Lars Tolumnius (Etruscan: Larth Tulumnes, d. 437 BC) was the most famous king of the wealthy Etruscan city-state of Veii. He is best remembered for instigating, and decisively losing, a war with the neighboring Roman Republic.
Lars Tolumnius (Etruscan: Larth Tulumnes, d. 437 BC) was the most famous king of the wealthy Etruscan city-state of Veii. He is best remembered for instigating, and decisively losing, a war with the neighboring Roman Republic.
Very little is known of Tolumnius outside of his involvement in Roman legend. His family was evidently part of the Veientine aristocracy, and its nomen is found on a number of inscriptions from votive offerings. [1]
Tolumius enters history when the Roman colony of Fidenae revolted against the Republic in 438 BC, and allied itself with Veii, giving Tolumnius control of the Fidenate army. The Romans sent four envoys (Tullus Cloelius, Gaius Fulcinius, Spurius Antius, and Lucius Roscius) to Fidenae to demand an explanation, but they were murdered by the Fidenates, apparently on the king's orders. [2] [3]
A popular story held that Tolumnius had not intended this breach of decorum: supposedly he was playing at dice when the Fidenates asked whether they should kill the ambassadors, and having just rolled fortuitously, the king exclaimed, "excellent!", which the Fidenates interpreted as an order to put the Romans to death. Livy is skeptical of this tradition, disbelieving that Tolumnius would have allowed himself to become so easily distracted on an occasion of such importance. Rather, he suggests, Tolumnius intended the execution of the emissaries to involve the Fidenates in a deed that would make it impossible for them to repair the breach with Rome. [2]
Outraged by Tolumnius' actions, the Roman Senate declared war against Veii, and the following year dispatched a consular army under the command of Lucius Sergius, which met Tolumnius and the Fidenates south of the Anio. Sergius won the day despite brutal fighting, and earned the surname Fidenas, but the Roman losses were so high that a state of emergency was declared, and the Senate appointed Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus dictator to meet the threat posed by Tolumnius' forces. [4]
Marshaling his troops, the dictator fortified a position at the confluence of the Anio and the Tiber, and waited for Tolumnius to offer battle. Tolumnius, whose army was reinforced by a contingent from Falerii, was content to let the Romans make the first move, but the men of Falerii were eager for battle, so the king agreed to take the field on the following day. He sent a contingent of Veientes through the hills to attack the Romans from the rear, and the Battle of Fidenae commenced. [4]
The fighting was fierce, and made especially noteworthy by the actions of the Roman and Etruscan cavalry. The Roman cavalry broke through the Etruscan lines, and began pursuing the soldiers as they fled, while Tolumnius at the head of the Etruscan horse valiantly opposed them in the defense of his soldiers. The outcome of the battle was in doubt until Aulus Cornelius Cossus, one of the military tribunes serving in the cavalry, charged at the king and unhorsed him. Before Tolumnius could rise, Cossus dismounted and forced the king to the ground with his shield, and stabbed him repeatedly with his spear. With the king's death, the Etruscan cavalry abandoned the field, and the battle was decided. [5] [6]
In recognition of his victory, the dictator Mamercus was granted a triumph, although the most famous hero of the battle was Cossus, who claimed the spolia opima, stripping the arms and armor from the fallen king, and dedicating them at the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. [lower-roman 1] [7] Meanwhile, four statues were erected on the rostra in the forum, in memory of the murdered ambassadors. [2]
Veii was an important ancient Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and 16 km (9.9 mi) north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the comune of Rome. Many other sites associated with and in the city-state of Veii are in Formello, immediately to the north. Formello is named after the drainage channels that were first created by the Veians.
Fidenae was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8 km north of Rome on the Via Salaria. Its inhabitants were known as Fidenates. As the Tiber was the border between Etruria and Latium, the left-bank settlement of Fidenae represented an extension of Etruscan presence into Latium. The site of the arx of the ancient town was probably on the hill on which lies the contemporary Villa Spada, though no traces of early buildings or defences are to be seen; pre-Roman tombs are in the cliffs to the north. The later village lay at the foot of the hill on the eastern edge of the high-road, and its curia, with a dedicatory inscription to Marcus Aurelius by the Senatus Fidenatium, was excavated in 1889. Remains of other buildings may also be seen.
Falerii is a village in the municipality of Fabrica di Roma in the Province of Viterbo, Italy. Its name is better known for two nearby ancient cities, Falerii Veteres and Falerii Novi.
Gaius Fulcinius was a Roman emissary dispatched to the colony of Fidenae. His murder led to the resumption of war against Veii, and the eventual capture of Fidenae.
The Roman–Etruscan Wars, also known as the Etruscan Wars or the Etruscan–Roman Wars, were a series of wars fought between ancient Rome and the Etruscans. Information about many of the wars is limited, particularly those in the early parts of Rome's history, and in large part is known from ancient texts alone. The conquest of Etruria was completed in 265–264 BC.
Postumus Aebutius Helva Cornicen was consul at Rome in 442 BC, and magister equitum in 435.
Aulus Cornelius Cossus was a Roman general in the early Republic. He is famous for being the second Roman, after Romulus, to be awarded the spolia opima, Rome's highest military honour, for killing the commander of an enemy army in single combat. Only three Romans ever achieved this feat, but a fourth winner was officially denied the honour by a jealous Consul Caesar Octavianus who insisted the honour was limited exclusively to Roman commanders. Cornelius Cossus proved otherwise.
Gaius Furius Pacilus Fusus was a Roman statesman of the early Republic. He was a descendant of the ancient patrician house of the Furii, which filled the highest offices of the Roman state from the early decades of the Republic to the first century AD. He was probably closely related to Quintus Furius Pacilus Fusus, whom Livy mentions as Pontifex Maximus in 449 BC, and was likely the father of Gaius Furius Pacilus, consul in 412 BC.
The Roman–Sabine wars were a series of wars during the early expansion of ancient Rome in central Italy against their northern neighbours, the Sabines. It is commonly accepted that the events pre-dating the Roman Republic in 509 BC are semi-legendary in nature.
The Temple of Jupiter Feretrius was, according to legend, the first temple ever built in Rome. Its site is uncertain but is thought to have been on the Capitoline Hill.
Lucius Julius Iullus was a member of the ancient patrician gens Julia. He was one of the consular tribunes of 438 BC, magister equitum in 431, and consul in 430 BC.
Lucius Sergius Fidenas was a Roman politician during the 5th century BC, and was elected consul in 437 and 429 BC. In 433, 424, and 418 BC he was military tribune with consular power.
Publius Cornelius Rutilus Cossus was a statesman and military commander from the early Roman Republic who served as Dictator in 408 BC.
The Battle of Fidenae was fought in 437 BC between the Roman Republic, led by the dictator Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus, and the combined forces of Fidenae and Veii, led by Lars Tolumnius.
Marcus Fabius Vibulanus was consul of the Roman republic in 442 BC and consular tribune in 433 BC.
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was a consular tribune of the Roman republic in 438, 425, 420 BC and possibly consul in 428 BC.
Proculus Verginius Tricostus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 435 BC. He was possibly re-elected as consul in 434 BC.
Titus Quinctius PoenusCincinnatus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 431 and 428 BC and a consular tribune in 426 BC. He might have been consular tribune again in 420 BC.
Aulus Cornelius Cossus Arvina was a Roman politician and general who served as both consul and Magister Equitum twice, and Dictator once in the mid 4th century BC.
Publius Cornelius Arvina was a Roman politician and general who lived in the late 4th century and early 3rd century BC, who served as consul of the Roman Republic twice, and as censor once.
