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In the ancient Roman legend of the kingdom era, the Horatii were triplet warriors who lived during the reign of Tullus Hostilius. The accounts of their epic clash with the Curiatii and the murder of their sister by Publius, the sole survivor of the battle, appear in the writings of Livy. [1]
Livy recounts this tale in the first book of his Ab urbe condita . During the Roman king Tullus Hostilius' war with the neighboring city of Alba Longa, it was agreed that fighting a costly war between their armies would leave the door open for an Etruscan invasion. Sabine dictator Mettius Fufetius appealed to Tullus Hostilius that the conflict should be settled by a fight to the death between the Roman Horatii triplets and their Alban counterparts, known as the Curiatii. They met on the battlefield between the lines as the two armies and their countrymen looked on.
With so much at stake, both sides fought bravely. The Horatii had wounded all three Curiatii, but two of the Romans were killed in the process. That left their brother Publius alone and surrounded by the three Albans. Though he was uninjured, Publius realized he stood no chance against all three of his enemies together. So he began to run across the battlefield instead. The Albans pursued him, each as fast as their individual injuries permitted. This was exactly what he had hoped they would do, and after they had gone far enough, he saw that the Curiatii had become staggered and were separated from each another. His plan had worked perfectly. He turned and launched a furious attack on the first, least-injured Curiatius and slew him.
The Roman spectators, who, moments before, had been sure of defeat, began cheering wildly as the Albans began shouting at the Curiatii to regroup in the face of Publius' onslaught. But before they could, the Horatius caught up to the second Curiatius and killed him as his brother, helpless, looked on. The final Curiatius was physically spent from his wounds and the chase. His hope had been crushed by watching both of his brothers die. He managed to unsteadily stand his ground and faced the Horatius, who was heartened by his wildly successful strategy and confident of his imminent victory. Publius declared that he had killed the first two Curiatii for his fallen brothers. He would kill this last one for the Roman cause and their rule over the Albans. He thrust his sword down the Alban's throat and took the armor of his slain enemies as the spoils of his victory.
Afterwards, the Alban dictator Mettius honored the treaty and Alba Longa briefly accepted Roman rule, before provoking a war with the Fidenates and betraying Rome.
The victorious Horatius returned to a hero's welcome. Before the war had broken out, Publius' sister, Camilla, had been engaged to one of the Alban triplets. When she saw the cloak that she herself had woven and given to the Curiatius on her brother's shoulder, now stained with his blood, she realized that her betrothed had been slain. Camilla was overcome with grief and began wailing and crying out his name. Proclaiming that no Roman woman should mourn Rome's fallen enemies, Publius killed his sister on the spot.
For his crime, he was condemned to death. On the advice of a jurist named Tullus Hostilius (also the king at the time), Publius appealed to one of the popular assemblies. In defense of his son, the Horatius' father, also Publius, spoke of the recent victory and entreated them to spare his last surviving son (his fourth son, a brother of the Horatii, had also died). The assembly was persuaded and Publius' sentence was commuted. This may be the source of the Roman tradition of allowing the condemned to appeal their sentences to the populace.
Publius the elder was required to offer a sacrifice to atone for his son's crime and from that time forward, the Horatia family made it a tradition to offer the same. The spoils of the victory were hung in a place that became known as Pila Horatia. A wooden beam was erected on the slope of the Oppian Hill, which was called the Sororium Tigillum (Sister's Beam). It symbolized a yoke, under which Publius the younger was made to pass. It remained standing long after his death.
Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the early Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Etruscan King Lars Porsena of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium. By defending the narrow end of the bridge, he and his companions were able to hold off the attacking army long enough to allow other Romans to destroy the bridge behind him, blocking the Etruscans' advance and saving the city.
Tullus Hostilius was the legendary third king of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius. Unlike his predecessor, Tullus was known as a warlike king who, according to the Roman historian Livy, believed the more peaceful nature of his predecessor had weakened Rome. It has been attested that he sought out war and was even more warlike than the first king of Rome, Romulus. Accounts of the death of Tullus Hostilius vary. In the mythological version of events Livy describes, he had angered Jupiter who then killed him with a bolt of lightning. Non-mythological sources on the other hand describe that he died of plague after a rule of 32 years.
The Porta Capena was a gate in the Servian Wall in Rome, Italy. The gate was located in the area of Piazza di Porta Capena, where the Caelian, Palatine and Aventine hills meet. Probably its exact position was between the entrance of Via di Valle delle Camene and the beginning of Via delle Terme di Caracalla, facing the curved side of the Circus Maximus.
