Draft:Battle of Antemnae

• Comment: Already on mainspace. See Battle of Antemnae ANU^writes 18:18, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

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Battle of Antemnae
Map of Antemnae
Date 753 BCE Location Antemnae, Latium Result Roman Victory
Belligerents
Roman Kingdom	Antemnae
Commanders and leaders
Romulus	Unknown

The Battle of Antemnae was an battle during the 8th century BCE, where the victorious king Romulus of Rome attacked and sacked the city of Antemnae, in retaliation for an invasion.

Background

Romulus and Remus

Main article: Romulus and Remus

A fresco from Pompeii depicting the foundation of Rome. Sol riding in his chariot; Mars descending from the sky to Rhea Silvia lying in the grass; Mercury shows to Venus the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god Tiberinus and water-goddess Juturna. 35–45 AD.

Romulus and Remus are the grandsons of Numitor, the king of Alba Longa. After Numitor is deposed by his brother Amulius and his daughter Rhea Silvia is forced to become a Vestal virgin, she becomes pregnant – allegedly raped by the war god Mars – and delivers the two illegitimate brothers. Amulius orders that the children be left to die on the slopes of the Palatine or in the Tiber River, but they are suckled by a she-wolf at the Lupercal and then discovered by the shepherd Faustulus and taken in by him and his wife Acca Larentia. (Livy combines Larentia and the she-wolf, considering them most likely to have referred to a prostitute, also known in Latin slang as a lupa or she-wolf.) Faustulus eventually reveals the brothers' true origins, and they defeated and killed Amulius to restore Numitor to his throne.

Founding of Rome

Main article: Founding of Rome

A fresco from Pompeii depicting the foundation of Rome. Sol riding in his chariot; Mars descending from the sky to Rhea Silvia lying in the grass; Mercury shows to Venus the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god Tiberinus and water-goddess Juturna. 35–45 AD.

The Brothers leave to establish a new city at the location where they had been rescued.

The twins then come into conflict during the foundation of the city, leading to the murder of Remus. The dispute is variously said to have been over the naming of the new city, over the interpretation of auguries, whether to place it on the Palatine or Avernine Hill, or concerned with Remus's disrespect of the new town's ritual furrow or wall. Some accounts say Romulus slays his brother with his own hand, others that Remus and sometimes Faustulus are killed in a general melee. Wiseman and some others attribute the aspects of fratricide to the 4th-century BC Conflict of the Orders, when Rome's lower-class plebeians began to resist excesses by the upper-class patricians.

Romulus, after ritualistically ploughing the generally square course of the city's future boundary, erects its first walls and declares the settlement an asylum for exiles, criminals, and runaway slaves. The city becomes larger but also acquires a mostly male population. A coalition of Latin and Sabine cities was created, consisting of Crustumini, Antemnates, king Acron of Caenina, and king Titus Tatius of Cures, who was worried about roman expansion.

Rape of the Sabine Woman

Main article: Rape of the Sabine Woman

With Rome growing at such a steady rate in comparison to its neighbors, Romulus became concerned with maintaining the city's strength. His main concern was that with few women inhabitants there would be no chance of sustaining the city's population, without which Rome might not last longer than a generation. On the advice of the Senate, the Romans then set out into the surrounding regions in search of wives to establish families with. The Romans negotiated unsuccessfully with all the peoples that they appealed to, including the Sabines, who populated the neighboring areas. The Sabines feared the emergence of a rival society and refused to allow their women to marry the Romans. Consequently, the Romans devised a plan to abduct the Sabine women during the festival of Neptune Equester. They planned and announced a festival of games to attract people from all the nearby towns. According to Livy, many people from Rome's neighboring towns – including Caeninenses, Crustumini, and Antemnates – attended the festival along with the Sabines, eager to see the newly established city for themselves. At the festival, Romulus gave a signal by "rising and folding his cloak and then throwing it round him again," at which the Romans grabbed the Sabine women and fought off the Sabine men. Livy does not report how many women were abducted by the Romans at the festival, he only notes that it was undoubtedly many more than thirty. All of the women abducted at the festival were said to have been virgins except for one married woman, Hersilia, who became Romulus' wife and would later be the one to intervene and stop the ensuing war between the Romans and the Sabines. The indignant abductees were soon implored by Romulus to accept the Roman men as their new husbands.

War Between Rome and Caenina

Main article: Battle of Rome (753 BC)

Main article: Battle of Caenina

Outraged at what had happened, the king of the Caeninenses, Acron entered upon Roman territory with his army. Acron dispatched raiding parties to lay waste and devastate the Roman country side. The Caeninenses began destroying and seizing crops, livestock, and other valuables, and razed several farmhouses. Acron's strategy was to prevent Rome's agricultural production from supporting Romulus' war effort, and he hoped that the Romans would stay behind their defensive walls, or to draw Romulus into a pitched battle, where he held the advantage in numbers.

