The Expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus and the Origins of the Republic

The year Rome stopped having kings

In **509 BC** the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, was driven out, and Rome swore never to have a king again. **What set it off** was the rape of Lucretia, a Roman noblewoman, by the king's son Sextus. She told her family, demanded vengeance and took her own life. **Lucius Junius Brutus** led the rising that followed, the army at Ardea was won over, the city closed its gates, and the king went into exile. What matters for this section is what happened next. **Everything the Romans built to replace the monarchy answers one question: how do we make sure this never becomes a king again?** Two consuls rather than one. One year rather than for life. Answerable afterwards. Even the king's religious duties were handed to a priest kept out of politics. Read the constitution as a set of answers to that question and every feature explains itself.

The offices of the new Republic

What replaced the king, and the words the exam expects you to use.

Why two consuls?

The Romans could have replaced the king with a single elected magistrate. Why two?

• So that each could block the other, meaning no single person could act alone or accumulate the power a king had held
• Because there was too much work for one person
• So one could stay in the city while the other led the army
• So that one could represent each social class

A constitution built against one fear

Every feature of the new system is a device against monarchy. Learn them as answers rather than as a list. - **Two consuls**, so neither could act alone - **One year in office**, so power was always temporary - **Accountable afterwards**, so what a magistrate did could be answered for - **A rex sacrorum**, taking the king's religious duties and barred from politics, so nobody needed the title **And the clearest sign of how deep the fear went**: Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus had helped drive the Tarquins out and was one of the first two consuls. He was pushed out of office anyway, because he carried the Tarquin name. **A surname was disqualifying**, and he was replaced by Publius Valerius. So when a question asks why the Republic took the shape it did, the answer is not "because that is how republics work". It is that this one was designed by people who had just removed a king and meant it to be impossible to do again.

Match each safeguard to the danger it answered

What changed, and what did not

Select the TWO accurate statements about Rome after 509 BC.

• The religious duties the king had performed were kept, but handed to a priest who was barred from holding political office
• The consuls held imperium and were preceded by lictors, so the outward signs of command continued even though the office was now shared and annual
• The Senate was created for the first time
• The plebeians immediately gained access to the consulship

King and consul

Setting the two side by side is the quickest way to see what was actually changed.

The Republic begins

The last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, was driven out in _____ BC, and the rising was led by _____. The monarchy was replaced by two _____, elected for _____ year. The principle that an office is held by more than one person at once is called _____, and the priest created to carry out the king's religious duties, while barred from political office, was the _____.

Was the Senate created in 509?

Textbooks sometimes say the Republic "created the Consulship and the Senate". How much of that is accurate?

• Only half. The consulship was genuinely new, but the Senate already existed and is credited to Romulus. What changed in 509 was that its numbers were made up with new members and its role altered
• All of it: both were created in 509
• Neither: both already existed under the kings
• It cannot be said either way

Order the expulsion

Put the events of 509 BC into the order the tradition gives them.

• Lucretia is raped by the king's son and, having told her family and demanded vengeance, takes her own life
• Lucius Junius Brutus leads the rising and swears to drive the Tarquins out
• The army besieging Ardea is won over, and the city closes its gates against the king
• Tarquinius Superbus goes into exile and the monarchy is abolished
• Two consuls are elected in place of the king, and Rome swears never to have another

Spot the safeguards

A summary of the new constitution. Tap the TWO details that exist specifically to prevent one man holding power like a king.

• The Romans replaced the king with elected magistrates who held imperium and were preceded by lictors.
• There were two of them at any one time, each able to block the other's decisions
• , and they were advised by a Senate whose members did not change annually.
• Their office lasted a single year, after which they became private citizens again
• . The state's religious calendar continued much as before.

Explaining the consulship

**"Why did the Romans replace the monarchy with the consulship in the form they did? (10 marks)"** "Every feature of the consulship answers the same fear: that one man might again hold power as a king had. **There were two consuls rather than one**, so that each could block the other and neither could act on his own authority. **They held office for a single year**, so power was temporary by design and had to be surrendered. **They were liable afterwards** for what they had done while in office, which no king had been. **The treatment of the king's religious duties makes the point most clearly.** Those duties were not abolished; they were given to a priest, the rex sacrorum, who was barred from holding political office. Rome kept the function and made sure the title carried no power with it. **And the fear went further than the institutions.** Collatinus had helped drive out the Tarquins and was one of the first two consuls, yet he was pushed out because he bore their name. So the shape of the consulship is not a general theory of republican government. It is a specific response by people who had just removed a king and intended it to be impossible to repeat." **The shape to copy**: name the single organising idea first, then show three or four features meeting it, then finish with the case that shows how far it went.

Write carefully about 509

The events of 509 come to us from writers working centuries later. Build a sentence that says what is known without claiming more.

The Republic under threat

Between 509 and 494 the new Republic had to survive attempts to bring the Tarquins back. Work through what it faced.

• A conspiracy of young nobles plots to restore the king, and Brutus's own sons are among them. What does the tradition make of his response?
• Lars Porsenna of Clusium moves against Rome on the Tarquins' behalf. What does this episode contribute to the period study?
• A question asks whether the Republic was secure by 494 BC. What is the accurate answer?

Your turn: why no more kings

Explain how and why Rome replaced the monarchy, and what the new constitution was designed to prevent.

• Describe what triggered the expulsion and who led it
• Explain three features of the consulship and say what danger each one answered
• Explain what happened to the king's religious duties, and why that arrangement was chosen
• State accurately what changed about the Senate in 509, and what did not