The Siege of Rome - Fate of the Republic (508 BC) DOCUMENTARY

The early history of Rome is a fascinating subject that doesn't get nearly enough of the attention it deserves. There are many great tales to share, but in this video I wanted to focus in on the first great siege of Rome, which involved two incredible acts of bravery that not only saved the one-year-old Republic, but also served as a rallying cry for future Romans in their darkest hours. Let us speak of Horatius upon the Bridge and Gaius Mucius, the Fire-Branded. Today's video was sponsored by Darkfire Heroes. It's a new strategic team-based RPG brought to you by the folks over at Rovio Entertainment. So if you don't know, they are the ones behind the original, the classic Angry Birds. And so that was a personal favorite of mine and they carry over a lot of their experience when it comes to UI, art style, graphic design, all this stuff makes for a very intuitive, comprehensive, and honestly just really good-looking game that plays well and smoothly. This one actually comes with a lot of heroes at launch, each with their own spells, attacks, character designs, and it's really all about how you kit out these teams. It's very important because it offers a lot of strategic depth. And Darkfire Heroes actually offers two different main modes that you can play. The first is going to be a campaign one, which will, yes, be quite tough at times and stretch your skills to the limit, but it's still a pretty lax and chill experience. And the other one is going to be obviously your more traditional PvP arena where you can battle friends or others on the interwebs. Go ahead and check out the game by clicking the link in the description below. That'll support our channel and it'll also come and give you a special new player welcome bonus, which includes an adventure chest on your very first day. So go ahead and check out the game on Android or iOS. Again, it's free to play. Choose a hero, embark on adventure, and slay the bad guys by yourself or with a clan like our own, depending on what your play style is. And yeah, we'll see you on the battlefield. Enjoy! Our tale takes place in 508 BC, the year after Rome had expelled the last of its kings and was struggling to keep the light of its newfound liberty from being snuffed out. A bit of context on this matter before we get started. According to legend, Rome had been founded in 753 BC by the mythical twin brothers Romulus and Remus. Ultimately, the former killed the latter and was said to have crowned himself the first king of Rome. Ancient authors weave a tale of how his settlement then grew by attracting vagabonds of all kinds and kidnapping women from the neighboring Sabines. Upon his death, Romulus would be succeeded by his brother-in-law, Numa Pompilius. He and the other semi-legendary kings that followed were each said to have laid the foundations of Rome's religious, political, and military practices. Modern historians are of course less likely to believe such claims. As best we can tell, the actual settlement of Rome got its start in the 8th century BC or even earlier as one of many communities which inhabited Latium at the time. Zooming in on the seven hills along the Tiber, one would have seen clusters of dwellings atop the defensible high ground. Given their proximity, these would have begun to merge through the gradual process of Senoicism. They shared things like a common market, burial grounds, and a political body. But perhaps the most important resource they shared was their military power. This would be used to conduct raids against neighboring farmlands, grazing fields, and settlements. Over the years, the Romans would take part in numerous wars with the surrounding powers. One of the most prominent of these were the Etruscans. They were a large cultural group which had emerged from the end of the late Bronze Age to control vast swaths of northwestern Italy. Their powerful coalition of cities exerted great influence on the region and even contended with the affairs of the Greeks and the Carthaginians in the wider Mediterranean. Thus, when Rome was founded, it did so in the shadow of the Etruscans who played a large role in influencing the development of their religion, culture, politics, and military. According to Virgil's Aeneid, the friction between Rome and the Etruscans began from the very beginning when the northern power moved to expel the exiled Trojans. It is this clash which established the Tiber as a boundary between the northern and southern powers. While the story is certainly made up, it does point to the very real line in the sand that existed along this frontier. For instance, the Etruscan city of Veii was located just a day's march beyond the river and seems to have blunted Rome's expansion to the north for centuries. During this time, there would be many border feuds between individual cities or all-out wars between allied forces to the north and south. Yet, while it would seem that the Romans and Etruscans were bitter enemies, they actually appear to have mingled quite a bit, especially among the upper classes. For instance, Rome's fifth legendary king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, was