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The Latin kings of Alba Longa (Latin: ''rex Albanus'', lit. King of Alba), also referred to as the Latin kings of Rome, or Alban kings of Rome, are a series of legendary kings of Latium ruling mainly from Alba Longa. In the mythic tradition of the founding of Rome, they fill the 400-year gap between the settlement of Aeneas in Italy and the establishing of the city walls of Rome by Romulus and Remus.〔C. F. L'Homond ''(Selections from Viri Romae )'' p.1〕 It was this line of descent to which the Julii claimed kinship.〔Dionysius of Halicarnassus ''Roman Antiquities'' I.70.4〕 After the defeat and destruction of Alba Longa and the incorporation of Latium into the Roman state, the Alban kingship is succeeded by the series of kings usually called "Etruscan," though only a few members of this line were brought in from neighboring Etruria to reign. ==Background== In Roman mythology, the Latin kingdom of Alba Longa was an ancient monarchy located in the present-day region of Latium in Italy.〔Donna Rosenberg. World Mythology. NTC Pub. Group, 1994. Pp. 111.〕 It was founded by king Ascanius as a colony to reduce crowding in Lavinium and later chosen to be the capital of his Latin kingdom.〔Livy, Valerie M Warrior (ed). The History of Rome, Books 1-5. Indianapolis, Indiana, USA: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2006. Pp. 8.〕 It incorporated the former capitals, Lavinium and Laurentum, with Lavinium as the second capital, and Laurentum the original.〔Ed. William Smith ''(Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) )'' accessed April 29 2015〕 Archaeology has confirmed that Rome was founded as a colony of people from Alba Longa,〔Jane F. Gardner. ''Roman myths''. British Museum Press, 1993. Pp. 31.〕 although Rome was a kingdom in its own right. According to legend, after the fall of Troy, the Trojan Prince Aeneas led a band of refugees in search of a new home, eventually arriving in Italy near Lanuvium. The traditional date of the war was established by Eratosthenes as 1184 BC,〔Eratosthenes ''Chronographiai'' fragment〕 leaving a gap of some four centuries until the traditional founding of Rome in 753 BC. The genealogy of the Alban kings justified the close ties between Rome and its Latin communities, and enhanced the status of Latin families who could claim descent from a legendary ancestor. Such was the eagerness to claim a Trojan pedigree in the Late Republic that 15 different lists of the Alban kings from Aeneas to Romulus survive.〔Gary D. Farney, ''Ethnic Identity and Aristocratic Competition in Republican Rome'' (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 55–56.〕 Ascanius, also known as ''Iulus'', was the legendary founder of Alba Longa. His successor was Silvius, his half-brother and the son of Aeneas and Lavinia, and the grandson of Latinus. They never ruled from Alba Longa but resided in Lavinium. Although the exact location of Alba Longa remains difficult to prove, there is archaeological evidence of Iron Age settlements in the area traditionally identified as the site.〔Mommsen Book I Chapter iii〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Latin kings of Alba Longa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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