Six miles from Rome, in the crater of an extinct volcano, archeologists have discovered what is apparently the palace of the Tarquins, the last kings of Rome. Because of their cruelty, they were overthrown in 510 B.C. and the Roman Republic was born. From Prince’s Palace Found in Volcanic Crater : Discovery News:
A terracotta fragment of the roof has already been found. It features the image of the Minotaur, an emblem of the Tarquins.
“It's a strong piece of evidence to support the hypothesis that the edifice was built for the Tarquin family,” Fabbri said.
Indeed, the archaeologists do not rule out the hypothesis that the building was home to generations of Tarquins, and believe its last occupant was Sextus Tarquinius.
The son of Rome's last king, the despotic Tarquinius Superbus, Sextus Tarquinius is notorious for having raped Lucretia, the virtuous wife of his cousin Tarquinius Collatinus.
The Roman historian Livy (Titus Livius), who lived 59 B.C.-A.D. 17, recounts that Lucretia, “overcome with sorrow and shame,” stabbed herself after the attack. Her death sparked the revolt that put to an end the kingship of Tarquin the Proud and Sextus Tarquinius' life.
“The people of Gabii murdered Sextus after he entered the town. It is not a coincidence that the lavish building is intentionally destroyed around this time,” Fabbri said.
The Republic featured representative government, civil liberties, the rights of the people, and the rule of law. It lasted nearly 500 years, which is much longer than our republic. But then the Romans grew impatient with its slow workings and turned back to the one-man rule of the Emperors, many of which were Tarquin-like in the extreme. (How odd it is–and it’s all Shakespeare’s fault!–that our popular culture honors Julius Caesar over the defenders of the Republic and of liberty like Brutus and Cato. George Washington, in contrast, put on Addison’s play about Cato’s resistance to inspire his revolutionary army.)
Many people cite parallels with America’s woes to the fall of the Roman Empire. But we should be far more concerned with parallels to what came first: the fall of the Roman Republic.
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