On This Day In Roman History, March 1
Two historic Roman triumphs occur: the first ever Roman triumph under by Romulus and the first triumph of the Roman Republic under Publius Valerius Publicola, with both happening on March 1, 752 BCE and 509 BCE respectively. The first triumph was celebrated by the mythical King, Romulus for his victory over the Caeninenses. During this semi-mythological event, Romulus sent emissaries to the neighboring town of Caenina in seek of women. The goal was to move these women into Rome because the current population there was almost completely free of females. When Romulus' emissaries were denied, he created a plan to kidnap them under the guise of inviting the population to Rome in celebration of a festival known as Neptune Equester. The celebration boasted a huge set of state-funded games and lured the entire population of Caenina into Rome. When the time was right, Romulus gave the signal for the seizure of as many women to be taken as possible, and he forced the rest of the population out of the city. The aggrieved populations struck back against Rome but were defeated on the field of battle, with the prince of Caenina being personally defeated in one on one combat against Romulus. This would go on to be the first case of spolia opima, or "rich spoils", in which a slain Roman general would be stripped of armor and arms after defeat from another Roman. This event would come to be known in history as "The Rape of the Sabine Women", and would allow Romulus to celebrate the first ever Roman triumph for his conquest of the combined Latin peoples from Caenina, Crustumerium, and Antemnae.
The second triumph I will discuss today comes to us some 200 years later, under the council Publius Valerius Publicola. Publicola, as he is more commonly known as, was one of the original four Roman nobles to overthrow the Roman monarchy. He was a close colleague of Lucius Junius Brutus, and went on to become one of the first two councils in 509. This is the date that many modern historians classify as the first year of the Roman Republic. The last King of Rome, Tarquin, who traced his own roots to Etruscan origins, fled to the city of Tarquinii. He amassed an army there with the help of the local King, and gained a support army from the city of Veii. Tarquin the proud, at the head of a confederated Latin/ Etruscan army, confronted Publicola and Brutus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. The ultimate outcome would be in favor of the Romans, but Brutus would be mortally wounded the hands of the Kings son, named Arruns Tarquinius. After an extravagant funeral, Publicola road into the city on a chariot with four horses in tow This marked a new tradition for triumphs as well as the first triumph of the new Roman Republic.
Did you know?
After the defeat of the Latin peoples from Caenina, Crustumerium, and Antemnae, the Sabines marched on Rome and nearly took the city. They made it all the way to the inner citadel. The fighting finally came to an end when a number of Sabine women ran between the forces and demanded that their husbands and family members stop fighting for the sake of them and their kids. The two sides came to a peace, and jointly lead their newly unified people under Romulus and Tatius.
Pictured: The rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna. Photo by Wikipedia user, Thermos. Via Wikimedia Commons.
My selected quote today comes from Titus Livius, found in his "The History of Rome". Book 2. Chapter 7. It describes how finally the Etrurians and Romans became one, through force and force alone.
"They annex strange incidents to this battle, --that in the silence of the next night a loud voice was emitted from the Arsian wood; that it was believed to be the voice of Silvanus: these words were spoken, "that more of the Etrurians by one had fallen in the battle; that the Roman was victorious in the war." Certainly the Romans departed thence as victors, the Etrurians as vanquished."
Opinion
Welcome to my daily opinion! What a crazy day for Roman history. Some things that are certainly important to think about when remembering these semi-mythological events is that they are primarily mythological events. While the truths may be more complicated, and elapse over a longer stretch of time, the actual events and characters are certainly false. During the second discussed triumphs, things were much more concrete with evidence being supported from several sources. During the story about the Sabines and Romulus, however, things get a lot more mythical in the sense that the morals and stories are a grouped set of fables to help explain a much more complex integration of the Latin peoples over time. Mike Duncan, from The History of Rome podcast, likes to point out that while there were "Seven Kings of Rome", there was probably not actually just seven kings during this time. This, like so many other of these "pre-history" Roman events, is lumped together and transformed into the mentioned semi-mythological stories.
Sources
Fishwick, D. (1987). The imperial cult in the Latin West: studies in the ruler cult of the Western provinces of the Roman Empire. Volumes 1, 1 and 1, 2. Leiden: E.J.
L., & Foster, B. O. (1976). Livy in fourteen volumes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Further Reading:
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