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Battle of Alba Longa

Castel Gandolfo on a long, sunlit ridge overlooking Lake Albano, the most likely site of ancient Alba Longa
Date754 BCE
Location
Alba Longa
Result Rebel victory
Belligerents
Supporters of Numitor
Romulus's Warband		 Alba Longa
Supporters of Amulius
Commanders and leaders
Numitor
Romulus
Remus
Faustulus
Pleistinus		 Amulius †
Sons of Amulius †

Template:Roman Kingdom Campaigns

The Battle of Alba Longa was a semi-mythological battle in Italy during the 8th century BCE. The ruling King of Alba Longa, Amulius was defeated and killed by a force, led by his Brother Numitor, and great-nephew Romulus, who led a sizable warband.

Background

Further information: Alba Longa

Founding myth of Alba Longa

O: Two jugate heads of Di Penates, D · P · P R:Soldiers with spears pointing at lying sow, C·SV(LP)ICI·C·F
Reverse depicts scene from Aeneid. According prophecy white sow which casts 30 piglets predicts foundation of (Lavinium) and a new city called after white sow built by Ascanius 30 years later (Alba Longa).

Silver serrate denarius struck by C. Sulpicius C. f. Galba in Rome 106 BC. ref.: Sulpicia 1., Sydenham 572., Craw. 312/1

According to Roman mythology,[1] after the fall of Troy in 1184 BC,[2] Aeneas led a group of surviving Trojans through the Mediterranean Sea to Sicily, Carthage, and eventually the Italian Peninsula. On landing in Italy he was welcomed by Latinus, king of the early Latins. Soon, Aeneas married king Latinus' daughter, Lavinia, and founded the city of Lavinium in her name. Latinus later fell in war, making Aeneas king of the Latins and his son Ascanius (also called Iulus) his successor.

A few years later, Aeneas was killed in battle, like Latinus, and Ascanius became king of the Latins. Ascanius is said to have built Alba Longa as his capital on the slope of Mount Alba, resettling six hundred families there as a colony of Lavinium[3] in 1151 BC, only thirty years after Lavinium itself was founded. His descendants then ruled the Latins for another five hundred years. According to Festus, these kings were considered the source of the red or Tyrian purple calceus mulleus later worn by the Roman patricians.[4]

Latin league

Further information: Latin League

Alba Longa was reportedly the leading city of the roughly thirty cities, its colonies, that it led in the Latin League.[5] The league's conferences were held by the Ferentine spring, in the scenic part of the valley between Albano and Marino,[6] until the middle of the fourth century.[7] The sacrifices of the league were offered on the Alban mountain from which all the country of Latium might be seen.

The colonies of Alba Longa were distinct from the Alban townships which must have consisted of Albani plebs, as the genuine Albans were the populus. Among the Alban colonies some become part of the plebs: others become Latin cities. The others were ceded to the Latins to maintain a consistent thirty townships, thirty being of great importance among the Latin kingdoms as twelve was to the Ionians (or 4 divided into 3 parts each).[8] Accordingly, the Latin kingdom of Latinus, and the Rutulian kingdom of Turnus must have had thirty cities each with Laurentum as the Latin capital prior to the arrival of Aeneas.[8]

Conflict

In 794 BCE, the king of Alba Longa, Procas Silvius died, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Numitor.[9] Procas's second son Amulius came into ownership of large portions of Alba Longa's treasure.[10] Amulius used his new found wealth to scheme against his brother successfully usurping power, and imprisoning Numitor. Amulius spared his brother's life, and allowed him to live in relative comfort. Numitor was even said to regain some influence, as he was able to retain ownership of lucrative livestock and plots of land.[11]

Numitor from Nuremberg chronicles


Over the next 2 years, Amulius began to consolidate his power and remove potential rivals to the throne. He first sent agents to trail Numitor's son Aegestus, before finally assassinating him while on a hunting trip.[12] Amulius had spared the life of Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, although demanded that she become a priestess in the cult of Vesta, which dictated she must remain chaste, thus removing any future rival for Amulius.[13][14]

