A History of the Roman World (64 page)

14
T
HE REGIA
. See F. E. Brown,
Les Origines de la République romaine
(
Entretiens Hardt
, xiii (1966), 47 ff. (Cf. some qualifications by A. Drummond,
JRS
, 1970, 200);
Rendiconti Pont. Accad. di Arch.
, xlvii, 1974–5, 15 ff. The interpretation of the sixth-century developments remains uncertain. It seemed (cf. Brown, op. cit.) that only in the rebuilding of
c.
500 was the plan established which the Regia then retained throughout the Republic, but this now seems less certain (cf.
Rendiconti
). On the
rex sacrorum
see below, p. 467 n. 5.

15
C
OMITIUM AND VOLCANAL
. See F. Coarelli,
Par. Pass.
, xxxii, 1977, 166 ff.

16
T
EMPLES AT SANT’OMOBONO
. Beside Gjerstad,
Early Rome
, see A. Sommella Mura,
Par. Pass.
xxxii, 1977; M. Pallottino,
Comptes Rendus
, 1977, 216 ff.; and G. P. Sartono and P. Virgili,
Archclogia Laziale
, ii, 1979, 41 ff.

17
E
TRUSCAN INSCRIPTIONS IN ROME
. For the three inscriptions see E. Gjerstad,
Early Rome
, iv, 494; M. Pallottino,
Testimonia Linguae Etruscae
, edn 2, (1968), 24;
Stud. Etr.
, xxii (1952–3), 309. A bowl of
c.
525
BC
carries the words
ni araziia laraniia
, while the name
uqno
is inscribed on another fragment and may recall Aucno, the legendary founder of Mantua. For a fourth inscription see p. 529.

18
T
HE TRIUMPH AND SPOLIA OPIMA
. On the triumph see L. B. Warren,
JRS
, 1970, 49 ff.; H. S. Versnel,
Triumphus
(1971), on which cf. D. Musti,
JRS
, 1972, 163 ff. The triumph may have developed from a simpler ceremony in which a victorious king dedicated as a trophy the armour of a defeated foe to Jupiter Feretrius at a shrine on the Capitol. The nature of such trophies is obscure: there were said to be three
spolia opima, prima, secunda
, and
tertia
(?offered to Jupiter Feretrius, Mars and Quirinius): Varro,
Festus
, 202L. The early shrine or temple of Jupiter Feretrius was very small and contained only a sceptre and a flint (
silex
); the latter was used in the fetial ceremonies for the declaration of war (p. 66). The epithet was probably derived from
ferre
rather than
ferire
(cf.
foedus ferire
): cf. Ogilvie,
Livy
, 70 f. A denarius of 50
BC
shows Marcellus, the conqueror of Syracuse, standing in the temple and holding the
spolia opima
(Crawford, RRC, n. 439).

19
G
AMES
. Several Etruscan tomb paintings show Games which resemble the traditional Roman Games, e.g. the Tomb of the Augurs (wrestlers) and the Tomb of the Olympiads (runners, horse racing) at Tarquinii, and the Tomb of the Monkey (horsemen, wrestlers, athletes, boxers) at Clusium. The early fifth-century Tomb of the Bigae at Tarquinii shows not only a variety of games but also wooden stands for the spectators at each side. See, e.g., A. Stenico,
Roman and Etruscan Painting
(1963), plates 7, 17–19, 34–43.
    
The Ludi Romani, which were attributed to the Tarquins (Livy, i, 35, 7; Dion. Hal., vi, 95) were celebrated annually on 13 September, the birthday of the Capitoline temple. Before they started, the images of the gods were carried in procession through the streets to the Circus. Beside these regular Games, special votive games might be held to celebrate some special victory or occasion (seven such are recorded before 350
BC
).

20
T
HE SERVIAN WALL
. For the existing remains see G. Säflund,
Le mure di Roma
(1932); E. Gjerstad,
Early Rome
, iii, 26 ff.; E. Nash,
Pict. Dict. Anc. Rome
(1962), ii, 104 ff;
Roma Medio-Repubblicana
(1973). The greater part of the remains belong to the fourth century (an earlier wall is presupposed in Varro,
de Ling. Lat.
, v, 48). On the strength of a piece of Attic red-figure pottery Gjerstad would date the
agger
to
c.
475. But this sherd could be three or four decades earlier and there is evidence for an earlier phase of construction, so that the first
agger
could well have been built by Servius Tullius, as tradition demands.

