Overthrow of the Roman monarchy

The traditional 509 BCE expulsion of Rome’s last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and the establishment of the Roman Republic. Roman accounts connect the revolt to the rape of Lucretia, though the event’s details are uncertain.

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Lucretia: A Roman noblewoman whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius and subsequent suicide became a defining story of Rome’s transition to republican rule. Her story supplies the immediate grievance that Roman accounts say turned opposition to Tarquin into revolt.
Roman Republic: The Roman state from the traditional expulsion of the kings in 509 BCE until Augustus established sole rule in 27 BCE. It was the political system established after the monarchy’s overthrow.
Regifugium: An annual Roman festival held on February 24, traditionally associated with the flight or expulsion of a king. Its ritual was linked by ancient tradition to the monarchy’s violent end.
Roman chronology: The reconstruction of dates and sequences in Rome’s early history, often complicated by gaps and conflicting ancient accounts. The conventional date of 509 BCE depends on a chronology whose early foundations remain uncertain.
Sextus Tarquinius: A son of Rome’s last king, remembered in Roman tradition for raping Lucretia. His assault on Lucretia is presented as the spark for the uprising.
Roman consul: One of two annually elected chief magistrates who held executive and military authority in the Roman Republic. The consuls replaced the king as Rome’s principal annual magistrates.
Roman anti-monarchism: The Roman political suspicion of kingship, expressed in republican institutions and political language. The overthrow supplied the founding precedent for rejecting a return to kings.
Livy: A Roman historian whose work Ab Urbe Condita recounts Rome’s legendary and early history. His influential account preserves the fullest surviving narrative of the monarchy’s fall.
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus: The seventh and traditionally final king of Rome, whose rule ended with his expulsion. His family’s conduct and alleged tyranny explain why the revolt targeted the monarchy.
Roman Senate: A governing council whose members were drawn chiefly from Rome’s elite and whose influence grew during the Republic. It remained a central institution as authority shifted away from kingship.