Summary

An inscription on under the black stone in the forum has led historians to conclude that, up to the end of the sixth century BCE, Rome was led by kings. There are six monarchs on record, though there were likely more who have been lost to history, and even what we do know about this period is largely blended with myth and legend. Roman kings were not the same as later monarchs; for example, the succession was not hereditary. Despite arguments to the contrary by later historians, Rome was still a small proto-urban settlement at this time and was not formally structured. It is likely that the Roman kings had more akin to our modern concepts of chiefs than our idea of monarchy as a form of government.

Civil war, family conflicts, and local skirmishes were common in this period...