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Life in the Roman Army and the Realities of Rome

Khalid Elhassan November 19, 2021 37 min

Octavian and Mark Antony oversee the proscription of the optimates in 43 BC. Alamy

25. The Roman Republic’s Founder

Lucius Junius Brutus (flourished 6th century BC) was the legendary founder of the Roman Republic. He was also the ancestor of Marcus Junius Brutus who assassinated Julius Caesar, the dictator who ended the Republic. This early Brutus organized and led a rebellion that ousted Rome’s last monarch, after which Brutus was elected to the new republic’s first consulship – Rome’s highest office. Rome had been ruled by kings until 509 BC when the king’s son Sextus Tarquinius assaulted a noblewoman named Lucretia.

Tradition has it that to preserve the family’s honor, Lucretia told all to family members and gathered Romans, then stabbed herself to death. Until then, Brutus, a nephew of the king, had given little sign of potential greatness – Brutus is Latin for “Dullard”. He had his own grievances against the king, who had executed Brutus’ brother, and it is possible that he acted the dimwit to avert his uncle’s suspicions. Whatever the case, as seen below, that all changed on the day of Lucretia’s death.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.