579

Servius Tullus 578-535

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus 534-510

The first accounts of early Roman history begin to show up around two centuries after the fact making the age of the kings a much doubted topic amongst ancient historians. Whether or not there was such an age is still mystery to this day, but what is known for sure is that the Romans themselves believed that their Republic and political system was developed after this time period. Indeed this notion has some weight through certain pieces of archeology and fragmented written text. These fragments have things written about Roman kings, indications are found through the use of the word Rex (king in Latin). It is fabled during this time that there was a senate of aristocratic families that helped to advise the kings on matters such as the military, politics, and religion. From these kings through institutions and practices were taken and implemented into the Roman Republic.

Such institutions as the census had their beginnings in the age of the kings, specifically it is believed the precursor to the census came from the splitting of the roman people into militarily fit and not militarily fit by the king Servius Tullus. Another institution that we also see in the Republic is the assembly of common people or group of representatives that sought the best for the people of the city. These assemblies were essentially the first voting units and developed the basis for citizens being split up into tribes and represented by tribunes as done in the Republic. The senate, assemblies, and census are just three of the many characteristics that developed during the age of kings, then was used and further developed during the Republic.

roman-senate(Artist representation of the Senate) http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Politics/images-3/roman-senate.jpg

So if as we understand through texts by the likes of Livy and Cicero, why did the Romans hold on to these institutions after the fall of the tyrannical kings? The clue is the construct of mos maiorum and the conservative traditional view of Roman society. They developed and practiced these ideas and institutions because it was what their ancestors had done. Not only did this mos maiorum help dictate Roman governmental structure, but also impacted every individual and shaped the political thought and philosophy that manifested into the Republic.

 

Boatwright, Mary T., Daniel J. Gargola, Noel Lenski, and Richard J.A. Talbert.The Romans From Village to Empire. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.

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