Romulus: The Legend of Rome's Founding Father

Book Review by the Roman History Blog

Romulus: The Legend of Rome's Founding Father

by Marc Hyden

This book charters the rise of Romulus from his beginnings. He was the son of the god Mars, according to legend and a member of the Alba Longa's royal household. Romulus was left for dead on the bank of the River Tiber but the gods had other plans for him. The river carried him away but he managed to scramble back to the side where he was suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus founded Rome after he murdered his brother Remus.

This book explains the Trojan War and how Rome was born out of the fallout of this war. It tells the life story of Romulus and Remus, how they grew up and left Alba Longa to form their own colony. It explains who killed Remus and the outcome. Romulus may not of killed Remus directly! The book explains what Romulus did after the death of Remus. He had to deal with an epidemic and consulted an oracle to learn how to bring-round the angry gods and to stop this plague. An epidemic - sounds familiar!

The book details Romulus's building of Rome with two possible dates and its location. It also discusses King Romulus's running of Rome, how it dealt with its neighbours especially the Sabines and Caeninenses. Tatius was the king of the Sabines and joint-ruler of Rome with Romulus for several years before his death and this is well covered. The author also describes how women were treated in this period and that Romulus made a few concessions but also introduced new laws on marriage and morality.

Romulus died in his mid 50's but why didn't his son rise to the position of King? The author Marc Hyden explains why in detail giving the reader an important insight into possible reasons why!

This is a splendid book and very informative. The author, Marc Hyden has done his research and presented different narratives to recreate this interesting time period of which we see the first legendary King of Rome elevated to power, which the Romans believed in. If you are passionate about the Romans and classics then this book is a must have edition for your library! Its really is an inspiring read!

 

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According to legend, Romulus was born to a Vestal Virgin and left for dead as an infant near the Tiber River. His life nearly ended as quickly as it began, but fate had other plans. A humble shepherd rescued the child and helped raise him into manhood. As Romulus grew older, he fearlessly engaged in a series of perilous adventures that ultimately culminated in Rome's founding, and he became its fabled first king. Establishing a new city had its price, and Romulus was forced to defend the nascent community. As he tirelessly safeguarded Rome, Romulus proved that he was a competent leader and talented general. Yet, he also harboured a dark side, which reared its head in many ways and tainted his legacy, but despite all of his misdeeds, redemption and subsequent triumphs were usually within his grasp. Indeed, he is an example of how greatness is sometimes born of disgrace. Regardless of his foreboding flaws, Rome allegedly existed because of him and became massively successful. As the centuries passed, the Romans never forgot their celebrated founder. This is the story that many ancient Romans believed.

 

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Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero

 

Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on the 3^rd of January 106 BC at Arpinum in central Italy into a wealthy family of the equestrian order. He was educated in Rome where he studied law and also studied rhetoricians and philosophers in Greece. Cicero became a scholar, lawyer and statesman in the Roman republic, later becoming a consul and the Governor of Cilicia (southern (Mediterranean) coast of Turkey). He is known as one of Rome's greatest orators. Cicero joined the army briefly before embarking on his law career. He would take on risky cases and would win them and this made him quite famous!

Cicero Selected Works

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Lawyer, philosopher, statesman and defender of Rome's Republic, Cicero was a master of eloquence, and his pure literary and oratorical style and strict sense of morality have been a powerful influence on European literature and thought for over two thousand years in matters of politics, philosophy, and faith. This selection demonstrates the diversity of his writings, and includes letters to friends and statesmen on Roman life and politics; the vitriolic Second Philippic Against Antony; and his two most famous philosophical treatises, On Duties and On Old Age - a celebration of his own declining years. Written at a time of brutal political and social change, Cicero's lucid ethical writings formed the foundation of the Western liberal tradition in political and moral thought that continues to this day.

Cicero believed strongly in the Roman Republic and when he was made consul in 63BC he tried to stop the Republic being overthrown. He accused Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline) of leading a plot to overthrow the Roman Senate. The Catiline or Catilinarian Orations are a set of speeches given to the Roman Senate. The senate bestowed the tittle Pater Patriae, meaning "Father of the Country" onto Cicero.

