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There were seven traditional Kings of Rome before the establishment of the
Roman Republic. They were, according to the writings of Livy:
The earliest kings and dates may well be mythical.
Rome was, according to tradition, founded in 753
BC by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of the mortal woman
Rhea Silvia and the god Mars, and raised by a female wolf. They were also descendants of Aeneas and the Trojan refugees whose story Virgil later told in his epic poem the Aeneid. Romulus killed Remus, and became the first king of Rome (see founding of Rome). Most of the succeeding six kings had Etruscan names, suggesting that members of the mature Etruscan civilization to the north of Rome dominated the
city.
The last king was thrown out by the citizens and replaced by a republican government. The expulsion of the king and the
founding of the Republic in 509
BC is sometimes presented as the breaking away of a Latin-speaking population from
the control of an Etruscan ruling family.
See also
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