Greek arrivals in Rome
Chronos and Dionysos 2.
Demeratos and the house of the
Tarquins
2. 3. Etruscan Augury
1.
Saturnus
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Kronos (Chronos) = Time – 2nd generation gods
Saturnus
Greek myth: Kronos tried to swallow his children, thrown into
Tartarus
Roman myth: Saturnus flees from Jupiter and the place he lies
hidden (latebas) = Latium
Saturnus both bringer of civilization (associated with sowing)
And symbol of time before civilization - dangerous = statue in
temple shackled
Hercules abolished human sacrifice to Saturnus
One version of story explains tossing of straw figures of Argives
replaced real sacrifice
Saturn’s temple also treasury - associated with introduction of
coinage
Dionysos’ Arrival
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Hercules at Tiber with cattle responds to cries for help
from Ino with a baby son Melikertes, chased by
Bacchantes (followers of Dionysos)
Hercules became a god - apotheosis
Ino, daughter of Kadmus, king of Thebes, sister of
Semele who was mother of Dionysos (son of Zeus) – Ino
took care of baby Dionysos
Ino became goddess Leukothea (Greek) Matuta (Latin),
her son god Palaemon (Greek), Portunus (Latin)
Story – aitiology for Dionysos’ arrival
Dionysos = Liber
Introduced Italians (and earlier the Greeks) to viticulture
Falernian Wine – famous wine in antiquity
the Greek heros (hero)
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The hero in Poetry - the great Greek heroes of myth (i.e. Achilles,
Odysseus), they are noble, well-born and alive – also self-centred, out for
personal glory and honour
The cult hero - is dead!
hero of worship = denotes a human being who continues to exert power
after death and has to be propitiated through prayers and offerings.
A hero commonly has a divine and a human parent and is mortal
Traditionally heroes are founders of cities, races (Aeneas), families (iulus,
Nautes) etc.,
Hero more important in Greek mythology and religion than in Roman;
Greeks have 5 mythological ages of man, including the age of heroes,
Romans only 4; Most important hero in Greek myth – Heracles – appears in
Roman myth but not as prominent
Heroes symbolize uncivilized aspect but also are bringers of civilization
Romans dropped age of Heroes when they adopted Greek mythological
tradition
Hero in Cult
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Most were anonymous
chthonic powers (dwelt under the earth)
Heroon – (Latin tumuli) large burial mound (at end of
Greek dark ages new settlers found them and believed
that they belonged to mythological heroes); tumuli –
also recorded in Italy
Cult involved a tomb (heroon);
sacrifices to chthonic powers were poured onto ground
(not burned on altar)
These dead heroes were considered to be intermediaries
between gods and humans
Offered protection while they could harm at the same
time - needed to be appeased
The Seven Kings of Rome
Romulus
 Numa Pompilius
 Tullus Hostilius
 Ancus Marcius
 Tarquinius Priscus
 Servius Tullius
 Tarquinius Superbus
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Demeratos of Corinth and the
Tarquins
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Corinth at Isthmus – connecting Greek mainland with Peloponnese
Extremely wealthy city
Cult of Poseidon Hippios
Isthmian Games (biannual festival)
Leading family the Bacchiadai, disposed of in 657 BC,
One member of family, Demeratos, wealthy from trade with Etruscans, went
with followers to Etruria and settled at Tarquinii, married women from local
nobility
one source claims became king
Had a son Locumo (= king in Etruscan), married local aristocrat Tanaquil
Could not get the high position in Etruscan society, packed up his wife and
wealth and left ,
On road at Janiculum, gods sent him sign - - eagle snatched his hat off,
Tanaqui read the omen, settled at Rome, used Demaratos’ treasure,
became fifth king of Rome
Locumo of Tarquinii – latinized as Lucius Tarquinius
Their son Tarquinius Superbus – last king at Rome
Tarquinius (Priscus)
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Introduced Corinthian cult of Poseidon Hippios as Latin Neptunus Equester,
identified with local deity Consus (common to identify local deity with
imported god/cult)
Introduced Roman form of Isthmian Games in honour of Poseidon/Neptune
(biennual games – part of Panhellenic game circuit)
Circus named after Circe, daughter of sun god Helios, the other patron of
Corinth
Corinthian cult of Aphrodite – in Greek myth came ashore naked, where she
landed, myrtles grew as to protect from satyrs
On slope of Aventine hill – myrtle grove site of cult of Fortuna Virilis
(Fortune of Men)
Cult required married women to be available to their husbands on first day
of April (months of Aphrodite), like the earlier temple prostitutes
Corinthian connection important in story about house of Tarquinii
Rome’s Openness
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Livy, ab urbe condita 1.34
“The Etruscans looked down upon Locumo as the son of a
foreign refugee; she [Tanaquil] could not brook this indignity,
and forgetting all ties of patriotism if only she could see her
husband honoured, resolved to emigrate from Tarquinii. Rome
seemed the most suitable place for her purpose. She felt that
among a young nation where all nobility is a thing of recent
growth and won by personal merit, there would be room for a
man of courage and energy. She remembered that the Sabine
Tatius had reigned there, that Numa had been summoned
from Cures to fill the throne, that Ancus himself was sprung
from a Sabine mother….
