Demaratus was a nobleman of
the House of Bacchus at Corinth. Facing charges of sedition, in
655 BC he fled to Italy, according to tradition settling in the Etruscan city
of Tarquinii, where he married an Etruscan noblewoman. They had two sons,
Lucius and Arruns.
According to tradition,
Demaratus introduced Greek culture to mainland Italy, and brought
potters from Corinth; Greek potters worked at Tarquinii and its port, Gravisca.
Tacitus reported that Demaratus brought literacy to the Etruscans.
Through his sons, Demaratus
was the ancestor of the Roman gens Tarquinia. Arruns Tarquinius died
shortly before his father, leaving his wife pregnant. As Demaratus knew nothing
of his future grandson, he left him no inheritance. For this reason the
child, likewise named Arruns, was born into poverty, and called Egerius,
meaning "the needy one."
As the son of a foreigner,
Lucius Tarquinius was unable to attain high station at Tarquinii, despite his
wealth and the nobility of both his mother and his wife, Tanaquil.
With Tanaquil's encouragement, he migrated to Rome, where he won the favour of
the king, Ancus Marcius. When Marcius died, Tarquin succeeded him to the
throne.
Lucius Tarquinius was the
father or grandfather of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King
of Rome. He was also the father-in-law of Servius Tullius, the sixth King
of Rome, who reigned between the two Tarquins.
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