Servius Tullius

/serr"vee euhs tul"ee euhs/

the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome who built the city walls and whose accession to the throne was prophesied by and secured with the help of Tanaquil, the widow of the previous king: assassinated by his daughter Tullia and her husband Tarquin.

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▪ king of Rome

flourished 578–535 BC

      traditionally the sixth king of Rome, who is credited with the Servian Constitution, which divided citizens into five classes according to wealth. This attribution may be a reading back into the uncertain past of reforms that were not effected until a much later date. He is also credited, probably incorrectly, with introducing silver and bronze coinage.

      According to one tradition, Servius was Etruscan, but other versions suggest that he was Latin. He founded the earliest and most important shrine of the Latin deity Diana on the Aventine Hill. A crucial treaty between Rome and the Latin League is also assigned to his reign. Two levels of the shrine excavated at the Church of Saint Omobono date from the time of Servius. The Servian Wall surrounding Rome, ascribed to this period, dates, however, from the 4th century BC.

      In legend he was born a slave in the household of the fifth (traditional) king, Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin), whose daughter he married and whom he succeeded by the contrivance of his mother-in-law, Tanaquil, who had prophetic powers and saw his greatness. The emperor Claudius (reigned AD 41–54), who was an Etruscan historian, said that Servius was an Etruscan interloper named Mastarna. Servius was eventually killed by his daughter and her husband, the seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin).

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