Etruscan Arts (augury)
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1.34
“They had got as far as the Janiculum when
a hovering eagle swooped gently down and
took off his cap as he was sitting by his wife’s
side in the carriage, then circling round the
vehicle with loud cries, as though
commissioned by heaven for this service,
replaced it carefully upon his head and
soared away. It is said that Tanaquil, who
like most Etruscans, was expert in
interpreting celestial prodigies, was
delighted at the omen.”
The role of augury
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1.36
“now as Romulus had acted under the sanction of the auspices,
Attius Navius, a celebrated augur at that time, insisted that no
change could be made, nothing new introduced, unless the birds
gave a favourable omen. The king’s anger was roused, and in
mockery of the augur’s skill he is reported to have said,” come, you
diviner, find out by your augury whether what I am now
contemplating can be done.” Attius, after consulting the omens,
declared that it could. “Well,” the king replied, “I had in my mind
that you should cut a whetstone with a razor. Take these, and
perform the feat which your birds portend can be done.” It is said
that without the slightest hesitation he cut it through. …At all
events, auguries and the college of augurs were held in such honour
that nothing was undertaken in peace or war without their sanction:
the curies, the assembly of the centuries, matters of the highest
importance, were suspended or broken if the omen of the birds was
unfavourable.
The First Tarquin
1.34 “During the reign of Ancus a wealthy and ambitious man named
Lucumo removed to Rome, mainly with the hope and desire of winning high
distinction, for which no opportunity had existed in Tarquinii, since there he
was also an alien. …
 1.35 Ancus reigned twenty-four years, unsurpassed by any of his
predecessors in ability and reputation, both in the field and at home. His
sons had now almost reached manhood. Tarquin was all the more anxious
for the election of the new king to be held as soon as possible. At the time
fixed for it he sent the boys out of the way on a hunting expedition. ….
 Though in all other respects an excellent man, his ambition, which
impelled him to seek the crown, followed him on to the throne;
with the design of strengthening himself quite as much as of
increasing the State, he made a hundred new senators. These were
afterwards called “The Lesser Houses” and formed a body of
uncompromising supporters of the king, though whose kindness they had
entered the senate.”
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Titus Livius (Livy)
and Early Roman History
The historian Livy ( 64 or 59 B.C. – A.D. 17)
 Work: ab urbe condita ( from the founding of Rome) an
enormous history of Rome from its foundation to his own
time, contains many traditional stories about early
Roman history that are not historical facts
 Stories reflect traditional Roman ideals and values, not
necessarily those of the early Romans, but rather of later
periods and of Livy’s own period.
 Important: history reflects Roman vision of the past
 Stories provide many exempla (examples) of exemplary
Roman men and women who act according to Roman
values, and examples of those who do not.
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Livy’s sources
Early books, no reliable sources
 Used previous writers; some archaeological evidence
such as monuments and statues around – tries to link
some legends to surviving monuments
 After 390 BCE more sources available
 Relies on many Greek writers and Roman annalists,
 As more sources available he is able to differentiate and
argues in favour of one or the other
 Early history - traditional legends – selected from
several earlier versions. His version of the regal period
only ¼ of length of that by Dionysius of Halicarnassus
(c. 70 – 7 BCE)
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Livy’s prologue
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“Events before the city was founded or planned, which
have been handed down more as pleasing poetic fictions
than as reliable records of historical events, I intend
neither to affirm nor to refute. To antiquity we grant the
indulgence of making the origins of cities more
impressive by commingling the human with the divine,
and if any people should be permitted to sanctify its
inception and reckon the gods as its founders, surely the
glory of the Roman people in war such that, when it
boasts Mars in particular as its parent and the parent of
its founder, the nations of the world would as easily
acquiesce in this claim as they do in our rule.”
The nature of the Traditional stories from
Rome’s early history
Not factual accounts, but how Romans of
later periods viewed their past;
 Stories are anachronistic - they reflect
not so much values 6th to 4th centuries of
the city but values of later periods shared
by Livy’s own contemporaries.
 Stories are also an illustration of how the
Roman themselves envisioned the history
of their state.
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