#558 Etruscan Escapades

 Fun Fact #558

Etruscan Escapades

In the time of Kings (600B.C.), lands of Latium were invaded by the Etruscans who installed Tarquinius Priscus as King over the region. He began his despotic rule by draining the marshes, and improving the forum (Political and commercial center of the city). His 6 successive heirs also did great works such as “Tarquin The Proud” who bought books and records for the sentarum to learn how to better govern, or Tarquinias Superbus who made the “Cloaca Maxima” which used the runoff from the marshes to form a creek and move waste away from the city: Inventing the first recorded Sewer system which is still in use to this day more than 2,500 years later (it's been upgraded several times over). Interestingly this led to the creation of a Latin “god” of the Sewers named Cloaca. …. Let's be honest, being Priest of the Poop has got to be one of the least sought after Jobs on the planet, which is why it's amazing that it was one of the few Italian deities to have followers until the late 1800s. 

Still this city was on the rise, but in 510 B.C. that was soon about to change and the Etruscans would soon see their plans for Mediterranean domination float down Cloaca Creek without a paddle. 

Welcome To the History of The Roman Empire.

View of The Cloacina as it appeared in 1814. Painted in oils by Christopher Eilhelm Ekersberg.