Servius Tullius biography. The reign of Servius Tullius - a successful beginning and a tragic ending

September 22, 2018

While still a boy, Servius ended up in the house of the ancient Roman king Tarquinius Priscus as a slave turned servant. His father died in one of the battles with the Romans, and his mother was captured by the Romans. Legends say that she may have been of noble birth, so Queen Tanaquil brought the woman closer to her. The family loved the boy, gave him a good education and treated him as a younger relative, and not as a servant. The matured Servius later even became the son-in-law of Tarquin the Ancient, marrying his daughter.

Servius Tullius

At first, the tragic death of the ancient Roman ruler at the hands of assassins was hidden from the people. His wife Tanaquil ordered the house to be tightly closed, and from the window she addressed the gathered crowd with a speech. She said that the king would definitely recover, since the wound was not deep, but for now orders on his behalf would be transmitted through Servius Tullius. Within a few days, the future ancient Roman king, the sixth in a row, was able to strengthen his position in selected circles, after which it was decided to announce the death of Tarquin. Servius was not popularly elected. Tanaquil, who loved the young man like a mother, helped him take the royal chair.

Servius Tullius tried to avoid the hatred of the grown-up royal sons and the fate of his predecessor by marrying his two daughters to the young man. But he never managed to get rid of enmity, betrayal and envy. Subsequently, Tullia Jr. will play a fatal role in the fate of her father, conceiving and taking direct part in serious intrigues behind his back. Ultimately, Servius Tullius will be publicly killed by the conspirators led by his son-in-law, and his daughter, Tullia the Younger, will ride over her father’s body in a chariot!

Tullia the Younger directs her chariot at her father's body

The sixth ancient Roman king reigned from 578 to 535. BC. Servius devoted more time to government and construction than to wars. As a result, Tullius' reforms contributed to the strengthening of the state system. He created:

• Servian legislation;
• centuriate reform, which divided the population of Rome into urban and rural tribes - clan associations were replaced by territorial districts.

Among other things, property classes and electoral groups emerged. The aristocracy began to be defined not by kinship, but by wealth. The poor constituted a separate class, whose representatives could not take part in voting and did not perform military service. But they were allowed to be redeemed from slavery, freeing them from dependence, which affected the people’s respect for the king, who personally participated in the process.

Servian Wall

According to legend, during the reign of Tullius it was erected, surrounding the seven hills of Rome. But studies of the surviving sections of the building indicate the construction of the wall in the 4th century. BC, although these ruins could have survived after its reconstruction. Ruins of the fortress wall are found today in several historical areas of Rome.

Tarquin left behind two minor sons and a son-in-law, Servius Tullius. But those rough and troubled times did not allow the establishment of guardianship to preserve the royal throne for young children, but demanded the immediate replacement of the king. Tanaquila immediately realized that she and the entire royal family would be doomed to death if the sons of Anca Marcius managed to seize supreme power. At the same time, Servius Tullius seemed to be the only person capable of averting such a misfortune and at the same time worthy of holding the royal crown. According to reliable sources, Servius Tullius came from a noble family of the Latin city of Carnicula and was born in Rome. His mother was captured and slaved in the house of the elderly Tarquin during the capture of the city by the Romans, and his father, Tullius, was killed in battle. Queen Tanaquila fell in love with both mother and son. The boy was named Servius Tullius, received a good upbringing and showed great abilities. There were rumors that when Servius was still a child, one day while sleeping, the hair on his head glowed with a fiery glow, which disappeared upon awakening. Tanaquila, very knowledgeable in Etruscan wisdom, explained this miraculous sign as an omen sent by the gods for the future glory of the child.

Tanaquila and the growing Servius did everything to ensure that this divine omen came true. With his courage and intelligence, Servius won for himself the high position and dignity of a senator and patrician. Tanaquila and Tarquin gave his daughter in marriage to him, and Tarquin handed over to him the management of the most important affairs. Thus, the people had long been accustomed to seeing this happy and worthy temporary worker next to the tsar and rewarded him with their full confidence. Therefore, Tanaquila and Servius himself had no doubt at all that after the death of Tarquin, the people would also willingly see him as their king. Therefore, Tanaquila, as soon as her husband was killed, ordered the house to be locked and announced to the assembled and amazed people that Tarquinius was not killed, but only wounded and, until his recovery, transferred control of the state to his son-in-law, Servius Tullius.

