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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.75.1-1.75.4

Regnal Years of the Kings and Rome's Foundation Date

Passage 75 of 962 · Greek

Summary

The author presents the regnal years of the Roman kings starting from Romulus, and calculates based on this that the founding of Rome occurred in the first year of the seventh Olympiad.

§1.75.1καὶ μὴν ἀπό γε τῆς ἐκβολῆς τῶν βασιλέων ἐπὶ τὸν πρῶτον ἄρξαντα τῆς πόλεως Ῥωμύλον ἀναβιβασθεὶς ὁ χρόνος ἔτη τέτταρα πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα καὶ διακοσίοις ἀποτελεῖ.
Indeed, the time being traced back from the expulsion of the kings to Romulus, who first ruled the city, amounts to two hundred and forty-four years.
γνωρίζεται δὲ τοῦτο ταῖς διαδοχαῖς τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τοῖς ἔτεσιν, οἷς ἕκαστοι κατέσχον τὴν ἀρχήν.
This is confirmed by the successions of the kings and the years for which each of them held the power.
Ῥωμύλος μὲν γὰρ ὁ κτίσας τὴν πόλιν ἑπτὰ καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη λέγεται κατασχεῖν τὴν δυναστείαν· μετὰ δὲ τὸν Ῥωμύλου θάνατον ἀβασίλευτος ἡ πόλις γενέσθαι χρόνον ἐνιαύσιον.
For Romulus, who founded the city, is said to have held the sovereign power for thirty-seven years; and after the death of Romulus, the city was without a king for the space of a year.
§1.75.2ἔπειτα Νόμας Πομπίλιος αἱρεθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τρία καὶ τετταράκοντα ἔτη βασιλεῦσαι. Τύλλος δὲ Ὁστίλιος μετὰ Νόμαν δύο καὶ τριάκοντα. ὁ δʼ ἐπὶ τούτῳ βασιλεύσας Ἄγκος Μάρκιος τέτταρα πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι. μετὰ δὲ Μάρκιον Λεύκιος Ταρκύνιος ὁ κληθεὶς Πρίσκος ὀκτὼ καὶ τριάκοντα. τοῦτον δὲ διαδεξάμενος Σερούϊος Τύλλιος τετταράκοντα καὶ τέτταρα. ὁ Σερούϊον δὲ ἀνελὼν Λεύκιος Ταρκύνιος ὁ τυραννικὸς καὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ δικαίου ὑπεροψίαν κληθεὶς Σούπερβος ἕως εἰκοστοῦ καὶ πέμπτου προαγαγεῖν τὴν ἀρχήν.
Then Numa Pompilius, having been elected by the people, is said to have reigned for forty-three years; Tullus Hostilius, after Numa, for thirty-two; Ancus Marcius, who reigned after him, for twenty-four; and after Marcius, Lucius Tarquinius, who was called Priscus, for thirty-eight; and Servius Tullius, succeeding him, for forty-four; and Lucius Tarquinius, who killed Servius, and who because of his contempt for justice was called Superbus, is said to have extended his reign to the twenty-fifth year.
§1.75.3τεττάρων δὲ καὶ τετταράκοντα καὶ διακοσίων ἀναπληρουμένων ἐτῶν, ἃ κατέσχον οἱ βασιλεῖς, ὀλυμπιάδων δὲ μιᾶς καὶ ἑξήκοντα πᾶσα ἀνάγκη τὸν πρῶτον ἄρξαντα τῆς πόλεως Ῥωμύλον ἔτει πρώτῳ τῆς ἑβδόμης ὀλυμπιάδος παρειληφέναι τὴν βασιλείαν ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι τῆς δεκαετίας Χάροπας ἔτος πρῶτον.
Since two hundred and forty-four years, which the kings held, are completed, which is sixty-one Olympiads, it is an absolute necessity that Romulus, who first ruled the city, received the kingship in the first year of the seventh Olympiad, in the first year of Charops being archon of the decennial term at Athens.
τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ λογισμὸς τῶν ἐτῶν ἀπαιτεῖ.
For this the calculation of the years requires.
ὅτι δὲ τοσαῦτα ἕκαστος τῶν βασιλέων ἦρξεν ἔτη διʼ ἐκείνου δηλοῦταί μοι τοῦ λόγου.
That each of the kings ruled for so many years has been shown by me in that book.
§1.75.4τὰ μὲν δὴ περὶ τοῦ χρόνου καθʼ ὃν ἡ νῦν δυναστεύουσα πόλις ᾠκίσθη τοῖς τε πρὸ ἐμοῦ γενομένοις εἰρημένα κἀμοὶ δοκοῦντα τοιάδʼ ἐστιν.
Now these are the things concerning the time at which the city that now rules was founded, both as stated by my predecessors and as they appear to me.
οἰκισταὶ δʼ αὐτῆς οἵτινες ἦσαν καὶ τίσι τύχαις χρησάμενοι τὴν ἀποικίαν ἔστειλαν ὅσα τε ἄλλα περὶ τὴν κτίσιν ταύτην ἱστόρηται πολλοῖς μὲν εἴρηται καὶ διαφόρως τὰ πλεῖστα ἐνίοις, λεχθήσεται δὲ κἀμοὶ τὰ πιθανώτατα τῶν μνημονευομένων.
But who its founders were, and by what fortunes they sent out the colony, and whatever else has been recorded concerning this founding, have been told by many, and for the most part very differently by some, but those of the traditions which are most plausible shall be told by me as well.
ἔχει δὲ ὧδε·
And it is as follows:

Notes

  1. 1.75.1Ῥωμύλος μὲν γὰρ ὁ κτίσας τὴν πόλιν ἑπτὰ καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη λέγεται κατασχεῖν τὴν δυναστείαν· μετὰ δὲ τὸν Ῥωμύλου θάνατον ἀβασίλευτος ἡ πόλις γενέσθαι χρόνον ἐνιαύσιον. — While 'Ῥωμύλος' is in the nominative case as the subject of 'λέγεται' (nominative with infinitive construction), the second clause 'μετὰ δὲ...' transitions into an accusative with infinitive construction, where 'ἡ πόλις' is the accusative subject of the infinitive 'γενέσθαι', both clauses still depending on 'λέγεται'. This shift from a personal to an impersonal construction is common in classical Greek prose.
  2. 1.75.2ἕως εἰκοστοῦ καὶ πέμπτου προαγαγεῖν τὴν ἀρχήν — The verb 'προάγω' (to advance, prolong) is used here with 'τὴν ἀρχήν' (the rule) to mean 'prolonged his rule to the twenty-fifth year', meaning he reigned for twenty-five years. It marks the terminal limit of his reign within the calculation.
  3. 1.75.3ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι τῆς δεκαετίας Χάροπας — An absolute genitive construction meaning 'when Charops was archon of the decennial term at Athens'. 'τῆς δεκαετίας' (of the ten-year period) is a genitive specifying the nature of the archonship at the time, which had changed from a lifelong to a ten-year term.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.75.1-1.75.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.75.1-1.75.4

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