Named after a noble but enslaved mother (servus ) of Tanaquil, wife of King Tarquin the Elder, Servius Tullius was the sixth king of Rome. According to the legend told by Livy, flames haloed the head of the child sleeping in his cradle. From then on, Tanaquil persuaded her husband to raise the slave's son as his son. Following the assassination of Tarquin the Elder, who had become his father-in-law through his marriage, Servius Tullius was the first king to seize power without consulting the people (-578). Conqueror, he enlarged Rome, built and defined the first economic, administrative and military institutions.
He would have created the first Roman currency and counted the citizens by distributing them according to their category of wealth. This differentiation will later give rise to the tax system (cens:tax based on wealth), distinguishing five classes of citizens divided into centuries. The king divides the city into four tribes:Palatine, Suburan, Hill and Esquiline, each being ruled by a tribune. The reign of Servius Tullius ends as it began:with an assassination. His successor is none other than the author of the mischief:Tarquin the Superb, son of the Elder.
VI e century BC. J.-C. - 535 BC.
Status
Head of State
King of Rome