The next day, Servius Tullius appeared in the city square under the protection of a strong convoy of bodyguards and, in order to eliminate the most dangerous enemies, the sons of Ancus Marcius, from his path, accused them of deliberate murder. He sentenced them, as one would expect, to expulsion and confiscation of all property. They fled, and their party, deprived of leaders, lost all meaning.

Now Servius Tullius, believing that he had nothing to fear anymore, announced that the elderly king had died of his wounds. Servius did not relinquish his royal dignity and ruled for some time without the consent of the patricians and the Senate. Only after securing preliminary promises from the patricians did he call them to a meeting and persuaded them to approve him as king.

Servius Tullius, like Numa Pompilius and Ancus Marcius, was a friend of peace and waged war only with the Etruscans. Having forced them to recognize the supreme power of Rome, he entered into an alliance with the Latins and organized common sacrifices and festivals for the Romans and Latins in the Temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill. To the Palatine, Capitoline, Quirinale, Caelian, and Aventine hills that existed before that time, Servius Tullius added the Esquiline and Viminal, surrounded the entire area with a wall and a ditch, and thus became the founder of the “seven-hilled city.” He divided the entire Roman region into thirty districts (tribes), namely: the city itself into four tribes, and the region into twenty-six. This division into thirty tribes extended not only to the plebeians, but also to the patricians. Servius Tullius eased the situation of the poorest part of the population by paying off the debts of the poor and distributing among them small plots of land from state land property. However, with these beneficent concerns for the plebeians, he aroused the hatred of the patricians against himself. But the greatest act of Servius Tullius was the division and organization of the entire Roman population, both patricians and plebeians, according to property into classes and centuries. The structure of the army and the composition of the newly established national assembly were based on this division. Thanks to this measure, the tribes and curia of the patricians lost their power, and the merger of the patricians and plebeians into one equal state class was prepared.

Without taking into account origin, Servius divided the entire population into five classes, and the classes, in turn, into one hundred and ninety-three centuries. Patricians, as the richest, had to pay more taxes and bear a greater burden of military duties. The plebeians, being less wealthy people, were burdened with fewer duties. While maintaining their political rights, they were relegated to the background, but had the opportunity to achieve the highest social position.

The five property classes were constructed as follows. The first group included those whose property amounted to at least 100,000 asses (the then Roman asses were equal to one pound of copper). This class consisted of eighty centuries or, since the division into classes had an influence on the method of serving military service, of eighty infantry detachments. Of these, forty consisted of young men from 18 to 46 years of age who carried out military service in the field; the remaining forty consisted of older people intended for the internal security of the city. The weapons of the first class were: armor, legguard, spear, sword, helmet and shield. The horsemen also belonged to the same class; they were divided into eighteen centuries and consisted of richer and younger people.

Although the infantry and cavalry did not receive pay, horses and food for them were delivered to the state account. This whole class thus had ninety-eight centuries.

The second class consisted of those whose property was valued at 75,000 asses. It was divided into twenty centuries, which, like the first class, were divided into two divisions according to their age. Persons of the second class had the same weapons as the first, but without armor, and their shields were lighter.

Property of 50,000 asses gave the right to belong to the third class. This class was also divided into twenty centuries, of which ten consisted of young and ten of old warriors. The weapons assigned to them did not include a shell and a legguard. The fourth class also had the same number of twenty centuries, with their division according to age, the condition of belonging to which was property of 25,000 asses. A spear, shield and sword constituted the weapons of persons belonging to this class.

In the fifth class the number of centuries was thirty with property of 12,500 asses. Men of this class were armed with spears, slings and served in light troops.

All other citizens whose property was less than that of persons of the fifth class, and citizens who did not have any property, were called proletarians, that is, owners of only children. Despite the fact that there were a lot of them, they constituted only one century. The proletarians were free from military service and all taxes. Taxes were paid only by the remaining classes according to their property.

