The Tarquins are an Etruscan dynasty which dominated Rome before the République. Tarquins reigned on Rome of 616 with 509 av. J. - C. the first was named Tarquin Old the and reigned until its assassination into 579. Servius Tullius took over temporarily the duties and reigned until 535, date on which it was reversed by Lucius Tarquinus . Very quickly, this one founded a mode of terror which was worth the nickname of " to him; Superbus" , " The superbe" (to include/understand: " Tarquin Orgueilleux").

The most famous episode of the dynasty of Tarquins is the history of the rape of Lucrèce, at the origin of the rising which put an end to the royalty. The son of Tarquin the Superb one, Sextus Tarquin, misused a married woman, wife of a Roman dignitary. Humiliated by this act, she had asked her husband and her father to avenge her honor before putting an end to her days.