Summary

Many details about the fall of the monarchy and the emergence of the Republic are unknown, including how violent the conflict was and how the office of consul came to emerge and be defined. The earliest known use of the word "consul" dates from two hundred years later, from the tomb of a man named Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, who was consul in 298 BCE. The exploits of the Scipio family, often recorded in their family mausoleum, provide much of the detail for the next section of the narrative. The details of Barbatus' epitaph point to the importance of warfare and the military expansion of Rome at the time. By this period, Rome was no longer an ordinary settlement: it was a major urban center that controlled much of the surrounding area. In the intervening years, various events occurred to create...