Those who served in the army as buglers, trumpeters, gunsmiths and carpenters constituted four special centuries. From this division it is clear that in the centurial comitia (assemblies), in which voting took place by century, the first class with its ninety-eight centuries had predominant importance, its opinion was decisive, and all legislative power was concentrated in its hands.

In addition, the patricians still gathered in curial commissions and approved decisions on war and peace, on the election of a new king, etc. Moreover, they retained for themselves the ancient rights to be senators, priests, judges and patrons. Even the decisions of the centurial comitia received force only when the curial comitia expressed their prior consent.

In gratitude to the gods for the successful completion of such important tasks, Servius Tullius erected two temples to the goddess of happiness Fortuna. However, despite this, happiness in the end betrayed Servius Tullius, and members of his own family prepared a most shameful end for him. Servius Tullius gave his daughters in marriage to the sons of Tarquinius. One of them, Lucius, was an arrogant and power-hungry man. He looked with displeasure at how his father-in-law ruled on the throne, to which, in his opinion, he had great rights. Another son of Tarquinius, Aruns, was a peace-loving man. Tullia, the eldest daughter of Servius, who was married to Lucius, was of a meek character, filled with love for her father and cared about curbing the proud passions of her husband. But the younger sister, who was married to Aruns and also had the name Tullia, was distinguished by her heartless lust for power. Seeing that her husband, due to his character, could not serve as a suitable instrument for her ambitious plans, she did not hesitate to get closer to her brother-in-law Lucius, who was also looking for this rapprochement. The immediate consequence of this rapprochement was the violent death of the brother and sister. This death destroyed the barrier between Lucius and his brother's wife. Having agreed both in their characters and in their opinions, they united themselves in marriage.

Now they began to overthrow the king. Lucius Tarquin tried with money and promises to gain supporters among the patricians and plebeians. At first, he hoped to oust his father-in-law by legal means, and for this, in the Senate and the People's Assembly, he spread slander against his father-in-law, as coming from slave blood and an illegal holder of the throne. But the majority of votes spoke in favor of the king, and Lucius Tarquin was forced to postpone the execution of his plan until another time.

In the end, Lucius outwardly reconciled with his father-in-law, but secretly cared about increasing his supporters. He waited until the harvest kept part of the people and the friends of Servius Tullius away from the city, and he himself had the opportunity to gather his followers into the Senate and the Forum. Suddenly and unexpectedly he appeared in the assembly of senators, decorated with signs of royal dignity. The elderly king, notified of this, hurried to the Senate. Reproaching his son-in-law for daring to appear in such attire, Servius Tullius wanted to drag him off the throne. But Tarquinius, being younger and stronger, grabbed the royal old man, grabbed his body and threw him down the stone stairs of the curia.

The unfortunate, bloodied and exhausted king wanted to leave with the help of some friends, but at that time the assassins sent by Tarquin arrived and put an end to the existence of Servius.

Full of joy, Tullia arrived in the square to greet her husband as king. At the same time, the character of this daughter was fully revealed. Returning home, she triumphantly rode over her father's corpse in a chariot, and his blood spattered her clothes.

Servius Tullius was born on August 13 in the city of Corniculum, which was subsequently destroyed by Roman troops under the leadership of Tarquinius Priscus. The father of the future king, Spurius Tullius, died in the battle, and his mother Okrisia, a woman of noble birth, perhaps even a queen, was captured by the Romans. There she fell in love with Tanaquil, the wife of the Roman king. The birth of Servius Tullius is surrounded by legends. According to mythological legend, already in childhood his divine origin manifested itself. One day, when the boy was sleeping in the atrium, a bright flame engulfed his head like a crown. The servants wanted to put out the fire, but Tanaquil saw a sign in this event and stopped them. The flame went out only when the child woke up and did not cause him any harm. Roman annalists claim that Servius, although a slave, was a favorite in the royal house, received a good Greek education and, at a young age, supplemented it with military victories. Tarquinius Priscus gave him his second daughter as his wife. After the murder of Tarquinius Priscus by the sons of Ancus Marcius, Tanaquil managed to bring Servius Tullius, her favorite, to power.

