Roman tradition knew of a man named Tarquinius who came from Etruria to Rome and there became king. He was supposed to have commenced the building of the temple for the main deity, Jupiter, on the smallest of the hills of Rome, the Capitol. The name Tarquinius is indeed Etruscan, and the core of the legend is most probably true: that the kingship of Rome passed into the hands of Etruscans and that henceforth Etruscans imprinted their mark on what was to be the city of Rome. An important change was the draining and paving of the central valley between the hills of the Capitol in the west, the Palatine in the south, and the Quirinal in the north, transforming the area into the central place or forum of the city: the Forum Romanum. The Capitol became part fortress and refuge in times of emergency and part sacred space for temples, foremost among them the temple of Jupiter. The other hills were for habitation; probably, some streets were already paved, and a first earthen wall was built around the city. With this, Rome in the course of the 6th century BC became a city in outward appearance too. It is practically certain that the name Roma was given to this city by the Etruscans. Its meaning is unknown.
These developments must have been accompanied by political and social changes, the details of which are, again, very uncertain. Presumably, the Etruscan kings in the 6th century BC gave Rome a more effective organization, both politically and militarily. The introduction of hoplite equipment and phalanx tactics created a division within the citizenry: those who could afford such equipment were obliged to fight in times of war and in anticipation thereof to mobilize yearly a force of 3000 heavy infantry, the so-called legio or “levy.” Next to these, the aristocrats had every year to field a squadron of 300 cavalry. The poorer citizens, who had insufficient property, as a rule did not have to fight and lost in practice any vote they might have had in the assembly of the people. The whole populus Romanus was divided into three parts or tribus. Perhaps the term tribus meant originally “one third,” but it is traditionally translated as “tribe.” Possibly, the tribus already existed before the Etruscan influence asserted itself, but in the 6th century this organization acquired real importance. For instance, the heavy infantry was divided into three subdivisions of 1000 men each, commanded by a tribunus. One belonged to a particular tribus on the basis of birth. In the later part of the 6th century BC, however, another organization was created apart from the traditional tribus. The city of Rome was now subdivided into four new tribus, which were territorial entities, while the surrounding countryside was divided into a steadily increasing number of rural tribus or “districts.” They served as administrative units for the levying of a rudimentary tax (tributum) and for the recruiting of the infantrymen by the tribuni (plural; that remained the title for the highest military officers, derived from the original three tribus, which must now have lost most of their meaning). Roman tradition ascribed the new organization to Servius Tullius, the second Etruscan king in Rome. He is credited with dividing the citizens into at least two property classes: those who were liable for service in the legio and those who were exempt from military service. But there is much uncertainty and therefore controversy about the supposed reforms of Servius Tullius. What we can accept, however, is that the authority of the Etruscan kings was in the end resented by the older Roman aristocracy. Plausibly, the Etruscans had transformed the traditional kingship into a more powerful political institution. A number of insignia that would later in Rome symbolize the highest political power are of Etruscan origin, such as the fasces, bundles of reeds around an axe, carried by special servants, the lictores, in front of the king (and after the disappearance of the kingship, in front of the higher magistrates); or the exclusive right of the commander in chief (initially the king, later a magistrate) to enter the city on a special chariot at the head of his victorious army in a parade, the so-called triumphus.
World History