originally from Etruria and would kick off a chain of Etruscan rulers. By most accounts, both Tarquinius Priscus and his successor son-in-law, Servius Tullius, were popular rulers who had no qualms waging war against their ancestral homes. However, turmoil would rock the Roman monarchy when Servius Tullius was usurped and assassinated by his own son-in-law, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. This new king was said to be an arrogant man who clamped down on the opposition and launched aggressive military campaigns and construction projects to aggrandize himself. The Roman people chafed under his rule and simmered with anger. In 509 BC, they would break into open revolt when it was revealed that the son of King Tarquin had raped Lucretia, the wife of a prominent officer, driving her to commit suicide in shame. In the aftermath, her husband Lucius Tarquinius Colitinus and Lucius Junius Brutus would spearhead the uprising by expelling the king and his family from all Roman lands. In the monarch's place would be born the Roman Republic, with its citizens swearing an oath to never allow any man to be king of Rome ever again. This, of course, did not go over so easily with Tarquin the Proud, who now began a series of attempts to reclaim the throne. His first ploy was to send ambassadors to Rome who would secretly foment a conspiracy to support the royal cause. However, this attempt would be thwarted when the plot was uncovered and the conspirators executed. Tarquin next called upon the cities of Veii and Tarquinii for help. Both had recently suffered losses against Rome and were eager to seize the opportunity to punch back. A great battle was fought near the Silva Arcia outside Rome, which saw the Republic's first consul Brutus killed, but its armies victorious. Tarquin, however, would not be so easily dissuaded from his goal. The exile now turned to the Etruscan city of Clusium for help. There, he managed to convince their king, Lars Porsena, that now was the time to strike a bloodied Rome. Thus, in 508 BC, the armies of Clusium marched the roughly 150 kilometers south to put down the upstart Republic. The people in Rome were understandably distressed. They had just barely managed to hold off the attack of the two Etruscan cities and now a third and potentially more were on their way. Perhaps it was best to allow the old king back rather than face destruction. Rome's leaders took immediate action to rein in the panic. The Senate lifted all taxes on the lower classes, exempted them from customs duties, and bolstered the grain supply among enacting a number of other emergency actions. This had the intended effect of quelling the populace. Such timing proved fortuitous, as the army of Clusium was now within eyesight of the city. Lars Porsena made his approach from the west, driving off the Roman garrison and seizing the Janiculum Hill. Without pause, he then stormed down towards the city. Our sources differ on how Rome responded. According to Livius, a small group of Romans, possibly the garrison, attempted to stall the advance, while Dionysius and Plutarch state that the consuls came out with their armies to contend the field. In either case, it seems to have been a lost cause, as their resistance was swept aside. The Romans fell into a full retreat, desperately swarming across the ponds suplicious back to their fortifications. However, the Etruscans were hot on their heels. If they made the crossing, momentum of the battle might even carry them through the very gates of the city. It is at this moment that a brave junior officer, Publius Horatius Cocles, turned about to stand his ground. His courage shamed two Roman commanders, who now joined him to hold the crossing. Here is how Dionysius describes the event, quote, These three men, then all alone, with their backs to the bridge, barred the passage of the enemy for a considerable time and stood their ground, though pelted by many foes with all sorts of missiles, and struck with their swords in hand-to-hand combat, till the whole army had crossed the river. When they judged their own men to be safe, two of them, Herminius and Larcius, their defensive arms being now rendered useless by the continual blows they had received, began to retreat gradually. But Horatius alone remained where he had first taken his stand and directed Herminius and Larcius to tell the consuls to cut away the bridge in all haste at the end next to the city and to bid them, when the greater part of the bridge had been broken down and little of it remained, to give him notice of it by some signals or by shouting in a louder voice than usual. The rest, he said, would be his concern. Having given these instructions to the two men, he stood upon the bridge itself, and when the enemy advanced upon him, he struck down some of them with his sword and beat down others with his shield, repulsing all who attempted to rush the bridge. For the pursuers, looking upon him as a madman who was courting death, dared no longer come to grips with him. At the same time, it was not easy for them to even come near him, since they had the river as a defense on the right and