Knowra Lucretia Lucretia Lucretia is a legendary Roman noblewoman whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius and subsequent suicide were said to have provoked the overthrow of Rome’s monarchy and the founding of the Republic.
Livy : Livy was a Roman historian whose history of Rome begins with the city’s legendary origins. His account gives the best-known narrative of Lucretia’s assault, suicide, and the revolt.
Sextus Tarquinius : Sextus Tarquinius was a son of Rome’s last king in Roman tradition. His rape of Lucretia supplies the immediate cause of the revolt in ancient accounts.
Roman Republic : The Roman Republic was the system of government that replaced Rome’s kings and preceded the Roman Empire. Roman tradition dates its founding to the revolt that followed Lucretia’s death.
Lucretia in art : Lucretia in art is a recurring subject depicting her assault, suicide, or deathbed testimony. Images of her story made private suffering a public symbol of virtue and political rupture.
Roman virtue : Roman virtue was an ideal of character expressed through duty, self-command, courage, and service to the state. Ancient retellings cast Lucretia’s chastity and resolve as exemplary Roman virtue.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus : Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who wrote about Rome’s early history in the first century BCE. His version preserves a second ancient account of Lucretia and the monarchy’s fall.
Lucius Junius Brutus : Lucius Junius Brutus was a legendary Roman leader credited with expelling the kings and founding the Republic. He turned Lucretia’s death into a public oath to end monarchical rule.
Roman Kingdom : The Roman Kingdom was Rome’s earliest traditional period of rule by kings. Lucretia’s story explains, in Roman tradition, how this monarchy came to an end.
The Rape of Lucretia : The Rape of Lucretia is Benjamin Britten’s 1946 chamber opera based on the Roman legend. Britten’s opera revisits the story’s conflict between violence, shame, and moral responsibility.
Pudicitia : Pudicitia was the Roman virtue of sexual modesty and marital fidelity, personified as a goddess. Her reputation was interpreted through this ideal, which shaped the story’s moral stakes.
Show all 25