Titus Tatius
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According to the
During the reign of
Tatius had one daughter, Tatia, who married Numa Pompilius (Romulus' successor), and one son, who was the ancestor of the patrician Tatii family.
War with Rome
Before combat could be resumed, the Sabine women, some in funerary attire, some carrying their children with them, convinced Tatius and Romulus to end the fighting. After a ceasefire, the nations signed a treaty creating a single kingdom under the joint rule of both kings, who reigned together until the death of Tatius.
Death
The two kings together oversaw an expansion of Rome and the building of several landmarks, as well as the conquest of Cameria. Their first disagreement came in the sixth year of their reign. Dionysius relates that some of Tatius' friends had victimized some Laurentii and when the city sent ambassadors to demand justice, Tatius would not allow Romulus to hand over the perpetrators. After the ambassadors had left for home, a group of Sabines waylaid them as they slept. Some escaped and when word got back to Rome, Romulus promptly arrested and surrendered the men responsible – including a member of Tatius' own family – over to a new group of ambassadors. Tatius followed the group out of the city and freed the accused men by force. Later, while both kings were participating in a sacrifice in Lavinium, he was killed in retribution.[5]: vol. II, ch. 51–52
Dionysius also tells the account of Licinius Macer, wherein Tatius was killed when he went alone to try to convince the victims in Lavinium to forgive the crimes committed. When they discovered he had not brought the men responsible with him, as the senate and Romulus had ordered, an angry mob stoned him to death.[5]: vol. II, ch. 5
History
According to
- That either it was instituted by Tatius himself to preserve a Sabine cult in Rome;[8]or
- That it was instituted by Romulus in honour of Tatius.[9]
The Titii had fallen into abeyance by the end of the republic, but were revived by emperor Augustus and existed to the end of the 2nd century CE. Augustus himself, and the emperor Claudius belonged to the college.[7] Varro mentions him as a king of Rome who enlarged the city and established certain cults, but he may just have been the eponym of the tribe Titiae, or even an invention to serve as a precedent for collegial magistracy.
Gary Forsythe suggests instead, that Titus Tatius could well have been the first real king of Rome, who was later replaced in the accepted narrative by an unhistorical Romulus and Remus, whose names have been construed to derive from that of the city itself.[citation needed][10]
Notes
- ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 352–356.
- ^ a b "Titus Tatius (king of Sabines)". Encyclopædia Britannica (online ed.). Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- ^ "The Kings". www.roman-empire.net. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- ^ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, i. 9-14.
- ^ a b c . Retrieved 13 November 2016.
- ^ Plutarch. Romulus. 19–24.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 1033.
- ^ Tacitus. Annals. 1.54.
- ^ Tacitus. Histories. 2.95.
- ISBN 0-520-22651-8.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Titus Tatius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1032–1033. Endnotes: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the