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Servius Tullius - The sixth King of Rome

2021-05-25 Tue

Servius Tullius, traditionally the sixth king of Rome, is credited with the Servian Constitution, which divided citizens into five classes according to wealth. He is also credited, probably incorrectly, with introducing silver and bronze coinage.

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. Servius was a popular king, and one of Rome's most significant benefactors. He had military successes against Veii and the Etruscans and expanded the city to include the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline hills. He is traditionally credited with the institution of the Compitalia festivals, the building of temples to Fortuna and Diana, and, less plausibly, the invention of Rome's first true coinage.

Some Roman historians believed Servius Tullius responsible for Rome's earliest true, minted coinage, replacing an earlier and less convenient currency of raw bullion. Servius was eventually killed by his daughter and her husband, the seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org