Ancus Marcius is the fourth of the seven legendary kings of the ancient Rome.

Its reign is presented to us mainly by the historians Tite-Live and Denys d' Halicarnasse.

Like its predecessors, after a short interregnum, Ancus is elected (into 640 before J. - C.) by the Roman people, an election ratified by the Sénat. He is the grandson of Numa Marcus, son-in-law of Numa Pompilius and first Roman Pontife, therefore him also a Sabin. Ancus Marcius, pertaining to the people Marcia, was thus the grandson or the great-grandson of Numa Pompilius.

A pious king

At the beginning of its reign, Ancus charges large the Pontife with putting in writing the revelations of the Commentaires of Numa, it increases the temple of Jupiter Férétrien and founds the college of the Fétiaux. Especially, Ancus restores the religious practices neglected during the reign of its predecessor, the quarrelsome Tullus Hostilius. Because, according to the tradition and, Tullus, superstitious and neglecting the ritual, had been struck down during a sacrifice badly carried out. Denys d' Halicarnasse however brings back another account to which, he says, it does not grant any faith, and according to which Ancus Marcius would have in fact benefitted from a storm to assassinate the king Tullus Hostilius by setting fire to its house.

A king builder

Ancus increases the City: it throws the first bridge of wood on the the Tiber, the Pont Sublicius and appendix the Janicule. It extends the influence of Rome towards the sea by creating to the mouth of the the Tiber the port of Ostie and by building Salines, as well as a military camp. The construction of Ostie is besides the point more disputed traditional account. No archaeological discovery came to corroborate this thesis and all the elements put at the day show that the construction of the port is much later. Construction of the Ditch of Quirites and various other fortifications (on the Aventin and the Janicule inter alia). Appearance of social problems: the prison of the Tullianum is dug downtown full, with the side of the Capitole for the delinquents.

A warlike king

The no-claims bonus Ancus is presented like a peaceful king, but according to Tite-Live (I-32): the circumstances were appropriate better for Tullus Hostilius that in Numa. And Ancus are brought to often make the war with its neighbors. Latin are overcome (wars against Politorium, Médullia, then Tellènes and Ficana) and are off-set in great number around the mount Aventin which is integrated into the City. It is also referred to battles against Fidènes (where Tarquin is quoted as lieutenant d' Ancus) and Veies. The warlike function of Ancus Marcius is also marked by the fact that its first concern was the protection of this city: it is to prevent the neighbors of Rome from being installed on Janicule that it annexed it and strengthened it. Moreover, Tite-Live specifies that Ancus Marcius made dig the ditch of Quirites in order to protect Rome.

Etruscan succession

The ambitious Lucius Tarquin Old the, of Corinthian origin, is placed in the entourage of Ancus: he becomes the friend of the king and is named tutor of his two sons. By skilful political operations, he manages to be made elect like successor of Ancus Marcius in 616 before J. - C. and becomes the first Etruscan king of Rome.

An important place in the tradition

In the functional tripartition described by Georges Dumézil, Ancus Marcius holds a choice place since it is attached to prosperity. After Romulus and Numa Pompilius, which incarnate the duplicity of sovereignty (sovereignty based on the power for the first and formal sovereignty, of sacerdotal origin for the second), and Tullus Hostilius, who incarnates the warlike power, Ancus Marcius represents the production. The fact that it is fourth king de Rome who is attached to his prosperity (symbolized in the tradition by the extension towards the sea with the foundation of Ostie and the conquest of cities located between the sea and Rome or by the construction of the Sublicius bridge) is not without significance. In the functional tripartition of Dumézil, the function of prosperity arrives hierarchically in fourth position, if the duplicity of the first function is considered, namely sovereignty. Is this a chance? The name-even of Ancus Marcius is in addition étymologiquement related to the sea and in the Tiber, since Ancus would come from the Greek Ankos , word meaning “curve” and indicating bends it which the Tiber makes before being thrown in the sea. However it is this extension towards the sea which made it possible Rome to open in the whole Mediterranean. And even if this opening will become important only from, it is it which made it possible Rome economically to thrive speaking while trading with various Mediterranean civilizations. As announced higher, Ancus Marcius is also the first king to have built a prison in Rome (whose foundations were found some time ago, going back exactly to the period of its reign). And in general, civilizations which build prisons reached a certain level of prosperity.

---- Eutrope: Shortened Roman History (translation of Maurice Rat):

“V. - After him, Ancus Marcius, grandson of Numa by a girl of this prince, seized the power. It fought with heat against Latin, added to the capital the Aventin mount and the Janicule mount, builds on the sea the city of Ostie, with sixteen miles of the town of Rome. In the twenty-fourth year of its reign, he succumbed to a disease. ”