Rhea Silvia soon defied Amulius, and according to the ancient Roman astrologer, Tarutius, she became pregnant on the morning of June 24th, 772 BCE, supposedly raped by the god Mars. For months, Rhea managed to keep news of the pregnancy from Amulius, but he eventually became suspicious when Rhea started to neglect her Vesta duties. Amulius's wife inspected and confirmed to her husband of Rhea's pregnancy. Amulius was outraged and nearly executed Rhea, but she was spared when Amulius's only daughter, Antho interceded on her behalf. In the meantime, Rhea was place under house arrest, with guards posted to ensure she couldn't escape.[15]

Amulius summoned Numitor to testify before alongside a group of Alba Longa elders. Amulius accused Rhea Silvia and her father of plotting against him, and demanded answers from his brother. Numitor was able to remain stoic, recanted the accusations, then relayed the story that Rhea was raped by Mars, and finally read the prophecy that Rhea would give birth to twins, although this was quickly rebuffed by Amulius. Numitor pleaded with his brother to wait until Rhea gave birth, and if twins were born, her claims will be proven. Numitor, furthermore asked his brother to interrogate the Vestal Virgins, as they would corroborate the story.[16] The majority of Amulius's advisors were swayed by Numitor proposal, although Amulius scoffed at the story.[17]

It was during this inquiry, that one of the guards tasked with watching Rhea, gave news that she had just given birth to twins. They were born, possibly on the sunrise, of 24 March 771 BC, and within time the twins would be named Romulus and Remus.[18][19] Despite the fact that they were both twins, seemly confirming Rhea's story, Amulius claimed this was a plot of Numitor, and was the work of deception, and Amulius suggested that another child was smuggled in and posed as the twin of Rhea's real infant. [20] Amulius acted swiftly against Numitor and Rhea, and advocating execution of Rhea and her children, and the council approved, although most agreed due to fear of Amulius.[21]

Some sources claim Rhea was ruthlessly bludgeoned to death with rods, while others assert that Amulius placed her into solitary confinement, possibility due to Antho's passionate defense.[22] Amulius sent one of his agents to murder the infants, to prevent them from growing up and challenging him for the throne.[23] The agent took procession of the twins, and brought them to the Tiber River, where he planned on drowning the princes. He placed the twins in the river, where their basket carried them downstream away to a new fate, while their mother would later commit suicide by throwing herself into the Tiber.[24][25]

Princes in Exile

The twins eventually washed ashored at the foot of the north–western end of the Palatine hill, near an area the ancients called Cermalus, and the Lupercal Cave. The boys were said to have been nursed by a she-wolf named Lupa[26] The pair were soon discovered by a group of shepherds, which including a man named Faustulus, who decided to raise the boys with his wife, Acca Larentia, who had recently suffered a miscarriage.[27][28] Faustulus, who may had been present in Alba Longa, during the Rhea Silvia scandal, had deduced that hey were Numitor's Grandchildren. In order keep their origins a secret, he didn't tell the boys of their lineage.[29]

Capitoline Wolf, sculpture of the she-wolf feeding the twins Romulus and Remus, the most famous image associated with the founding of Rome.

For several years, the twins were raised in a simple hut, probably on the Palatine Hill[30] As the twins grew older they began to learn their adoptive father's craft, and were aided in their "education" by Pleistinus, Faustulus's brother. According to some sources, Numitor had somehow learned of his grandson's survival, and were with Faustulus, and thus provided a proper education by their grandfather.[31]

The youths were committed to Faustulus's businesses, but found time to roam the country side. Romulus, in particular was fond of exploring, and loved spending time near the mountains and rivers.[32][33] The twins were avid and skilled hunters, and would often demonstrate their prowess and bravery. Both Romulus and Remus were religious, and respected the gods. The twins would become known both for their courage and their rashness, and would gain support of local shepherds..

Romulus and Remus, still unaware of their ancestors began attracting followers, and then turned to banditry. The twins started robbing other thieves and bandits, as well as herdsman and labourers, not associated with them. The brothers generously rewarded their followers, ensuring their continued loyalty, and more men to supplement their forces.[34] The brothers utilized many opportunities to rob unsuspecting men who passed through the region.

