Lucretia

Lucretia

Lucretia is a legendary figure in the history of the Roman Republic. Her husband was Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, and her brother was Lucius Junius Brutus. According to Roman mythology her rape and consequent suicide were the cause for the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Roman republic.

According to the version of Livy, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus ("superbus," "the proud") the last king of Rome, had a violent son, Sextus Tarquinius, who in 509 BC raped a Roman noblewoman named Lucretia. [ [http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/RomanLinks/republic.htm Lucretia raped!] ] Lucretia compelled her family to take action by gathering her kinsmen, telling them what happened, and then killing herself. [ [http://www.geocities.com/mskochin/publishedpapers/postmetaphys2.pdf Lucretia's rape] ]

Her brother Lucius Junius Brutus incited the people of Rome against the royal family by displaying her body. They were impelled to avenge her, and Brutus led an uprising that drove the Tarquins out of Rome to take refuge in Etruria. The result was the replacement of the monarchy with the new republic. Among the avengers was also her husband Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. In the end Lucretia's brother and her husband became the first consuls of Rome. [ [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Lucretia2.html Lucretia 2 genealogy] ]

St. Augustine made use of the figure of Lucretia in "The City of God" to defend the honour of Christian women who had been raped in the sack of Rome and had not committed suicide.

In the arts

The suicide of Lucretia has been an enduring subject for visual artists, including Titian, Rembrandt, Dürer, Raphael, Botticelli, Jörg Breu the Elder, Johannes Moreelse, Gentileschi, Damià Campeny and others.

The story of Lucretia was a popular moral tale in the later Middle Ages. The story has been recounted in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Legend of Good Women", John Gower's "Confessio Amantis" (Book VII), and John Lydgate's "Fall of Princes". Lucrece is also featured in William Shakespeare's 1594 long poem "The Rape of Lucrece"; he also mentioned her in "Titus Andronicus" and "As You Like It".

She is also mentioned in the play Appius and Virginia by John Webster and Thomas Heywood, which includes the following lines:

:Two ladies fair, but most unfortunate:Have in their ruins rais'd declining Rome,:Lucretia and Virginia, both renowned:For chastity

Thomas Heywood's play "The Rape of Lucrece" dates from 1607. The subject also enjoyed a revival in the mid twentieth century; "Le Viol de Lucrèce" was a 1931 play by André Obey and "The Rape of Lucretia", a 1946 opera by Benjamin Britten. Ernst Krenek set Emmet Lavery's libretto Tarquin (1940), a version in a contemporary setting.

Lucretia appears to Dante in the section of Limbo reserved to the nobles of Rome and other "virtuous pagans" in Canto IV of the Inferno.

Christine de Pizan used Lucretia just as St. Augustine of Hippo did in her City of Ladies, defending a womans sanctity.

In Samuel Richardson's 1740 novel "Pamela", Mr. B. cites the story of Lucretia as a reason why Pamela ought not fear for her reputation, should he rape her. Pamela quickly sets him straight with a better reading of the story."'

Colonial Mexican poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz also mentions "Lucrecia" in her poem "Redondillas", a commentary on prostitution and who is to blame.

Notes

References

* [http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/ROME/RAPE.HTM The Rape of Lucretia] , by Livy, "Ab urbe condita libri" I. 57 - 60.

External links

* [http://www.charlise.com/lucretia.html Various works depicting the rape and suicide of Lucretia]
* [http://www.artsmia.org/viewer/detail.php?v=12&id=529 Rembrandt's Lucretia]


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  • Lucretia — Lucretia. Ein König versündigte sich an der Gattentreue, an der Keuschheit Lucretia s, und an diese Versündigung kettete sich der Sturz eines Königthums. Der laute Wehruf der geschändeten Tugend erschütterte einen Thron, die Verletzung der… …   Damen Conversations Lexikon

  • Lucretia — Lucretia,   römischer Mythos: die Frau des Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, die von Sextus Tarquinius, dem Sohn des römischen Königs Tarquinius Superbus, entehrt wurde, worauf sie sich im Beisein ihrer Angehörigen das Leben nahm. Nach legendärer… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • LUCRETIA — Romanae pudicitiae lumen praecipuum, filia Lucretii Tricipitini praefecti urbis, uxor Tarquinii Collatini, quam Sextus. Tarquinius cum precibus exorare non posset, vi oppressit. Stricto enim gladio in cubiculum irruens, mortem minabatur, ni… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Lucretia — {{Lucretia}} Frau des Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, der während eines Feldzugs derart von ihren Vorzügen schwärmte, daß der Prinz Sextus Tarquinius und andere Adlige, die so viel Tugend unglaublich fanden, einen Beweis verlangten. Collatinus ritt …   Who's who in der antiken Mythologie

  • Lucretia — f Feminine form of the Roman family name Lucretius, which is of unknown derivation. In Roman legend, this is the name of a Roman maiden of the 5th century BC who killed herself after being raped by the King of Rome; the resulting scandal led to… …   First names dictionary

  • Lucretia — fem. proper name, from L. Lucretia (Cf. Fr. Lucrèce), fem. of Lucretius, Roman masc. proper name, originally the name of a Roman gens …   Etymology dictionary

  • Lucretĭa — Lucretĭa, 1) Tochter des Sp. Lucretius Tricipitinus, Gemahlin des Collatinus, eines Verwandten des Königs Tarquinius II.; als dessen älterer Sohn Sextus sie entehrt hatte, rief L. Vater u. Gemahl, ließ dieselben Rache schwören u. durchstach sich… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Lucretĭa — Lucretĭa, Tochter des Römers Sp. Lucretius Tricipitinus, Gemahlin des Tarquinius Collatinus, als Muster einer römischen Hausfrau viel gefeiert, nahm sich, durch Sextus Tarquinius (s. Tarquinius Superbus) entehrt, selbst das Leben und veranlaßte… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Lucretia — Lucretĭa, nach der röm. Sage Gemahlin des Tarquinius Collatinus, tötete sich, von Sextus Tarquinius entehrt, selbst und veranlaßte dadurch 509 v. Chr. den Sturz des Königtums in Rom …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Lucretia — Lucretia, edle Römerin, Gemahlin des Collatinus, wurde von dem Sohne des Königs Tarquinius Superbus entehrt u. tödtete sich selbst, nachdem Collatinus ihr Rache an den Tarquiniern geschworen hatte …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

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