IL PERIODO REPUBBLICANO

In questa pagina:
Una difficile transizione e i primi eroi romani
Espansione della Città
Vecchi siti repubblicani
Crisi e rifondazione
Guerra in mare (Rostra)
Spostamento del porto
Un nuovo giocatore nel Gioco del Mediterraneo
Iconografia

Una Difficile Transizione e i primi Eroi Romani

(a sinistra) Particolare del tempio dei Dioscuri Castore e Polluce nel Foro Romano; (a destra) statua di uno dei Dioscuri in Piazza del Campidoglio; sullo sfondo la cupola de il Gesù

Il rapimento di Lucrezia, di William Shakespeare

From the besieged Ardea all in post,
Borne by the trustless wings of false desire,
Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host,
And to Collatium bears the lightless fire
Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire
And girdle with embracing flames the waist
Of Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste.

Cherchez la femme (cercate la femmina) è un famoso modo di dire francese per significare che dietro molti eventi ci sono affari di cuore. Secondo la tradizione, anche dietro la cacciata di Tarquinio il Superbo, il settimo e ultimo re di Roma, c'è una faccenda di cuore. Sesto Tarquinio, figlio del re, si invaghì di Lucrezia, moglie di Tarquinio Collatino: un giorno egli abbandonò il campo romano vicino ad Ardea, la città che il padre stava assediando, e tornò a Roma. Tentò di introdursi in casa di Lucrezia e, una volta con lei, cercò di stuprarla. La minacciò con la sua spada: o lei avrebbe acconsentito o lui l'avrebbe uccisa con una dei suoi schiavi e avrebbe raccontato di averli sorpresi in intimità. Questo è quello che qualche ora dopo Lucrezia raccontò a suo padre e a suo marito, prima di uccidersi con un pugnale. La sua famiglia portò il suo corpo nel Foro e lì, un amico di famiglia, Lucio Giunio Bruto, incitò i Romani alla rivolta contro il re e il suo wicked son. Quando Tarquinio il Superbo apprese quel che stava succedendo a Roma, precipitosamente vi ritornò, ma solo per scoprire che le porte di Roma erano chiuse e i Romani sulle mura, pronti a difendere la loro città.

According to the traditional account, Tarquin the Proud sought help from Porsenna, il re etrusco di Chiusi (nel sud della Toscana) che mosse con un grosso esercito verso Roma e piazzò il suo accampamento sul Gianicolo; quindi cercò di attraversare il fiume al Ponte Sublicio, ma un soldato romano, Orazio Coclite, riuscì a fermare gli Etruschi sul ponte mentre i suoi compagni abbattevano il ponte stesso. Alla fine lui precipitò nel Tevere ma riuscì a salvarsi a nuoto e a raggiunfere Roma.

He was not the only Roman hero of that war: Porsenna had not been able to seize Rome, but by controlling the right bank of the Tiber he blocked the supplies which the city received from Ostia; the Romans wondered for how long they could resist: a young member of a noble Roman family, Gaius Mutius Scaevola , decided to sacrifice his life to save Rome. Disguised as an Etruscan soldier, he managed to enter the enemy camp; he then looked for the royal tent as his mission was to kill Porsenna with his dagger. He found a large and decorated tent and inside it the man he was looking for. In a fraction of a second he plunged the dagger into the king's heart. The last scream of the victim and the fall of his dead body alarmed the sentinels, but Mutius Scaevola did not even try to escape, as he thought that by showing to the Etruscans he did not care about his own life, they would have understood that the Romans could not be won.
He expected to be immediately put to death, but to his great surprise he was brought before Porsenna; the Etruscans did not wear identification badges and Mutius had mistook a high dignitary for the king. Once he realized he had failed, he told the king that there were 300 other Romans ready to make the attempt again. A furious Porsenna threatened to send him to the stake; Mutius calmly placed his right hand on a brazier, as to punish it for its failure, and, without showing a sign of pain, he kept it there until it was totally burnt. Porsenna got the message and sought a peace agreement with the Romans. This (in my view extraordinarily modern) account hides what most likely happened: the Etruscans had waged war against Rome and had managed to expel the king and to impose on the Romans a very unfavourable peace treaty.
Mutius Scaevola is remembered by a very common Italian sentence mettere la mano sul fuoco (to put one's hand on the fire), meaning that someone is totally sure that what he says is true. According to many historians Scaevola means left-handed and that it was added to the name of the hero after he lost his right hand.

The transition from monarchy to republic is associated also with a pair of twins, the second set(*) after Romulus and Remus. Tarquin the Proud, in addition to the help of Porsenna sought that of other Latin towns. The Latin and the Romans clashed at Lago Regillo, a now dried lake, not far from Ponte di Nona: the Roman cavalry attacked the enemy and at that point the Romans saw Castor and Pollux (*)(or Polydeuces), the Dioscuri, sons of Zeus, galloping at their side. The divine appearance strengthened their resolution and they defeated the Latins. The Romans worshipped Castor and Pollux in a temple in the Forum (which was rebuilt several times); the Dioscuri were also portrayed in two sets of gigantic statues, now in Piazza del Campidoglio and in Piazza del Quirinale. Their inclusion among the Roman deities is a sign of the first contacts with the Greek colonies in southern Italy and in particular with Tarentum where the two demigods were worshipped. It also shows that the Roman society had an open and tolerant approach to religious matters.