Rebellion

Shepherd Quarrel

Employees of Numitor and Amulius regularity quarreled over land and pastures, and both sides engaged the thievery of the others cattle. One day, Numitor's shepherds ejected livestock and shepherds from a pasture, from where they were grazing, and stole many procession's.[35] Amulius's shepherds hastily gathered in order to recapture their cattle. The shepherds were divided between three factions, Amulius, Numitor, and the twins.

The twins, deciding to escalate the conflict, assembled their herdsman, and devised a plan to attacked Numitor's men. Their Warband attack the shepherds, and inured many, possibly killed others, and collecting the loot, and much of Numitor's livestock, as well as recruiting Numitor's remaining labourers to join their company.[36] Numitor's shepherds planned a counter attack on the twins, and successfully captured Remus, while he was separated from his brother, where he was taken to Alba Longa to face trial. With his brother in custody, Faustulus finally told Romulus of his linage.[37]

Conspiracy

Romulus devised a plan to rescue his brother, and he recruited an even larger number of men, and had them armed, and then quietly and cautiously enter the city at different times. Once inside, they were to remain undetected in the marketplace, blend in the with residents to wait for orders to attack. Romulus, then raised another large force, and stationed them outside Alba Longa.[38]

Remus was brought to Numitor, where he was berated for his rashness and lawlessness, and then delivered him to Amulius, who promptly returned him to Numitor to decide what to do with him.[39] Numitor, instead made an alliance with Remus, after informing Remus of his parentage. Remus sent a letter to his brother, to meet with himself and Numitor at the latter's Alban estate. Romulus made the journey, and during the meeting, the brothers agreed to support Numitor in overthrowing Amulius to regain the thrown. Romulus left for countryside to recruit for men, and make final preparations for the coup, while Remus took command of the men, hidden in the market place (having been informed of their location by Romulus).[40]

Numitor, after the Death of Amulius, is Restored to the Throne of Alba Longa


Faustulus was captured by guards, while trying to sneak into Alba Longa was taken to Amulius in chains. Amulius now learned of the princes survival, and was angered that a subordinate had failed him. During the interviews, Faustulus attempted to protect his adopted sons, and mix half-truths, and lies to trick Amulius. Faustulus told Amulius that the boys were now living as humble shepherds in service of the king. Amulius believed Faustulus, who was released unharmed.[41] Amulius suspected that Numitor was well aware of the conspiracy, so he ordered him to be kept under guard in house arrest, and had one of Numitor's confidants, to learn the truth of Faustulus's claims.[42]

Battle

Amulius dispatched a host of men, probably guided by Faustulus to track down and execute Romulus and Remus. Faustulus led the host away from the brothers, and unfortunately for Amulius, he desperately needed those troops for what's to come.[43]

The agent previously sent to spy on Numitor instead informed him of Amulius's plans, and that he knew of the princes survival.[44] Romulus had decided the moment to overthrow Amulius had come, and he made his attack on Alba Longa, alongside Pleistinus.

Romulus's rag-tag rebel army of shepherds, bandits, and peasants arrived outside Alba Longa. Many of the rebels snuck into the city, with their swords, hidden under the clothes, before they joined their comrades at the market. Romulus divided his men outside the city into groups of 100. These companies were led by junior officers, and each carried a crude pole topped with a bundle of hay. These were the predecessors of Rome's Imperial eagles.[45]

While under house arrest, Numitor spoke to Amulius's loyal soldiers, and warned of an impending attack on the city, and purposely gave a false location, so that many of Amulius's men would be transferred from the fortified citadel. Numitor then escaped house arrest, and began to incite discount against the unpopular Amulius.[46] Amulius had failed to react in time to stamp out the revolt, and Romulus finally made his attack, forcing his way into the city, uniting with the men in the marketplace, and disgruntled citizens. The groups make coordinated attacks on the Amulius loyalist, and captured the town, beginning the assault on the citadel.

