Tarquinius Superbus — Tarquin the Proud — the last Roman king, whose son Sextus Tarquin's rape of Lucretia led to the expulsion of the kings and the founding of the Roman Republic, as narrated by Livy and Shakespeare's poem The Rape of Lucrece.
Provides the founding narrative of the Roman Republic — the tyranny of the Tarquins is what the Republic defines itself against — making Tarquin the archetype of the tyrant whose excess creates the republic that replaces him.
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