21
V
ITICULTURE
. Pips of grapes are not found before Gjerstad’s period IV, commencing
c.
625
BC
: thus viticulture was probably introduced by the Etruscans. See Gjerstad,
Early Rome
, iv (1966), 342 f.

22
G
REEK POTTERY IN ROME
. See E. Gjerstad,
Early Rome
, iv (1966), 514 ff.

23
O
STIA
. Considerable remains of the Roman colony planted at Ostia in 338
BC
survive, but nothing much earlier has yet been found. This does not rule out earlier settlements which would have lain outside Roman Ostia and near the medieval salt-beds. See R. Meiggs,
Roman Ostia
, edn 2 (1973).

24
T
HE FALISCANS
The early development of the Faliscans resembled that of the Romans: inhumers had mingled with Villanovan incinerators. Their language was very close to Latin. Their chief city was Falerii Veteres (Cività Castelana). See M. W. Frederiksen and J. B. Ward-Perkins,
PBSR
, 1957, 67 ff. Closely related was Capena, and not far off was Lucus Feroniae (at Scorano), a market town which lay at an important river crossing, where an annual festival (in honour of Feronia, an Italic woodland goddess) and market were held. See G. D. B. Jones,
PBSR
, 1962, 191 ff. On Decima cf. p. 448 n. 44.

25
G
ABII
. Gabii lay near Torre di Castiglione, some twelve miles from Rome. Existing remains are not earlier than the third or fourth century, but seventh-century pottery resembles Alban pottery (cf. the tradition that Gabii was a colony of Alba: Dion. Hal., i, 84). Cf. L. Quilici,
Civiltà del Lazio primitivo
, 186 f. Gabii was too strong to be absorbed by Rome without negotiation and an agreement (Livy, i, 54; Dion. Hal., iv, 57). The tradition is confirmed by Gabii’s later peculiar relationship to the Roman state:
ager Gabinus
remained juridically distinct from
ager Romanus
, and the Gabine robe (
cinctus Gabinus
) was worn by Roman officials as a sacred vestment on certain occasions. Ogilvie (
Livy
, 209 f.), however, is inclined to believe that the shield is more likely to have been a trophy from the capture of Gabii after its revolt in the Latin War in 338
BC
. On the site see now
Archaelogia Laziale
, 1978. 47 ff.

26
E
ARLY ROMAN SOCIETY AND INSTITUTIONS
. See H. Stuart Jones,
CAH
, vii, ch. xiii; P. de Francisci,
Primordia Civitatis
(1959), a very detailed work in Italian; papers by A. Momigliano in
Terzo
and
Quarto Contributi
; F. De Martino,
St. d. cos. rom.
, 1, edn 2 (1972), which may overemphasize economic and class-division factors (cf. E. S. Staveley,
JRS
, 1960, 250 ff.) but often provides useful summaries of other scholars’ views together with bibliographies.
    The vexed question of the priority of
familia
or
gens
need not concern us here. Cf. De Martino, op. cit. 4 ff

27
P
RIVATE PROPERTY
. Not only the belief of the later Romans but also the need to explain the differentiation between patricians and plebeians require the assumption that private property was widespread if not completely unrestricted in early Rome. Possibly some
land may still have been entailed within the
gentes
. The implications of the words
here-dium
and
mancipatio
are not clear. In the Twelve Tables
heredium
, hereditary estate, meant ‘orchard’ (
hortus
), not ‘fields’ (Pliny,
Nat. Hist.
, xix, 50), while
mancipatio
could be thought to have implied originally that only moveable objects (
manu capere
) could be sold.

28
P
ATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS
. Political distinction: see Livy, i, 8, 7; cf. i, 34, 6; iv, 4, 7; Cicero,
de rep.
, ii, 8, 14; 12, 23; Dion. Hal., ii, 8, 1–3; 12, 1. Racial or conquered: see, e.g., J. Binder,
Die Plebs
(1909); W. Ridgeway,
Proc. Br. Acad.
, 1907; R. S. Conway,
CAH
, iv, 466 ff; A. Piganiol,
Essai sur les origines de Rome
(1916); rejected by H. Stuart Jones,
CAH
, vii, 421 ff. and by H. J. Rose,
JRS
, 1922, 106 ff, who has disposed of the view that the plebeians were matrilineal, the patricians patrilineal, together with many other social and religious differences which are often taken to denote differences of race (the patricians themselves consisted of a blend of races). Mommsen: see
Röm. Forsch.
, i (1864), 69 ff.,
Röm. Staatsr.
, iii (1887), 3 ff F. De Martino (
St. d. cos. Rom.
, edn 2, (1972), i, 66 ff.) discusses various views that have been advanced from the time of Machiavelli to those of Alföldi and Momigliano (on the last two see below n. 39). See now also J. C. Richard,
Les Origines de la plèbe romaine
(1978).