Romulus, and his scouts observed Acron's raiding parties, and noticed how dispersed and spread out they were. Romulus reacted decisively, and led his men out, and fell upon the pillagers. The raiders were shocked by the Roman's sudden appearance, and they quickly routed suffering heavy casualties. Acron made another tactical blunder by either leaving his men too spread-out, or with an insufficient number of men to defend the camp. Romulus learned of this, and marched to the cantonment, and attacked with ferocity. The Caeninenses fought desperately, but were outnumbered, and the camp fell with relative ease.

defeat of Acron, by Romulus

Acron decided on directly confronting Romulus, and drew up his army, challenging him to open battle, to which Romulus responded in a kind. The two kings, decided upon single combat. Prior to the duel, Romulus pledged an oath to Jupiter, vowing to that if he won, he would donate Acron's armor to the gods. The two kings approached one another, and the fight began. The duel was a hard fought, but Romulus won the duel, and killed Acron. To add further insult to injury, Romulus stripped Acron's expensive and ornate armor in full view of the Caeninensian army. Romulus then returned to his line, before ordering a charge against the Caeninense army, and utterly crushed them, and very few escaped.

Following his victory at Rome, Romulus marched to Caenina to sack the city, and found that the townsfolk were unaware of the defeat and death of Acron. There was few sentries guarding the walls, and the gate wasn't barred. Romulus, immediately ordered his men to breach the town, and managed to force their way into Caenina in only one attempt, and within hours, Romulus gained complete mastery of Caenina. Romulus finished securing the city, and setting up guard post, before announcing that he intended to inflict no physical harm upon the people. Romulus's peace terms forced the Caeninenses to relinquish their weapons and many of the remaining adults would be forced to relocate to Rome, where they would become Roman citizens. The Caeninenses were forced to handoff a number of children, to serve as hostages, and the majority of Caenina was destroyed, including the walls and gate. Romulus forced the Caeninenses to do the razing themselves. Romulus looted everything of value, before handing out the spoils to his men.

War Between Rome and Antemnae

Main article: Second Battle of Rome (753 BC)

While, Romulus was preoccupied with Caenina, the Antemnate king invaded roman territory. The Antemnates, make the same mistake as Caenina, as they divided their troops into small parties, and were ordered to destroy the Romans' crops. The Antemnates may have seized the elements, but by not acting deliberately. Instead of attacking Romulus in Caenina or besieging Rome, they plundered and ravaged the countryside, which quickly resulted in Romulus being notified of the invasion. Romulus immediately left Caenina with his legionaries (fought as a phalanx instead of how they would centuries later), and prepared to meet his enemy.

The Antemnates were spread out, and unprepared for Romulus's counterattack, and were practically defenseless against organized attacks. Romulus's men fell upon the raiders, and indiscriminately cut down many enemy soldiers, and captured even more, while the remainder fled back to Antemnae.

Battle and Sack

Following the battle Romulus would march north to sack Antemnate. After their defeat, the Antemnate's were now an easy target, and once he arrived, he ordered his men to storm the town. The romans burst through the fortifications, and captured the city with little resistance.

Antemnate suffered the same fate as Caenina in Romulus's peace treaty, and including surrendering weapons and hostages. Antemnate and Caenina would become the first roman colonies.

Aftermath

The Crustumini too invaded, but they too were defeated and their town was captured.

The Sabines themselves finally declared war, led into battle by their king, Titus Tatius. Tatius almost succeeded in capturing Rome, thanks to the treason of Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, Roman governor of the citadel on the Capitoline Hill. She opened the city gates for the Sabines in return for "what they bore on their arms", thinking she would receive their golden bracelets. Instead, the Sabines crushed her to death with their shields, and her body was buried on or thrown from a rock known ever since by her name, the Tarpeian Rock.

The Romans attacked the Sabines who now held the citadel, in what would become known as the Battle of the Lacus Curtius. The Roman advance was led by Hostus Hostilius, the Sabine defense by Mettus Curtius. Hostus fell in battle, and the Roman line gave way. The Romans retreated to the gate of the Palatium. Romulus rallied his men, promising to build a temple to the Roman God Jove on the site. He then led them back into battle. Mettus Curtius was unhorsed and fled on foot, and the Romans appeared to be winning.

The battle came to an end, and the Sabines agreed to unite in one nation with the Romans. Titus Tatius jointly ruled with Romulus until Tatius's death five years later.

Bibliography

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• Lomas, Kathryn (2018). The Rise of Rome: from the Iron Age to the Punic Wars. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674659650. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
• Forsythe, Gary (2005). A Critical History of Early Rome: from Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520249912. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt1ppxrv. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
• Livius, Titus (1853). The History of Rome, Books 1 to 8. Translated by D. Spillan. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
• Plutarch (December 8, 2015). Plutarch's Lives: Life of Romulus. Translated by John Dryden. CreateSpace Independent. ISBN 978-1519653369. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1950). William Thayer (ed.). Roman Antiquities. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Ernest Cary. Cambridge, Chicago: Harvard University, University of Chicago. ISBN 0-674-99352-7. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
• Florus (January 1, 1929). Epitome of Roman History. Translated by E. S. Forster. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674992542. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
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