History of Ancient Rome > Kings of Rome
The Regal Period means the time of the kings, an era mired in legends with only bits and pieces of information deemed factual. Rule over the land and people was by kings, although these were not like the despots of Europe or the East. A group of the people known as the curia elected the king, so the position wasn't hereditary. There was also a senate of elders who advised the kings. This was when the Roman identity was forged, when the descendants of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas, a son of the goddess Venus, married, after forcibly abducting, their neighbors, the Sabine women. It was in this period that other neighbors, including the mysterious Etruscans sometimes wore the Roman crown. In the end, the Romans decided they were better off with Roman rule, and even that, preferably not concentrated in the hands of any single individual.
Rome Era-by-Era Timeline
1. Kings - Regal Period of Ancient Rome
2. Republican Rome
3. Imperial Rome and the Roman Empire
4. Byzantine Empire
Photo: A portion of the Servian wall of Rome, near Temini railway station. CC Flickr User Panairjdde
