Overthrow of the Roman monarchy

• 1. Conflicting Ancient Dates

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  Scholars and ancient sources themselves disagree on when the monarchy was overthrown. The most well-known date for the establishment of the republic is 509 BC. This specific dating emerges from the Varronian chronology, assembled during the late republic by Marcus Terentius Varro. Later historians reported dates roughly around that time, implying that the republic was founded in different years depending on the source. Dionysius of Halicarnassus placed it in the first year of the 68th Olympiad or the year Isagoras was eponymous archon at Athens, which implies 508, 7 BC. Polybius stated it occurred 28 years before Xerxes crossed into Greece, implying 508 BC. A census taken in 389 or 388 BC suggested 119 years had passed, implying 508 or 507 BC. Gnaeus Flavius asserted his temple to Concordia was dedicated 204 years after the dedication of the capitol. Because his temple was dedicated in 303 BC, this implies the capitol was dedicated in 507. Modern scholars are sceptical of much of this traditional chronology, especially that related to the dedication of the capitol. Many historians have argued that the lists of consuls are an unreliable anachronism of the late republic. Resolution of this topic is difficult due to the absolute paucity of reliable sources.

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• 2. The Story of Lucretia

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  Roman tradition held that there were seven kings of Rome who reigned from the city's founding up to the reign of Tarquin. The traditional account portrays a dynastic struggle in which the king's second son, Sextus Tarquinius, rapes a noblewoman named Lucretia. Upon revealing the assault to some Roman noblemen, she kills herself. The Roman noblemen, led by Lucius Junius Brutus, obtain the support of the Roman aristocracy and the people to expel the king and his family. They create a republic where two consuls are elected annually to rule the city. During this time, Tarquin has been conducting a war against Ardea but rushes back to Rome on news of the coup. The city is shut before him and the coup leaders convince the army at Ardea to join them. Brutus and Collatinus then become the first consuls with Brutus administering an oath before the people to never again tolerate a king in Rome. He also proposes the banishment of all members of the Tarquin clan. Soon after, Brutus' two sons are discovered plotting to restore the monarchy. After the conspiracy is exposed by a slave, Brutus orders the death of his own sons and relatives.

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• 3. Unreliable Ancient Sources

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  The sources we have today for the monarchy and the earliest parts of the republic are notorious literary sources that lack reliability. Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, along with some supporting work from Plutarch's Life of Poplicola form the core of these accounts. The first literary history in Rome was written by Quintus Fabius Pictor centuries after the actual fall of the monarchy. These ancient historians read the fragmentary evidence from early Rome and reconstructed it such that it reflected their present. Surviving accounts of Livy and others are based on these writers rather than the original evidence. The stories written down by the time of the second century BC were done so by a time the Romans had lost any reliable sources on the fall of the monarchy. Senatorial historiography served to advertise and embellish writers' families rather than describe political or social contexts already lost from memory. T. P. Wiseman argues that many of the kings themselves and figures from the traditional story were ahistorical inventions of the fourth and third centuries BC. James Richardson believes that one of the central figures of the traditional story, Lucius Junius Brutus, never existed. Reconstructing the earliest parts of the republic based on a critical reading runs the risk of simply producing a modern narrative with no basis at all in the evidence.

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• 4. Modern Scholarly Debates

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  There are many different theories about what happened at the start of the republic because the evidence is sufficiently sparse. Modern views range from a semi-traditional account accepting the general facts of Roman tradition to hyper-critical accounts which argue that almost pure invention occurred. Tim Cornell presented his semi-traditionalist approach in his 1995 book Beginnings of Rome. He accepts broad events but discards narrative details as fictitious. A domestic crisis provides a spark which causes a revolution in Rome. Lars Porsenna intervenes in northern Latium as part of this conflagration. Archaeological evidence shows destruction around the comitium around 500 BC. The royal sanctuary near Sant'Omobono was destroyed and abandoned for around a century. Gary Forsythe argues more broadly that names follow a pattern observed elsewhere in ancient narrative sources. He dismisses Valerius and Lucretius' consulships in 509, speculating they were brought from later years into the first so that characters could pass laws that are themselves fictitious. Other scholars like Krister Hanell argue that eponymous magistrates existed without the formation of a republic. Einar Gjerstad argued that moving the expulsion of the kings to a cultural break matches archaeological evidence of impoverishment.

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• 5. Political Legacy Abroad

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  The putative role of Lucius Junius Brutus in the abolition of the kings was commemorated by the later Romans with a statue on the Capitoline Hill holding an unsheathed sword. The story of his overthrow was also referenced by the public as part of a campaign to convince one of his descendants, Marcus Junius Brutus, to organise the assassination of Julius Caesar. Praise of Brutus was common during the French Revolution when the name was appropriated as an exemplar of civic republican virtues. Boys and whole towns were named after Brutus. Leaders of the French Revolution drew on legendary antiquity to rise to the level of the events which they were living. Contemporaneously, in the debate over ratification of what would become the Constitution of the United States, authors of The Federalist Papers signed with the pseudonym Publius. This reference points to Publius Valerius Poplicola of the Livian narrative. A coin depicting Lucius Junius Brutus was minted by his descendant Marcus Junius Brutus during his term as triumvir monetalis in 54 BC. These examples show how ancient Roman political history influenced modern democratic movements across centuries.

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