Arruns Tarquinius, commonly called Egerius, was a member of the royal family of early Rome. His father was Arruns Tarquinius, son of

Demaratus of Corinth Demaratus ( el, Δημάρατος), frequently called Demaratus of Corinth, was the father of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth King of Rome, and the grandfather or great-grandfather of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last Roman ki ...

. Demaratus had settled at

Tarquinii Tarquinia (), formerly Corneto, is an old city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Central Italy, known chiefly for its ancient Etruscan tombs in the widespread necropoleis, or cemeteries, for which it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage stat ...

during the seventh century BC, and married an Etruscan noblewoman. They had two sons, Lucius and Arruns. Arruns died shortly before his father, leaving his wife pregnant. Not knowing of his grandson, Demaratus left him no inheritance, and so Arruns was born into poverty despite his grandfather's wealth. For this reason, the child was called ''Egerius'', meaning "the needy one."''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, p. 976 ("Tarquinius"). At the urging of his wife,

Tanaquil Tanaquil ( Etruscan: ''Thanchvil'') was the queen of Rome by marriage to Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome. Life The daughter of a powerful Etruscan family in Tarquinii, Etruria, Tanaquil thought her husband would make a good leader, but s ...

, Lucius Tarquinius migrated to Rome, where he found favour with the king, Ancus Marcius. Ultimately, Tarquin succeeded Marcius as the fifth

King of Rome The king of Rome ( la, rex Romae) was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC ...

. After subduing the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

town of Collatia, Tarquin placed his nephew in command of the Roman garrison there. Arruns' son was

Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus Lucius Tarquinius Ar. f. Ar. n. Collatinus was one of the first two consuls of the Roman Republic in 509 BC, together with Lucius Junius Brutus. The two men had led the revolution which overthrew the Roman monarchy. He was forced to resign his ...

, one of the first

Roman consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

s in 509 BC. The rape of Collatinus' wife,

Lucretia According to Roman tradition, Lucretia ( /luːˈkriːʃə/ ''loo-KREE-shə'', Classical Latin: ʊˈkreːtɪ.a died c. 510 BC), anglicized as Lucrece, was a noblewoman in ancient Rome, whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius (Tarquin) and subse ...

, by his cousin,

Sextus Tarquinius Sextus Tarquinius was the third and youngest son of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, according to Livy, but by Dionysius of Halicarnassus he was the oldest of the three.Roman Antiquities Book 4.69 According to Roman tradition, ...

, was the event that sparked the expulsion of the Roman kings. Ironically, public hatred of the Tarquins led Collatinus himself to resign the consulship and go into exile.

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

* Titus Livius (

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

), ''

History of Rome The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...

''. * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/ biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'', Eleventh Edition (1911). Tarquinii 6th-century BC Romans Characters in Roman mythology