Oath of the Horatii is a large painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David painted in 1784 and 1785 and now on display in the Louvre in Paris. The painting immediately became a huge success with critics and the public and remains one of the best-known paintings in the Neoclassical style.
The Albans were Latins from the ancient city of Alba Longa, southeast of Rome. Some of Rome's prominent patrician families such as the Julii, Servilii, Quinctii, Geganii, Curiatii and Cloelii were of Alban descent.
Gaius Cluilius was the king of Alba Longa during the reign of the Roman king Tullus Hostilius in the mid seventh century BC. Alba Longa was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome.
Mettius Fufetius was a dictator of Alba Longa, an ancient town in central Italy near Rome. He was appointed to his position after the death of Alban king Gaius Cluilius. When a full-blown war threatened to erupt between the Albans and the Romans, Fufetius proposed to the third legendary King of Rome, Tullus Hostilius, that a smaller 3 vs. 3 battle should decide the fate of their cities. Having lost this duel, the Albans submitted themselves to Roman rule.
The kings of Alba Longa, or Alban kings, were a series of legendary kings of Latium, who ruled from the ancient city of Alba Longa. In the mythic tradition of ancient Rome, they fill the 400-year gap between the settlement of Aeneas in Italy and the founding of the city of Rome by Romulus. It was this line of descent to which the Julii claimed kinship. The traditional line of the Alban kings ends with Numitor, the grandfather of Romulus and Remus. One later king, Gaius Cluilius, is mentioned by Roman historians, although his relation to the original line, if any, is unknown; and after his death, a few generations after the time of Romulus, the city was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome, and its population transferred to Alba's daughter city.
Gli Orazi e i Curiazi is an opera in three acts composed by Domenico Cimarosa to a libretto by Antonio Simeone Sografi, based on Pierre Corneille's tragedy Horace.
Horace is a play by the French dramatist Pierre Corneille, drawing on Livy's account of the battle between the Horatii and the Curiatii. Written in reply to critics of his Le Cid, it was dedicated to cardinal Richelieu and proved the author's second major success on its premiere in March 1640. Its protagonist Horatius is more daring than Rodrigue in Le Cid, in that he sacrifices his best friend and kills his sister Camilla. It was the basis for the libretti for the operas Les Horaces and Gli Orazi e i Curiazi. It is considered one of Corneille's great tragedies.
Alba Longa was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. The ancient Romans believed it to be the founder and head of the Latin League, before it was destroyed by the Roman Kingdom around the middle of the 7th century BC and its inhabitants were forced to settle in Rome. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, had come from the royal dynasty of Alba Longa, which in Virgil's Aeneid had been the bloodline of Aeneas, a son of Venus.
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.
The gens Cloelia, originally Cluilia, and occasionally written Clouilia or Cloulia, was a patrician family at ancient Rome. The gens was prominent throughout the period of the Republic. The first of the Cloelii to hold the consulship was Quintus Cloelius Siculus, in 498 BC.
The gens Curiatia was a distinguished family at Rome, with both patrician and plebeian branches. Members of this gens are mentioned in connection with the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome, during the seventh century BC. The first of the Curiatii to attain any significant office was Publius Curiatius Fistus, surnamed Trigeminus, who held the consulship in 453 BC. The gens continued to exist throughout the Republic, and perhaps into imperial times, but seldom did its members achieve any prominence.
Mettius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was used in pre-Roman times and perhaps during the early centuries of the Roman Republic, but which was obsolete by the 1st century BC. The feminine form is Mettia. The patronymic gens Mettia was derived from this praenomen. The name was rare in historical times, and not regularly abbreviated.
The gens Horatia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. In legend, the gens dates back to the time of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome. One of its members, Marcus Horatius Pulvillus, was consul suffectus in 509 BC, the first year of the Republic, and again in 507. The most famous of the Horatii was his nephew, Publius Horatius Cocles, who held the Sublician bridge against the army of Lars Porsena circa 508 BC.
Duel of Champions is a 1961 film about the Roman legend of the Horatii, triplet brothers from Rome who fought a duel against the Curiatii, triplet brothers from Alba Longa in order to determine the outcome of a war between their two nations.
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.
Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus was a Roman politician in the 5th century BC, consul in 453 BC and decemvir in 451 BC.
Lucius Horatius Pulvillus was a politician and general of the Roman Republic. He was elected consular tribune in 386 BC and fought the Volscians.
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