This is shown well in Coldeel’s animated GIF of the battle above.Īccording to the legend, three Romans turned imminent defeat into success: Spurius Lartius, Titus Herminius Aquilinus, and Publius Horatius Cocles. Animated GIF showing the first battle between Lars Porsenna and Rome at the Sublicius Bridge, in c 508/507 BCE. It looked as if Rome was about to be seized by its enemy after only brief and feeble resistance. They then panicked, and headed for the bridge, where the Etruscans quickly got the better of them. The Romans were lined up ready for battle there, so the larger army of Etruscans drew up their line of battle ready to attack.īy the time that the two Roman commanders had been carried away wounded, the Romans were starting to crumble. It quickly seized the Janiculum, a hill outside the western walls of Rome, and then headed for Rome’s weak point, the Sublicius bridge over the River Tiber, which guarded the eastern edge of the city.
When the army of the Etruscan king Lars Porsena marched on Rome from its base at the city of Clusium, it found the Romans ill-prepared and in disarray. Horatius was an unlikely hero, as they always are. My first is the story of the brave Roman soldier who stood and defended the city of Rome from attack by the Etruscans, fighting single-handed on the Sublicius Bridge: one Roman who personally saved the whole city, Horatius Cocles. But in both cases, they are based on legends which are at least questionable, and quite possibly made up: gloriously fake news, if you like. In this article and the next (tomorrow), I am going to look at two famous stories of ancient Rome, which have been depicted in some magnificent paintings. That is, perhaps, the biggest fake news of all, as news has been notoriously riddled with errors and lies ever since people first started to communicate with one another. It’s easy to get the impression that, until last year, everything which appeared in news media, the press, indeed publications of any kind, was totally factually accurate.
If there is one phrase which epitomises the last year or so, it is fake news.
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