left, and in front of him a heap of arms and dead bodies. But standing massed at a distance, they hurled spears, javelins, and large stones at him, and those who were not supplied with these threw the swords and bucklers of the slain. But he fought on, making use of their own weapons against them, and hurling these into the crowd, he was bound, as may well be supposed, to find some mark every time. Finally, when he was overwhelmed with missiles and had a great number of wounds in many parts of his body, and one in particular inflicted by a spear which, passing straight through one of his buttocks above the hip joint, weakened him with the pain and impeded his steps, he heard those behind him shouting out that the greater part of the bridge was broken down. Thereupon, he leaped with his arms into the river, and swimming across the stream with great difficulty, he emerged upon the shore without having lost any of his arms in swimming. This incredible act saved Rome and earned Horatius everlasting glory. Yet while the city may have been protected, the surrounding countryside was not. The Etruscans, who had been denied their prize, now took out their anger on everything within their reach, laying waste to the lands of the Romans. The next phase of the war evolved into a protracted siege of Rome, with the Etruscans entrenching themselves atop the Janiculian hill. Supply lines into the city by land and river were cut off, slowly strangling the city. Aid was requested from the Latin cities, but refused on account of them not wishing to intervene in what was effectively a civil war. There would be some minor wins by the Roman sorties, but by and large, they could do little to prevent starvation from setting in. This began to erode the defenders. It was said that the servants and malcontents started to abandon the cause, and soon more risk losing their resolve. In this moment, a brave Roman youth by the name of Gaius Musius Scevola approached the Senate with an ambitious plan. He proposed to assassinate the enemy king in a suicide mission. Being given the green light, he then sneaked out of Rome, playing the part of a deserter, and infiltrated the enemy army. According to Livy, it was payday for the Etruscan soldiers who were gathered by a raised platform from which they were being addressed by their leaders. This provided the perfect cover for Gaius to make his stealthy approach through the clamorous crowd. However, upon reaching the front, he was apparently unsure of the identity of his target and ended up stabbing the king's assistant. The youth was immediately seized and dragged before Lars Porsena. Once before his true target, he famously declared, If you think it worth your while, for a struggle in which you must fight for your life, from hour to hour, with an armed foe always at your door. Such is the war we, the Roman youths, declare on you. The king was shocked by the revelation, and immediately ordered the assassin to be flung into the flames unless he revealed the details of the threat. In response, Gaius stated that no such threat to his life would sway him. As proof of his boast, he thrust his hand into the fire, burning it unflinchingly before the astonished onlookers. Lars Porsena was so impressed by the bravery of this young man that he would not only spare his life, but allow him to walk free. In recognition of this gesture of clemency, Gaius offered to reveal the plot, which would otherwise never have been extracted from him through torture. The ingenious lie he divulged went as follows, Quote, We are 300, the foremost youths of Rome, who have conspired to assail you in this fashion. I drew the first lot. The others, in whatever order it falls to them, will attack you, each at his own time, until fortune shall have delivered you into our hands. The scale of what was alleged, coupled with the extreme example set by this first of supposedly countless assassins, proved to be too much for King Porsena. According to most of our ancient accounts, he soon sent envoys to Rome to open peace negotiations. Even after being taken to the brink of defeat, the Senate refused to budge on any reconciliation with Tarquin the Proud. Yet a deal was ultimately struck to agree to the withdrawal of Porsena's army in exchange for a return of Etruscan lands lost in recent wars, and the transfer of hostages as an insurance of good behavior. Thus it was that the greatest threat to haunt the infant Republic was defeated, thanks to the brave actions of Horatius upon the Bridge and Gaius Mucius the Assassin. I hope you've enjoyed this look at one of my favorite tales from Rome's early history. While it's an awesome story to bring to life, please do keep in mind that many of the accounts from this era are studded with exaggeration and mythology. Nonetheless, the stories of what happened would echo through the ages and be remembered and hearkened back to by future Romans in their times of greatest peril. A huge thanks to the researchers, writers, and artists who made this video possible, and to the patrons for funding the channel. Be sure to like and subscribe for more content, and check out these related videos. See you in the next one.