Espansione della Città

At the end of the monarchy Rome consisted of the Palatino and Campidoglio hills and of the two flat areas next to them, one (the Forum) to the north of them, the other Velabro, between the hills and the river. In the first centuries of the republic the city expanded along the river towards the vast flat land, almost encircled by a bend of the Tiber, and which later on became known as Campus Martius (the field of Mars), because the Roman army used it as a training ground.
This part of Rome, broadly corresponding to Rione Sant'Angelo, has been inhabited without interruptions for more than 2,500 years; in the 1930s excavations near Teatro di Marcello brought to light some Roman temples which lay under medieval buildings, but many are still hidden, although they have been identified. They constitute part of the so-called Roma sotterranea, the underground legacy of Rome. Ipogea (tombs below the ground) and other underground monuments, in addition to their archaeological interest, offer the visitor a bit of speleological zest.
Occasionally a hidden piece of ancient Rome requires you to go up the stairs and not down. In Via Sant'Angelo in Pescheria, behind the old Piazza di Pescheria (fish market), a still standing column of Tempio di Giunone Regina is embedded in a small house, but its decorated capital comes out of the roof. To see it you need to enter the house at No 28, go up the staircase and look from the window at the upper floor towards No 11.

Vecchi Siti Repubblicani

(a sinistra) Fonte di Giuturna vicino S. Maria Antiqua (S. Maria Liberatrice): (a destra) particolare di vecchi Republicani in Largo di Torre Argentina

Res publica è il nome che i Romani diedero al loro sistema politico after the expulsion of the last king. The new system was an oligarchic one, with all the power in the hands of a small group of families, the patricians (patricius = having noble father). The Senate, the members of which were patricians, was the most important institution, but the ongoing affairs were managed by annually appointed magistrates, the praetors (maybe the word means those who go first, because they led religious or civil processions). During wars or other emergencies, the Senate had the option to entrust what we call today the executive power to a single praetor, who was called dictator. Eventually the number of praetors having jurisdiction in political and military matters was fixed at two: the consuls. Definitely the history of Rome had a liking for pairs. At the end of the XVIIIth century the admiration for the ancient classic world was so high that the French Republic introduced the consuls in its constitution, but Consul Bonaparte managed to become Emperor Napoleon in less than a decade, while in Rome the move from consuls to emperors was a process which required centuries.

Archaeologists have found in the Roman Forum at least eight pavement layers. Those related to the early republican period are covered by travertine pavements dating from later periods. This is very evident in the excavations in Largo di Torre Argentina, where one can see the old tufa pavement under a travertine one.
The Dioscuri, not only had helped the Romans at Lago Regillo, but they also had immediately reported the good news to Rome. They were seen with their horses at a spring at the foot of the Palatino, very near the site where their temple stands: archaeologists have found evidence that a fountain was built to control the spring in the early republican period, but its travertine border belongs to a later period.

Crisi e Nuova Fondazione

(A sinistra) Map of the so-called Servian walls; (right) a section of the Servian walls found in the XIXth century near Chiesa dei SS. Vito e Modesto

Marco Furio Camillo è considerato da molti storici come il secondo fondatore di Roma. Nel 396 guidò l'esercito Romano contro la ricca città estrusca di Veio (vicina all'odierna Isola Farnese), situata 10 miglia a nord di Roma. La presa di Veio segnò la fine della minaccia etrusca allo sviluppo di Roma. In pochi anni i Romani presero Faleria, a town north of Veii and the security of Rome from Etruscan attacks was further ensured by the conquest in 389 of Sutri, located in a key position on the road leading to Rome. The success of Camillus at Veii attracted the envy of other patrician families and he was accused of having royal ambitions: he chose to go into voluntary exile at Ardea, not far from Anzio.
But Rome had not yet completely enjoyed the benefit of its victories, when a new unexpected threat came from the north. In 390 (or in 387) a tribe of Gauls, the Senones, invaded the Etruscan territories and moved southwards under the leadership of Brennus. The Romans placed their legions along the Allia, a small stream near Monterotondo, to prevent them from reaching Rome; the Gauls simply routed the Roman army. The soldiers who had managed to escape from the battlefield, fled back to the city in disarray.
The Romans barricaded themselves in the Campidoglio, where one night they were alerted to a Gallic attack by the sacred geese of Juno. The rest of the city was plundered by the Gauls, in what can be seen as an anticipation of the barbarian invasions which occurred 800 years later. The event is associated with a couple of famous sentences: Brennus had agreed to leave Rome if the Romans had paid a certain amount of gold. At the weighing of the gold, the Romans discovered that the weights were heavier than standard ones. When they complained he shouted Vae victis (woe to the vanquished): at this point Marcus Furius Camillus made his unexpected appearance followed by a Roman army and threw his sword into the scale proclaiming: Not auro, sed ferro, recuperanda est patria. (not gold, but steel redeems the nation). He then attacked the Gauls and forced them out of Rome.
Notwithstanding the happy, albeit miraculous, end of these events, it is said that the Romans wondered whether they should rebuild their city on the same site or move to a more easily defensible location; eventually this option was discarded, but the awareness of the weakness of the old fortifications led to the decision to build a new set of walls to protect the whole city and not just the two original hills. These walls are called Servian, after Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome, but they belong to the early republican period, although they were to a great extent rebuilt several times in the following centuries. The main remaining sections are located near Termini railway station (Aggere Serviano) and near Chiesa di S. Saba, but smaller parts of the walls can be found elsewhere in Rome.

