6 – Servius Tullius (579? – 534 BC?)
The Romans looked upon Servius as arguably their greatest monarch, but in reality, he is probably not responsible for all of the achievements attributed to him. There are different accounts about his background, but the most popular story is that his mother was one of Tanaquil’s slaves. The queen apparently saw greatness in Servius and treated him better than her old children.
While the sons of Ancus fled into exile, Lucius had three surviving sons and Servius cleverly married them to his daughters. He enjoyed military success during his reign; most notably against the Veii. He celebrated three triumphs in Rome; the date of the first was 571 BC, the second was in 567 BC, and the date for the third is unknown. Such was the nature of his success against the Veii that Servius did not have to fight on the field again for the duration of his reign.
It has been suggested that the first use of coinage took place during the reign of Servius. Up to that point, the Romans bartered, but in the 6th century BC, they believed the old system was inadequate and came up with a monetary measure. Value was expressed in ‘heads of cattle’ (pecus) so one head of cattle might be worth 10 sheep. This event was followed by the creation of a monetary system based on an ingot of raw copper that weighed 327 grams (the equivalent of one Roman pound or Libra). Romans could break up the ingot into different sizes with various values.
Although it was claimed that the king built the Servian Wall, it was probably built 200 years later. Servius may have been responsible for a system of defensive earthworks known as agger, however. It was probably Servius who transferred the festival of Diana from Aricia to Aventine Hill. Servius may also have come up with the idea of the very first census. The Roman population was divided into groups according to wealth, age, and status. Your ‘class’ depended on your wealth and helped decide voting rights and the levying of troops. The wealthier you were, the more armor and weapons you could afford.
Servius reigned for around 45 years but his policies proved unpopular with the Senate, and a conspiracy was formed to murder him. According to legend, one of Servius’ daughters, Tullia the Elder, hatched a plot with Lucius Tarquinius, grandson of the former king. They murdered their respective siblings, and Tarquinius bribed or persuaded senators to make him king. He made a speech criticizing Servius, and when the king arrived, Tarquinius threw him down the steps where he was set upon and murdered by the usurper’s men. Tullia then drove her chariot over Servius’ broken body. From that point on the street in question became known as ‘vicus sceleratus’, The Street of Guilt.