Biography of Numa Pompilius, Roman King

Biography of Numa Pompilius, Roman King Numa Pompilius (c. 753–673 BCE) was the second king of Rome. He is credited with establishing a number of notable institutions, including the temple of Janus. Numas predecessor was Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome. Fast Facts: Numa Pompilius Known For: According to legend, Numa was the second king of Rome.Born: c. 753 BCEDied: c. 673 BCE Early Life According to ancient scholars, Numa Pompilius was born on the very day that Rome was founded- April 21, 753 BCE. Little else is known about his early life. Some 37 years after the founding of Rome, Romulus- the kingdoms first ruler- disappeared in a thunderstorm. The patricians, the Roman nobility, were suspected of having murdered him until Julius Proculus informed the people that he had had a vision of Romulus, who said that he had been taken up to join the gods and was to be worshiped under the name Quirinus. Rise to Power There was considerable unrest between the original Romans and the Sabines- who had joined them after the city was founded- over who would be the next king. For the time being, it was arranged that the senators should each rule with the kings powers for a period of 12 hours until some more permanent solution could be found. Eventually, they decided that the Romans and Sabines should each elect a king from the other group, i.e., the Romans would elect a Sabine and the Sabines a Roman. The Romans were to choose first, and their choice was the Sabine Numa Pompilius. The Sabines agreed to accept Numa as the king without bothering to elect anyone else, and a deputation from both Romans and Sabines went off to tell Numa of his election. Numa did not even live in Rome; he resided in a nearby town called Cures. He was the son-in-law of Tatius, a Sabine who had ruled Rome as joint king with Romulus for a period of five years. After Numas wife died, he had become something of a recluse and was believed to have been taken by a nymph or nature spirit as a lover. When the delegation from Rome came, Numa refused the position of king at first but was later talked into accepting it by his father and Marcius, a relative, and some of the local people from Cures. They argued that left to themselves the Romans would continue to be just as warlike as they had been under Romulus and it would be better if the Romans had a more peace-loving king who could moderate their bellicosity or, if that proved to be impossible, at least direct it away from Cures and the other Sabine communities. Kingship Having agreed to accept the position, Numa left for Rome, where his election as king was confirmed by the people. Before he finally accepted, however, he insisted on watching the sky for a sign in the flight of birds that his kingship would be acceptable to the gods. Numas first act as king was to dismiss the guards Romulus had always kept around. To achieve his aim of making the Romans less bellicose, he diverted the peoples attention by leading religious spetacles- processions and sacrifices- and by terrifying them with accounts of strange sights and sounds, which were supposedly signs from the gods. Numa instituted priests (flamines) of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Romulus under his heavenly name of Quirinus. He also added other orders of priests: the pontifices, the salii, and the fetiales, and the vestals. The pontifices were responsible for public sacrifices and funerals. The salii were responsible for the safety of a shield which had allegedly fallen from the sky and was paraded around the city each year accompanied by the salii dancing in armor. The fetiales were peacemakers. Until they agreed that it was a just war, no war could be declared. Originally Numa instituted two vestals, but he later increased the number to four. The main duty of the vestals, or vestal virgins, was to keep the sacred flame alight and to prepare the mixture of grain and salt used in public sacrifices. Reforms Numa distributed the land conquered by Romulus to poor citizens, hoping that an agricultural way of life would make the Romans more peaceful. He would inspect the farms himself, promoting those whose farms looked well cared for and admonishing those whose farms showed signs of laziness. People still thought of themselves first as original Romans or Sabines, rather than citizens of Rome. To overcome this division, Numa organized the people into guilds based on the occupations of their members. In Romulus time, the calendar had been fixed at 360 days to the year, but the number of days in a month greatly varied. Numa estimated the solar year at 365 days and the lunar year at 354 days. He doubled the difference of eleven days and instituted a leap month of 22 days to come between February and March (which was originally the first month of the year). Numa made January the first month, and he may have added the months of January and February to the calendar as well. The month of January is associated with the god Janus, the doors of whose temple were left open in times of war and closed in times of peace. In Numas reign of 43 years, the doors remained closed, a record for Rome. Death When Numa died at over the age of 80 he left a daughter, Pompilia, who was married to Marcius, the son of the Marcius who had persuaded Numa to accept the throne. Their son, Ancus Marcius, was 5 years old when Numa died, and he later became the fourth king of Rome. Numa was buried under the Janiculum together with his religious books. In 181 BCE, his grave was uncovered in a flood but his coffin was found to be empty. Only the books, which had been buried in a second coffin, remained. They were burnt on the recommendation of the praetor. Legacy Much of the story of Numas life is pure legend. Still, it seems likely that there was a monarchical period in early Rome, with the kings coming from different groups: Romans, Sabines, and Etruscans. It is rather less likely that there were seven kings who reigned in a monarchical period of approximately 250 years. One of the kings may have been a Sabine called Numa Pompilius, though we may doubt that he instituted so many features of the Roman religion and calendar or that his reign was a golden age free from strife and warfare. But that the Romans believed that it was so is a historical fact. The story of Numa was part of the founding myth of Rome. Sources Grandazzi, Alexandre.  The Foundation of Rome: Myth and History. Cornell University Press, 1997.Macgregor, Mary.  The Story of Rome, from the Earliest Times to the Death of Augustus. T. Nelson, 1967.