Lucius Tarquinius Proud - the seventh and last Roman king

Tarquinius the Proud, son of Lucius Tarquinius of the Ancients, ascended to the throne as a result of betrayal caused by his envy and incitement of Tullius the younger's wife, after the unceremonious murder of his predecessor, and besides, his father-in-law - Servius Tullius. In power, the tyrant was from 534 to 509g. BC. and became the last ancient Roman king in the history of the Eternal City.

Expulsion of Tarquinius from Rome

His reign began with repression, continued with tyranny, and ended with the expulsion of Tarquinius the Proud and his untimely death. The Senate with him was gathering less and less, and the maturing state problems were decided by the approximate Lucius, as a rule, in his favor. The nickname "Proud" in relation to the tyrant was associated, rather, with the concepts of "pride" and "arrogance", rather than with dignity.

Previous ancient Roman king Tullius Servius tried to get rid of the hatred of the sons of the fifth king of Tarquinius Priscus, as they considered Tullius an upstart and impostor. Secure himself, he decided quite simply, having married his young daughters. But one of them turned out to be too ambitious in the bad sense of the word. In her ambitions she met with her sister's husband, after which they decided to get rid of their "halves." After killing both, the couple agreed to continue their criminal actions along the way to power. As a result, Tarquinius the Proud put his hand to the murder of Servius, who at that time was already in advanced age, and his wife Tullia, the youngest, drove in a chariot on her dying father.

Murder of Servius Tullius

The seventh ancient Roman king waged aggressive and predatory wars, replenishing the budget of Rome, which helped to complete the Capitolian temple and the city sewer - the Great Cloaca. But the cruel acts of Tarquinius the Proud, as well as the abuse and adultery of his sons caused the displeasure of the Romans. The last straw of patience was the outrage of one of the royal offspring of the married, virtuous Lucretia, who did not tolerate shame and killed herself in front of relatives.

Death of Lucretia

Subsequent events led to sedition and the expulsion of the ancient Roman king from the city. Lucius tried to regain power by force, attracting the Etruscans and Latins to his side, but all this joint army was routed by the Romans, after which the grief-king fled far away from the city where he soon died.