Tarquinius Priscus- Roman FigureMortal"Fifth King of Rome"

The Eagle on the Road

He was born Lucumo in the Etruscan city of Tarquinii, the son of a Corinthian exile and therefore barred from political advancement at home. His wife Tanaquil, an Etruscan noblewoman skilled in augury, convinced him to try Rome instead. Livy describes what happened on the road: as they approached the Janiculum, an eagle descended, lifted the cap from Lucumo's head, circled screaming above the wagon, and placed it back. Tanaquil seized his arm. She knew birds. The eagle had come from the right quarter of the sky, it had touched the crown of his head, and it had returned what it took. He would be king.

In Rome he took the name Lucius Tarquinius, spent his wealth freely, and attached himself to King Ancus Marcius. When Ancus died, Tarquinius sent the king's sons away on a hunting trip, then put himself before the assembly and won the election.

The Builder King

Tarquinius won wars against the Sabines and the Latins, then turned his victories into stone. He drained the marshy valley between the Palatine and Aventine and built the Circus Maximus, where Romans watched horse races on ground that had been swamp. He began the great sewer, the Cloaca Maxima, which channeled water from the Forum down to the Tiber. He laid the foundations for the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline, a project his grandson would finish and his dynasty would claim.

The Axes

The sons of Ancus Marcius had not forgotten how Tarquinius stole their father's throne. They hired two shepherds, who came to the palace with axes and a manufactured quarrel, demanding the king's judgment. When Tarquinius turned to hear the first man's complaint, the second buried an axe in his skull.

Tanaquil acted before the news could spread. She barred the palace doors, announced from a window that the king was merely wounded and had appointed Servius Tullius to govern in his absence, and kept the body hidden until Servius had secured the loyalty of the senate. By the time Rome learned Tarquinius was dead, his chosen successor already held power. The sons of Ancus fled into exile, and the throne passed not to them, not to Tarquinius's own sons, but to the man Tanaquil had selected.