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Lars Tolumnius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lars Tolumnius, the most famous king of the Etruscan city-state of Veii, a wealthy city located roughly 10 miles northwest of Rome, is best remembered for initiating the conflict with the fledgeling Roman Republic that eventually destroyed his kingdom.
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Very little is known of Lars Tolumnius outside of his involvement in Roman legend: he primarily factors into history when, in the late 5th century BCE, the Roman colony of Fidenae revolted against Rome. The Fidenese leaders of the revolution offered Tolumnius control over their city, which the king gladly accepted, and when Rome sent two emissaries to Veii to demand the hegemony of Fidenae back, Tolumnius had them executed. The legendary explanation for this grievous breach of peace is that at the moment his aides inquired if they should execute the Roman ambassadors, Tolumnius, playing at dice and having just rolled fortuitously, exclaimed, "Excellent!", thus inadvertently ordering the execution of the diplomats and unknowingly sealing his own fate.
The Roman Senate, outraged by Tolumnius's actions, declared war on Veii in 437 BCE and sent an army under Dictator Aemilius Mamercus to besiege the city. Tolumnius himself died early in the conflict, slain in single combat with the tribunus militum Aulus Cornelius Cossus while defending the city that his unwitting action had doomed to a fiery end.