509 BC

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus

Expulsion of Tarquin the Proud from Rome

Brutus and Tarquin travelled by different roads. One reached the army and won it over; the other reached a city that would no longer let him in.

The oath at Collatia

Rome's last king is dated out of power in 510 or 509 BCE, depending on which chronology is used. In Livy's traditional narrative, Lucretia's suicide after her rape by Sextus Tarquinius prompted Lucius Junius Brutus, Collatinus, Lucretius and Valerius to swear that they would drive out Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and tolerate no future king at Rome. The revolt begins, in Livy's telling, with the bloodied knife drawn from her wound.

Brutus carried her body into the forum at Collatia, led armed supporters to Rome, addressed the people as tribune of the celeres, and persuaded the assembled multitude to strip Tarquin of his authority and banish him with his wife and children.

Locked gates and a lost army

Tarquin hurried from the Roman camp at Ardea to Rome, and found the gates closed and his exile already decreed. Meanwhile Brutus reached Ardea, where the army accepted him and expelled the king's sons.

Tarquin and two of his sons went into Etruscan exile at Caere; Tullia fled Rome during the revolt, and Sextus fled separately to Gabii, where Livy says enemies later killed him.

What the year is worth

The listed 510 BCE is one traditional chronology among several. 509 BCE is the customary Varronian date, 507 also appears, and no precise date can be established from contemporary evidence; tradition gives Tarquin a reign of 25 years.

Livy wrote roughly five centuries after the supposed events. The names and the basic end of kingship may preserve historical material, but the Lucretia narrative, the speeches and the single dramatic revolution cannot be independently verified.

The exclusion from Rome also did not end Tarquin's attempts to regain power; those belong to later events.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources 2 audit passes Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. Conventionally dated here; the research places it at -0509.

What the sources leave uncertain

509 BCE is the customary Varronian date, but 510 and 507 BCE appear in other chronologies. No precise date can be established independently from contemporary evidence.
Livy wrote roughly five centuries after the supposed event. The names and basic end of kingship may preserve historical material, but the Lucretia narrative, speeches, and single dramatic revolution cannot be independently verified.
The later title “consul” may be anachronistic for the first chief magistrates, who may originally have been called praetors.