[The History of Rome, Book I by Theodor Mommsen]@TWC D-Link book
The History of Rome, Book I

CHAPTER IX
11/16

As to the migrations of bodies of Etruscans to Rome, we find an isolated statement drawn from Tuscan annals, that a Tuscan band, led by Caelius Vivenna of Volsinii and after his death by his faithful companion Mastarna, was conducted by the latter to Rome.

This may be trustworthy, although the derivation of the name of the Caelian Mount from this Caelius is evidently a philological invention, and even the addition that this Mastarna became king in Rome under the name of Servius Tullius is certainly nothing but an improbable conjecture of the archaeologists who busied themselves with legendary parallels.

The name of the "Tuscan quarter" at the foot of the Palatine( 8) points further to Etruscan settlements in Rome.
The Tarquins It can hardly, moreover, be doubted that the last regal family which ruled over Rome, that of the Tarquins, was of Etruscan origin, whether it belonged to Tarquinii, as the legend asserts, or to Caere, where the family tomb of the Tarchnas has recently been discovered.

The female name Tanaquil or Tanchvil interwoven with the legend, while it is not Latin, is common in Etruria.

But the traditional story--according to which Tarquin was the son of a Greek who had migrated from Corinth to Tarquinii, and came to settle in Rome as a -- metoikos-- is neither history nor legend, and the historical chain of events is manifestly in this instance not confused merely, but completely torn asunder.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books