29
E
CONOMIC DIFFERENCES
. This aspect is stressed in most recent discussion. See E. Meyer,
s.v.
, Plebs, in Conrad (ed.),
Handwörterbuch d. Staatswissenchaft
, E. Meyer,
Röm. Staat und Staatsgedanke
, edn 2 (1961), 33 f.; F. De Martino,
St. d. cos. Rom.
, edn 2, (1972), i, 79 ff. The view of K. J. Neumann (
Die Grundherrschaft d. röm. Rep.
) followed by Ed. Meyer (
Kleine Schriften
, i (1924), 351 ff), that the Etruscans introduced serfdom into Latium, has not been generally accepted.

30
D
IVISION INTO ORDERS
. Although some passages (e.g. Livy, x, 8: ‘
vos [patres] solos gentem habere
’) seem to point to the original exclusion of the plebeians from the citizen body, this view cannot be maintained: see, e.g. H. Stuart Jones,
CAH
, vii, 417 f. Similarly the general consensus of opinion now inclines to a late date (fifth century) for the real hardening of the class distinctions between patricians and plebeians; see the basic article by H. Last,
JRS
, 1945, 30 ff. This is so completely accepted by P. de Francisci that in his large study of pre-Republican Rome (
Primordia Civitatis
) he does not even discuss the question except, in passing, at the end (pp. 777 f). Such a view, however, should not be allowed to obscure the fact that during the regal period the patricians claimed many special privileges, even if the sharpest confrontation developed only after the fall of the monarchy. Cf. J. Heurgon,
Rise of R.
, 110 ff. For the recent view of A. Momigliano and further discussion see p. 459 n. 39.

31
T
HE FETIALES
. See Livy, i, 24, 4 ff., 32, 5 ff. (with Ogilvie,
Livy
, 110 ff, 127 ff.). The procedure described by Livy is undoubtedly very old, but the formulae which he preserves were mediated to him via a second-century antiquarian tradition and so have been subjected to some distortion. Negotiations for making peace treaties were handled by two Fetiales: the
pater patratus
(presumably the ‘father’ acting for the state as a whole) and the
verbenarius
who carried sacred grasses which had been torn, with earth, from the citadel, thus providing the envoy with a piece of his own country which he could take as protection against foreign influences in enemy territory. How later Romans adapted this primitive procedure to later needs, including wars overseas, has been discussed by F. W. Walbank,
JRS
, 1941, 86 ff.,
Cl. Ph.
1949, 15 ff. and by J. W. Rich, ‘Declaring War in the Roman Republic in the period of Transmarine Expansion’,
Latomus
, vol. 159, 1976, 56 ff.

32
T
HE THREE TRIBES
. The names Ramn(ens)es, Titi(ens)ses and Luceres were derived by later annalists from Romulus, Titus Tatius and perhaps an Etruscan king Lucumo. See J. Heurgon,
Rise of R.
, 120. f. for pre-Etruscan origin (contrast Ogilvie,
Livy
, 80, for Etruscan origin).

33 T
HE CURIAE
. See Dion. Hal., ii, 7; 3–14; 21–3. See A. Momigliano,
JRS
, 1963, 109 ff. (=
Terzo Contrib.
, 571 ff.); F. De Martino,
St. cos. rom.
, 1, edn 2, 146 ff; R. E. A. Palmer,
The Archaic Community of the Romans
(1970). Momigliano lucidly poses the problems involved. De Martino, in line with his view of the early evolution of Rome, sees the
curiae
as a stage in the slow process of the transformation of a gentile structure into a unitary form. Palmer sees the
curiae
as originally separate ethnic groups which gradually fused together to form the earliest community of Rome (cf. Ogilvie,
Early Rome
, 51 f.); they were not
phratries
, clans or military units; but were earlier than the three tribes which were military non-ethnic units, under the later kings and early Republic the reactionary Comitia Curiata dominated by the patres is to be contrasted with a progressive Comitia Centuriata headed by its officers, later consuls. For a criticism of Palmer’s often very speculative views see A. Drummond,
JRS
, 1972, 176 ff. For the view that the Comitia Curiata had been preceded by a Comitia Calata (which later seems to have been a special form of both Comitia Curiata and Comitia Centuriata; cf. Aulus Gellius, xv, 27) see J. Heurgon,
Rise of R.
, 123 f.