Beginning of reign

The beginning of the reign of Servius Tullius was marked by successful wars against the city of Veii and the Etruscans. In order to establish Rome's dominance over the Latin cities, he built the Temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill and established allied holidays. The Sabines also did not wage wars against Rome during the reign of Servius Tullius: according to legend, one Sabine named Curiatius managed to raise a mighty bull. One day, a wandering prophet appeared to this cattle breeder and predicted that the one who sacrificed this bull to Diana would become king of the Sabines. Curiatius immediately led his bull to the new temple in Rome. There he told the Roman priest what made him come to the altar, but the priest began to reproach Curiatius for not washing his hands in the Tiber before the sacrifice. While Curiatius was running to the river, the efficient priest managed to make a sacrifice. Thus, all the consequences of this sacrifice went to Rome. The unfortunate cattle breeder was given the head of a bull, and with it he went to his city to beg his compatriots not to attack Rome.

Thus, most of the reign of Servius Tullius was peaceful, and the king had a lot of time to carry out government reforms.

Government reforms

Roman tradition associates the name of Servius Tullius with reforms that contributed to the establishment of the political system of Rome; the so-called Servian legislation. The most important of the reforms was the centuriate reform, according to which clan tribes were replaced by territorial ones. With this, Servius Tullius divided the entire population of Rome into 4 urban and 17 rural tribes. As a result, it turned out that 25,000 citizens living in Rome were able to bear arms (information according to Fabius Pictor, who lived in the 3rd century BC). For a more equal distribution of responsibilities between citizens, Servius Tullius introduced plebeians into the Roman community, and divided the entire population of Rome into 5 classes, or categories, according to property qualifications. Each class fielded a certain number of military units - centuries (hundreds) and received the same number of votes in the centuriate comitia. A total of 193 such centuries were created. The most influential were 18 centuries of the 1st class and 80 centuries of the 2nd class: if they voted the same on any issue, the opinion of other centuries was not asked. Some historians believe that the proletarians and the poor under Servius Tullius were allocated to a separate, 6th class and constituted 1st century without the right to vote and did not serve. Thus, an aristocracy of wealth was established to replace the aristocracy of kinship. The division of the Roman army into triarii, principi and hastati was based on classes.

According to legend, under Servius Tulia, the construction of the city wall of Rome (Servian city wall) was completed, which encircled five hills that already had their own fortifications, and also included the Quirinal and Viminal hills. Thus, Rome became a city on seven hills (Septimontium). However, archaeological excavations show that the city wall in Rome was built only 200 years later: in the 1st half of the 4th century BC. uh..

Servius Tullius is credited with the monetary reform (he was the first in Rome to mint silver coins). He contributed in every way to the growth of the welfare of society: following the example of Solon in Athens, he redeemed the poor from slavery and freed clients from patronal dependence - this procedure was called nexum. Therefore, Servius Tullius was considered the “people’s” king. The plebeians especially honored his memory.

The sons of Tarquinius Priscus and the death of Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius came to power when his predecessor's sons were still babies. Trying not to repeat the sad fate of Tarquinius Priscus, the king tried to bring his two sons closer to him: Lucius and Arun. He gave his daughters to them: the meek and affectionate one - to the proud Lucius, and the ambitious younger one - to the indecisive Arun. However, the younger Tullia, against her father's will, married Lucius Tarquinius, conspiring and killing Arun and the elder Tullia.

The dissatisfaction of the patricians with the reforms of Servius Tullius led to the fact that the king lost the support of the Senate. Lucius Tarquinius took advantage of this, convened the Senate into a curia and proclaimed himself king. When Servius Tullius (by that time already a very old man) appeared at the Senate in order to drive out the impostor, Tarquinius threw him down the steps onto a stone platform. Servius Tullius tried to escape, but was killed in the street by Lucius' followers. His body was immediately run over in a chariot by his youngest daughter Tullia. Since then, this street was called “Dishonest” in Rome (lat. Vicus sceleratus). Lucius Tarquinius became king of Rome and received the nickname Proud.

Primary sources

• Titus Livius - “History from the Foundation of the City” - Book I, 39-48.
• Cicero - "Republic" II, 21-38.
• "Regicides", 16-17.