ABSTRACT
The fifth king of Rome who reigned, according to tradition, from 616 to 579 BC; whether he is a mythical or (at least to some extent) a historical figure is uncertain. According to Livy he was the son of a Greek immigrant to Tarquinii named Demaratus, a Corinthian from whom he inherited great wealth; his mother was an Etruscan, and he was originally called Lucumo (an Etruscan word meaning ‘prince’). Although the Etruscans scorned him as a foreigner, he married an ambitious Etruscan woman named Tanaquil (or a woman called Gaia Caecilia, perhaps to be identified with Tanaquil), who persuaded him to move to Rome. When they reached the Janiculum Hill, Lucumo received an omen of his future power from an eagle, which removed the cap on his head and then replaced it again; Tanaquil interpreted this as a sign of his future kingship. After his arrival in Rome, he took the Roman name Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Priscus means ‘the original’, ‘the first’). He made himself indispensable to King Ancus Marcius by his services, and when Ancus died he was elected king, even though Ancus had left two sons of his own. He then strengthened his position, it was said, by enrolling a hundred of his supporters into the Senate.