Amulius's troops were isolated and spread-out, with some in the country land searching for the twins, others in the citadel, and some, were after the alleged threat Numitor had told them about. Many of the kings troops died in the fighting, and many had now realized that the battle was lost. Romulus, Remus, Numitor, and Pleistinus had finally forced there way into the fortress, and easily killed Amulius's men, and all of his sons met violent ends. According to the ancient poet Ovid, Romulus personally slew Amulius in the fighting.[47]

Aftermath

Soon afterwards, the conspirators were reunited with Faustulus, who had successfully led an Amulius loyalist force away from the battle[48] Numitor called for an assembly of the town's citizens and delivered a speech informing the citizens of what has transpired. Numitor listed off Amulius's crimes against himself and his family, and defended his coup as a just act. Romulus and Remus march through the masses and hail Numitor as king of Alba Longa.[49]

Founding of Rome

Main article: Founding of Rome
A fresco from Pompeii depicting the foundation of Rome. Sol riding in his chariot; Mars descending from the sky to Rhea Silvia lying in the grass; Mercury shows to Venus the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god Tiberinus and water-goddess Juturna. 35–45 AD.

The Brothers leave to establish a new city at the location where they had been rescued.[50][51]

The twins then come into conflict during the foundation of the city, leading to the murder of Remus. The dispute is variously said to have been over the naming of the new city, over the interpretation of auguries,[52] whether to place it on the Palatine or Avernine Hill, or concerned with Remus's disrespect of the new town's ritual furrow or wall. Some accounts say Romulus slays his brother with his own hand, others that Remus and sometimes Faustulus are killed in a general melee.[53] Wiseman and some others attribute the aspects of fratricide to the 4th-century BC Conflict of the Orders, when Rome's lower-class plebeians began to resist excesses by the upper-class patricians.[54]

