Demaratus the Corinthian
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Demaratus was the father of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome and the grandfather of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king.
[edit] Life
He was a Corinthian nobleman who arrived in Italy from Greece as a refugee in 655 B.C. Demaratus settled in the Etruscan city of Tarquinii and married an Etruscan woman. They had two sons, one being Lucomo (Lucius) and the other being Aruns 2. Aruns died before his father, Demaratus, and left a pregnant wife. Demaratus not knowing he had a future grandchild left nothing for him in his inheritance. His name was Egerius "The Needy One", on account of his poverty since he inherited nothing. Egerius was the father to Tarquinius Collatinus, the husband to Lucretia.
Demaratus original name was Lucumo, however had it changed when he came to Italy as a political refugee and settled in Rome. According to Tacitus, he taught the Etruscans literacy and was known as Demaratus the Corinthian. He was referred to as Tarquin the Elder and his son Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the Proud.
When Demaratus migrated to Western mainland Italy, he took all of his wealth and introduced Greek culture and Greek pottery. He supposedly brought potters with him from Corinth. These potters were responsible for the development of Greek pottery in Western mainland Italy. There were Greek potters in Tarquinii and in the Greek trading post of Gravisca. According to the Greek traveller Pausanias, it was either his son or grandson who was the first foreigner to visit Olympia and make a dedication.
[edit] External Links
[edit] Sources
- Pausanias, Guide to Greece, tr. P. Levi, Penguin, 1979.
- Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, tr. M. Grant, Penguin, 1996.
- Morkot, R., The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece, Penguin, 1996.
