Brick to the Past
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Tigelfah Castle
    • London 1875
    • The Wall
    • England 793
    • Hastings 1066
    • Caithness Broch
    • Jacobite Risings
    • Henry Morgan
    • The Peterloo Massacre
    • Mosaics
    • Board Games
    • What's next? Have your say
  • Commercial
  • Blog to the Past
  • About
  • Contact

Blog to the Past

Horatius at the Bridge

20/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods,
From Horatius at the Bridge by Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (1800–1859)
Picture
In around 506 BC a large Etruscan army lead by Lars Poresna, King of Clusium, marched on Rome. Among their number was Rome’s recently deposed King, Tarquinius Superbus, who hoped that following a successful campaign, he would be returned to the city’s throne.
 
Having recently engaged an army of Tarquin’s in an indecisive battle at Aricia, the Romans were expecting an invasion and hastily attempted to construct a fort on the Janiculum, a hill on the western side of the Tiber. However, owing to inadequate scouting, the troops stationed at the fort were surprised and overcome by the Eutruscan force, which proceeded to occupy the hill.
Picture
Picture
From the Janiculum, Porsena’s army launched an attack and advanced on Pons Sublicius. The Roman forces were now in disarray and the future of the newly formed republic looked bleak. However, just as all seemed lost a soldier named Horatius Cocles, accompanied by two others, namely Titus Herminius Aquilinus and Spurius Lartius (which, intriguingly, are Etruscan names) stepped forward to defend the bridge, using its narrow width to reduce the effectiveness of the large enemy force that bore down upon them. There they fought while to their rear the citizens of Rome gathered and, using but hand axes, began to chop down the bridge. Herminius and Spurius retreated as the bridge was almost destroyed, but Horatius fought on until the bridge had fallen, leaping into the river in full armour and swimming its width while coming under enemy fire. The attack was thus repulsed and Porsena forced into an unsuccessful siege of the city.
Picture
You may notice that we’ve avoided using the familiar LEGO Roman Minifigure helmets and armour. This is because during this period the Roman Army was still fighting in the Greco-Etruscan style, where the phalanx was the master of the battlefield. This is over a hundred years before Rome comes into conflict with the Samnites and subsequently adopts the maniple system and around 400 years before Marius implements his reforms. The army was therefore vastly different in appearance and style to the one most people are familiar with. This is why we’ve gone for the Corinthian helmets, Hoplon shields and bronze and Linothorax type armour.
That, at least, is how the story goes according to Rome’s poets and historians. There have however always been questions about the story’s veracity and even Livy, whose history was as much about promoting Augustus Caesar’s legitimacy as it was about recording past events, casts doubt over some of its claims. It’s likely that Porsena succeeded in capturing Rome, for a short period at least (though there is no evidence to suggest that Tarquin’s throne was ever restored), and that Horatius’ exploits were later invented as a means of masking past defeats and promoting the idea of Rome’s inherent superiority. The Romans were, after all, skilled in the art of propaganda, a modern Latin word with ancient roots.
Picture
Picture
This little model was built by Dan Harris as part of a series on important events in Roman history. Follow us on  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    BLOG TO THE PAST
    On LEGO, History and other things by Brick to the Past

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Categories

    All
    America
    Anglo Saxons
    Archaeology
    Board Game
    Britain
    Broch
    Bronze Age
    Chartism
    Christmas
    Classics
    Commercial
    Competition
    England
    Europe
    Field Trip
    History
    Instructions
    Iron Age
    Jacobites
    Lego
    Lego Show
    MOC
    Northern Ireland
    On This Day
    Protest
    Romans
    Scotland
    Tudors
    Vikings
    Wales
    WWI
    WWII

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Tigelfah Castle
    • London 1875
    • The Wall
    • England 793
    • Hastings 1066
    • Caithness Broch
    • Jacobite Risings
    • Henry Morgan
    • The Peterloo Massacre
    • Mosaics
    • Board Games
    • What's next? Have your say
  • Commercial
  • Blog to the Past
  • About
  • Contact