Guerra sul Mare

(left) Rostra nel Foro Romano; (a destra) Colonna rostrata in Piazza del Popolo

While the Etruscans blocked the expansion of the Romans towards the north, that southwards was also rather difficult due to the hostility of the Volsci, an Italic people occupying the coastal plain south of Rome: their main towns were Velitrae (Velletri), Antium (Anzio) and Anxur (Terracina). The wars the Romans waged against them led to many land battles, but in 338 there was what is recorded as the first Roman naval battle in the sea near Anzio. In those days the ships travelled along the coastline, so the Roman ones, en route towards the harbour of Ostia from the south, were at risk of being captured by the Volsci.
The excitement for this first naval victory was such that the captured ships' bronze beaks (rostra) were placed in the Forum in an open square (Comitium - go together), where all the Romans could see them.
In 260 the Romans defeated the Carthaginians at sea near Milazzo in Sicily: the rostra captured in that battle were placed on a column in the Comitium. In 29 Augustus, after having defeated the Egyptian fleet at Action in Greece, in the frame of a general restructuring of the Forum, moved the rostra to a sort of large altar which ended by being used to speak to the Roman people assembled in the Forum. 2,000 years after its erection the column with the Carthaginian rostra inspired the Neoclassic decoration of Piazza del Popolo.

Relocation of the Harbour

(left) Temple of Foro Olitorio now included in S. Niccolò in Carcere; (right) the high basement of Temple of Portunus

Many believe that behind the expansion of Rome lay a militaristic and expansionistic drive: this is probably due to the fact that wars, battles, heroes and the likes appeared more interesting to both the writers and readers of books on the history of Rome: however it is more consistent with the actual development of the events to make a parallel between the growth of Rome with that of the British Empire, which was clearly driven by trade interests.
Rome was a large emporium (trade centre) well before having an imperium (command and later on empire). The republican walls protected an area which by far exceeded that of Athens, at a time when Rome did not even rule over the whole of Latium. The decision to found the city on a low hill shows that military considerations were not high in the mind of Romulus and that he was mainly interested in the commercial benefits Rome would gain from being placed on the Tiber.
At the beginning ships moored near the Velabro, but in the republican period the area was too congested and gradually a river harbour was developed in what is today called Testaccio.
The area of Velabro was embellished by the merchants who continued to meet there: they built many small temples dedicated to the gods who were patrons of their trade (this tradition in a way was continued many centuries later by the churches built by the medieval and Renaissance guilds).
Questo spiega perché i templi sono così tanti e così piccoli. Tre templi erano allineati uno accanto all'altro (li vedete nell'immagine usati come sfondo per questa pagina); oggi sono quasi interamente inglobati in una piccola chiesa. I templi del Velabro furono ricostruiti e riparati più volte, ma conservano qualcosa del loro originale progetto. Una caratteristica della prima architettura romana è l'altezza basamento su cui furono costruiti i templi, perché nei primissimi tempi della loro città i romani semplicemente collocarono un altare su un'altura per consentirne l'accesso massima visibilità allo svolgimento di cerimonie religiose (principalmente sacrifici).

Un Nuovo Rivale nel Mediterraneo

Un tratto della Via Appia nella campagna Romana vicino al Sepolcro di Gallieno

Con la vittoria sui Volsci Roma non ebbe più rivali nel basso Lazio: controllava un'area relativamente piccola ma più grande di ognuna della tante città ricche colonie dell'Italia meridionale. Queste però non costituivano un fronte unito, erano divise come le loro sorelle in Grecia. Alcune di loro videre in Roma una potenziale alleata nelle loro lotte coi vicini. Roma stabilì con loro alleanze chiamate foedus and in some cases granted citizenship rights to their patricians.
Al fine di accelerare le comunicazioni con le altre città il console Appio Claudio (Cieco) promosse la costruzione della prima strada romana, che da lui prese il nome di via Appia. Essa inizialemnte si fermava a Terracina, ma con la crescita dell'influenza romana nel Sud Italia fu più volte prolungata, fino a giungere a Brundisium (Brindisi), la porta della Grecia.

Iconografia
I personaggi e gli eventi raccontati in questa pagina hanno ispirato tanti artisti: in particolare Lucrezia fu ritratta da diversi pittori rinascimentali: Cranach, Tiziano, Lotto, Veronese e Rembrandt.
Orazio Coclite e Muzio Scaevola furono entrambi raffigurati nell'affresco del Palazzo dei Conservatori.