Romulus, after ritualistically ploughing the generally square course of the city's future boundary, erects its first walls and declares the settlement an asylum for exiles, criminals, and runaway slaves. The city becomes larger but also acquires a mostly male population.[55] When Romulus' attempts to secure the women of neighbouring settlements by diplomacy fail, he uses the religious celebration of Consualia to abduct the women of the Sabines. According to Livy, when the Sabines rally an army to take their women back, the women force the two groups to make peace and install the Sabine king Titus Tatius as comonarch with Romulus.[50][56]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Vergil The Aeneid[pages needed]
  2. ^ ll, Michael Spring Virgil's the Aeneid p. 22
  3. ^ Leonard Schmitz 1847 History of Rome p.14, Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities 1.67
  4. ^ Festus, Breviarium Rerum Gestarum Populi Romani, 128L.
  5. ^ Cornell 1995, p. 71.
  6. ^ Helmolt, Hans Ferdinand (1902). The World's History: The Mediterranean nations. W. Heinemann. p. 343.
  7. ^ Cornell 1995, p. 299. "down to the consulship of P. Decius Mus (340 BC), the Latins used to meet at the spring of Ferentina to discuss arrangements concerning the command".
  8. ^ a b Barthold Georg Niebuhr, William Smith, Leonhard Schmitz The History of Rome, Volume 2 p. 20-22
  9. ^ Virgil VI, 767; Livy I, 3, 9.
  10. ^ Plut. Rom. 3.2
  11. ^ Plut. Rom. 7.1.
  12. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.76.2–3;Strab. 5.3;App. BC Frag. 1.3; Livy 1.3.
  13. ^ Plut. Rom. 3.2; Dion. Hal. 1.76.3–4;Strab 5.3; App. BC Frag. 1.3;
  14. ^ Bennett, Florence M., A Theory Concerning the Origin and the Affiliations of the Cult of Vesta, The Classical Weekly, vol. 7, no. 5 (1913), pp.35-37.
  15. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.78,1–2;Plut. Rom. 3.3.
  16. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.78.2–3.
  17. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.78.3–4
  18. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.78.4; Livy 1.4; Plut. Rom. 3.3, 12.5–6
  19. ^ Grafton, A.T. and Swerdlow, N.M., The Horoscope of the foundation of Rome, Classical Philology, vol. 81, no. 2 (1986), pp.148-53.
  20. ^ Plut. Rom. 3.3; Dion. Hal. 1.78.4.
  21. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.78.5.
  22. ^ Dion. Hal 1.79.2; Livy 1.4; Strab. 5.3; App. BC Frag. 1.3.
  23. ^ Plut. Rom. 3.4; Dion. Hal 1.79.4; Livy 1.4; Cic. Rep. 2.4
  24. ^ Plut. Rom. 3.4; Livy 1.4–5; Dion. Hal 1.31.4, 1.79.4–5; App. BC Frag 1.3.
  25. ^ Plut Rom. 3.4; Livy 1.4; Dion. Hal. 1.79.4–5; App. BC Frag. 1.3; Ovid Fast. 2.381–424.
  26. ^ Livy 1.4; Plut. Rom. 4.2; Dion. Hal 1.79.6; Cic. Rep. 2.4; Flor. 1.1.3; Ovid Fast. 2.381–424
  27. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.79.6–8; Livy 1.4; Flor. 1.1.3; Strab. 5.3.
  28. ^ Plut. Rom. 6.1; Dion. Hal. 1.79.9–10; Livy 1.4; Cic. Rep. 2.4; Flor. 1.1.3; Strab. 5.3
  29. ^ Plut. Rom. 6.1, 8.1; Dion. Hal. 1.79.9, 1.82.3.
  30. ^ Plut. Rom. 4.1, 6.2, and 9.1; Livy 1.4; Cic. Rep. 2.4.
  31. ^ Plut. Rom. 6.1; Dion. Hal. 1.84.5.
  32. ^ Fraschetti, Augusto, The Foundation of Rome (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), p.26
  33. ^ Cic. Div. 1.3, 1.107-108; Plut. Rom. 6.2-3; Dion. Hal. 1.79.10-11; Livy 1.4.
  34. ^ Diod. 8.4.1-2; Livy 1.4.
  35. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.79.12-13; Plut. Rom. 7.1; Livy 1.5.
  36. ^ Plut. Rom 7.1; Dion. Hal. 1.79.13.
  37. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.80.3; Plut. Rom. 8.1; Livy 1.5.
  38. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.81.1; Livy 1.5; Plut. Rom. 8.5-6.
  39. ^ Plut. Rom. 7.2-3; Dion. Hal. 1.81.3-4; Livy 1.5.
  40. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.81.5-6, 1.82.1-3 (trans. Earnest Cary).
  41. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.82.6, 1.83-6 (trans. Earnest Cary).
  42. ^ Plut. Rom. 8.4.
  43. ^ Dion. Hal. 1.83.2
  44. ^ Plut. Rom. 8.5; Dion. Hal. 1.83.2-3
  45. ^ Plut. Rom. 8.6.
  46. ^ Plut. Rom. 8.5-6; Livy 1.6.
  47. ^ Plut. Rom 8.6; Dion. Hal. 1.83.3: Livy 1.5; Flor. 1.1.5; Strab. 5.3; Ovid Fasti 3.43-86
  48. ^ Plut. Rom. 9.1; Plut. Comp. Thes. Rom. 5.
  49. ^ Livy 1.6; Plut. Rom. 9.1; Flor. 1.1.5; Strab. 5.3
  50. ^ a b Lomas 2018, p. 45.
  51. ^ Miles 1995, p. 147 n. 15: in Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.85.1–3, Numitor sends the twins to found a city and gives them assistance; in Livy, 1.6–7 the twins do so on their own initiative.
  52. ^ Miles 1995, p. 147. Remus sees birds first; Romulus sees more. The correct interpretation of the omens "is ambiguous" and "is settled only by the murder of Remus and by the success of Romulus and his city".
  53. ^ Miles 1995, p. 148 n. 17, noting that Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.87.2–3 "suppresses altogether" the fratricide and instead has Remus killed by an unknown assailant with Romulus mourning his death.
  54. ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 96. Forsythe notes also that some scholars, like T P Wiseman, believe the tale was an invention of the fourth century BC and reflected self-image of the then-emerging patrician and plebeian nobiles.
  55. ^ Miles 1995, p. 147 n. 16: in Livy, 1.8.1, 1.8.6, 2.1.4 the city is made of only refugees; in Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., 1.85.3 it is instead made up of both refugees as well as prominent men from Alba Longa and descendants of Trojan exiles.
  56. ^ Forsythe 2005, p. 97, adding that "Titus Tatius" may be a name for an early Roman monarch who was removed from the narrative of seven kings.
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