Cicero Denounces Catiline, fresco by Cesare Maccari, 1882–88

Picture Wikipedia

Caesar was an ambitious politician and was part of a powerful alliance known as the First Triumvirate which included Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus. Caesar had asked Cicero to join this but Cicero refused making himself an enemy of Caesar. Cicero was frightened of Caesar's ambition for power. Caesar had Cicero exiled from Rome in 56BC but he returned a year later.

During the civil war of Caesar and Pompey, Cicero fled Rome again. Caesar had taken control of the city and had become dictator of Rome. Cicero was pardoned by Caesar and he was allowed back to Rome. In 44BC when Caesar was assassinated, Cicero was not disappointed and he lead the Senate to try and re-establish the Roman Republic.

The Republic and The Laws

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Cicero's The Republic is an impassioned plea for responsible governement written just before the civil war that ended the Roman Republic in a dialogue following Plato. Drawing on Greek political theory, the work embodies the mature reflections of a Roman ex-consul on the nature of political organization, on justice in society, and on the qualities needed in a statesman. Its sequel, The Laws, expounds the influential doctrine of Natural Law, which applies to all mankind, and sets out an ideal code for a reformed Roman Republic, already half in the realm of utopia.

Cicero was a staunch opponent of Mark Antony. Antony was one of the leading men wanting to fill the power vacuum after Caesar's death. Antony, Octavian and Lepidus, formed the second Triumvirate and took control of Rome and they sought out their enemies. They declared Cicero a public enemy and killed him in 43BC and his final words were "there is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly." Cicero's head and hands were cut off and nailed to the Rostra of the Forum Romanum.

The writings of Cicero would have influenced many writers for generations to come and Historians would have learned a lot about the Roman government at this time even if his politics were not always popular. He wrote many works relating to philosophy, such as On the Republic, On Invention, and On the Orator. His son Marcus became a consul in 30 BC.

Treatises on Friendship and Old Age

Ancient Stoic Principles

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Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer and Academic Skeptic philosopher who played an important role in the politics of the late Republic and vainly tried to uphold republican principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics, and he is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. This is his reflection of experience and wisdom on friendship and old age.

 

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Cicero: Politics and Persuasion in Ancient Rome

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As the greatest Roman orator of his time, Cicero delivered over one hundred speeches in the law courts, in the senate and before the people of Rome. He was also a philosopher, a patriot and a private man. While his published speeches preserve scandalous accounts of the murder, corruption and violence that plagued Rome in the first century BC, his surviving letters give an exceptional glimpse into Cicero's own personality and his reactions to events as they unravelled around him events, he thought, which threatened to destabilize the system of government he loved and establish a tyranny over Rome. From his rise to power as a self-made man, Cicero's career took him through the years of Sulla, and the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, to his own last fight against Mark Antony. Drawing chiefly on Cicero s speeches and letters, as well as the most recent scholarship, Kathryn Tempest presents a new, highly readable narrative of Cicero's life and times from his rise to prominence until his brutal death. Including helpful features such as detailed chronological tables, a glossary, a guide to Greek and Roman authors and maps, the volume balances background and contextual information with analysis and explanation of Cicero's works. Organized chronologically and according to some of his most famous speeches, Cicero will appeal to anyone with an interest in Roman history, oratory and politics in the ancient world. This accessible yet comprehensive guide provides a thorough introduction to this key ancient figure, his works and influence, and the troubled political times in which he operated.

 

Copyright © 2020 David Lee

Gladius: Living, Fighting and Dying in the Roman Army

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Realeased November 5, 2020

Gladius: Living, Fighting and Dying in the Roman Army

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The Roman army was the greatest fighting machine the ancient world produced. The Roman Empire depended on soldiers not just to win its wars, defend its frontiers and control the seas but also to act as the engine of the state. Roman legionaries and auxiliaries came from across the Roman world and beyond. They served as tax collectors, policemen, surveyors, civil engineers and, if they survived, in retirement as civic worthies, craftsmen and politicians. Some even rose to become emperors.

Gladius takes the reader right into the heart of what it meant to be a part of the Roman army through the words of Roman historians, and those of the men themselves through their religious dedications, tombstones, and even private letters and graffiti. Guy de la Bédoyère throws open a window on how the men, their wives and their children lived, from bleak frontier garrisons to guarding the emperor in Rome, enjoying a ringside seat to history fighting the emperors' wars, mutinying over pay, marching in triumphs, throwing their weight around in city streets, and enjoying esteem in honorable retirement.

 

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