Liberty and the Founding of the Roman Republic: Livy I-II

The romans saw the reason for the fall of their ancient monarchy as the tyrannical rule of the last king Tarquinius. Cicero (De rep. i, 62 and 64 ; ii, 52) writes that after Tarquinius superbus was banished the title of king came to be fiercely hated by the romans because of the king's behaviour. under the late republic, his name, superbus, became a common noun, so that Livy records the Decemvirs as being punished for their kingly arrogance (ob superbiam regiam) and calls them the 'ten Tarquins' ( 1 ). Tarquinius superbus was portrayed by later writers, for instance Dionysius of halicarnassus (viii, 5, 4), in stereotypical terms of a tyrant ( 2 ). on this basis it has been long argued in scholarship that the republican romans were irrationally obsessed with the idea of kingship and the word 'rex' aroused prejudice ( 3 ). This approach presumes that the traditional picture of the fall of the ancient monarchy and the foundation of the republic is reliable.

Ancient Tyranny, 2006

An evaluation and comparison of the accounts of early Roman history, particularly those of Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Diodorus, and an investigation of their sources, shows that they are almost all fiction

This paper examines Livy's depiction of prominent women as exempla in book 1 of his history. It seems that the ideal public role of these women is to support the efforts of their men to make the Roman state strong and stable—a role which appears to be an elaboration of women's efforts with respect to their families. It is clear, however, that Livy complicates each exemplum and that the women generally fall short in this role, so that the overall picture is one of inherent instability, in which men must be wary of the inf luence of prominent women.

La storia di Demarato altro non è che la storia dei bona Tarquiniorum, e la prova della legittimità della eredità ricevuta da Aristodemo di Cuma da Tarquinio il Superbo, e da lui narrata ai legati romani venuti per frumentare quando ne sequestrò le navi nel 491 a.C.

Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 2015

Contrarily to most traditional accounts on the foundation of the Republic, Dionysius describes the passage from the Tarquins' monarchy to the Republic as a lawful constitutional reform, in which L. Junius Brutus played a pivotal role. In my paper I analyze the speech that Brutus delivers to the Roman patricians to endorse the establishment of a new government in Rome. The new constitution, although remaining essentially monarchical, will keep its autocratic nature concealed from the people. Throughout this paper, I show how Dionysius in his presentation of Brutus picked up elements both related to the senatorial propaganda against M. Junius Brutus -Caesar's murderer, who claimed descent from L. Brutus and the tyrannicide Ahala -and, at the same time, the character of Augustus's newly-founded government. This account may thus be regarded as Dionysius' own elaboration of Augustus's constitutional reform.

A Companion to Livy. The dream of Tarquin, described by Accius, is a remake of Euripides' Elektra. Accius influenced Calpurnius Piso, who influenced Livy. The account of Livy was used by Shakespeare in his MacBeth.