Tanaquil

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Etruscan fibula from the tomb Tomba Regolini-Galassi , 675-650 BC Chr.

According to legend, Tanaquil ( Latin ; Etruscan Θanaχvil; Greek  Τανακυλλίς ; * around 600 BC) was the wife of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus , the fifth Roman king , who was originally called Lucumo and came from the Etruscan city ​​of Tarquinii . Titus Livius describes her as a political figure who was able to intervene at crucial moments.

Legend

As Livy relates, Tanaquil came from a noble family in Tarquinii and was endowed with the gift of prophecy. She persuaded her husband to emigrate to the still young city of Rome because, although very rich, as the son of a foreigner, Demaratos from Corinth , he was denied access to offices and dignities in his hometown.

“You had just arrived at the Janiculum. Lucumo was sitting on the wagon with his wife - an eagle floated gently down with outspread wings and carried off its felt cap; then he flew over the car, screeching loudly, and put his cap back on his head, as if he had been sent to this service by the gods; then he vanished into the air. Tanaquil is said to have been delighted to have taken this as a prophecy; [...]. She fell around her husband's neck and asked him to hope for the greatest and most beautiful; [...]. "

Lucumo called himself from then on Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and eventually made it king of the city by passing over the sons of his predecessor Ancus Marcius , whose guardian he was.

During her husband's reign, Tanaquil reappeared when she explained to the king the fire on the head of a sleeping slave boy who would later be the next king, Servius Tullius .

"" Do you see this boy we raise in such low circumstances? It is obvious that one day, when things are in doubt, he will be our light, and when the royal family gets into trouble, he will be our protection. "

Again she convinced her husband and they took the boy in as if he were their own son.

After 38 years of reign, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was slain with an ax by two peasants on behalf of the two sons of Ancus Marcius . After her husband's murder, Tanquil spoke to Servius Tullius, now an adult :

“You, Servius,” she said, “now belongs to the throne, if you are a man, not to those who committed the mean crime with hired murderers. Stand up and let yourself be led by the gods who once promised glory to this head of yours when they surrounded it with divine fire. Now may that heavenly flame wake you up; now really wake up! We too have had the royal dignity, even though we came from abroad. Think who you are, not where you come from. If your own resolve is paralyzed because everything comes so suddenly, follow my advice. ""

The wise Queen Tanaquil hid her husband's death until the succession to the throne for Servius Tullius , her daughter Tarquinia's husband, was secured against the claims of the regicide .

Lore

The story is narrated by Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus . In essence, the two stories are the same. There is only one discrepancy in the description of the degrees of relationship. While Livius knows with Quintus Fabius Pictor and the majority of the Roman annalists Tanaquil as the mother of the two Tarquins , Arun and the later Roman king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus , Dionysius of Halikarnossos follows the statement of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi , who is related to move up a degree and make the men named out of Tanaquil's sons their grandchildren.

Plutarch performs Tanaquil four times. In the Roman questions he calls her wife of Tarquinius Priscus, elsewhere Gaia Caecilia as the wife of one of the Tarquinius sons. In the introduction to the work on the excellence of women he characterized her as a particularly cunning matron, and in the treatise on Fortuna Romanorum the connection between Tanaquil and Servius Tullius comes up , that shortly before her death she had sworn the oath of her favorite he did not want to give up royal rule and change the old constitution of Rome. On the other hand, there is the remark of Livius, "[...] some also say that he had thought of giving up this so mild and so prudent rule himself, since it was that of an individual."

literature

Web links

Commons : Tanaquil  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Titus Livius  - Sources and full texts
Wikisource: Dionysius of Halicarnassus  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Liv. 1.35.2. Translated by Hans Jürgen Hillen, Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1987.
  2. ↑ Liv. 1.39.3. Translated by Hans Jürgen Hillen, Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1987.
  3. ↑ Liv. 1.40. Translated by Hans Jürgen Hillen, Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1987.
  4. ↑ Liv. 1.41.3. Translated by Hans Jürgen Hillen, Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1987.
  5. ↑ Liv. 1.41. Translated by Hans Jürgen Hillen, Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1987.
  6. ↑ Dion. Hal. ant. 3.46. Dionysius of Halikarnass . Prehistory of the Romans. Gottfried Jakob Schaller, Volume 1, Stuttgart 1827; Liv. 1.34. Translated by Hans Jürgen Hillen, Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1987.
  7. ↑ Dion. Hal. ant. 4,6.7. Dionysius of Halikarnass: prehistory of the Romans. Gottfried Jakob Schaller, 1st volume, Stuttgart 1827. See also the stemma of Dionysius in Tarquinius
  8. ^ The saga of Tanaquil: An investigation into orientalism in Rome and Italy Johann Jakob Bachofen, Heidelberg 1870, p. 4.
  9. ↑ Liv. 1.48.9. Translated by Hans Jürgen Hillen, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1987, p. 129.
personal data
SURNAME Tanaquil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tănăquīl (Latin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth Roman king
DATE OF BIRTH around 600 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 6th century BC Chr.