Rome had seven kings during the Regal Period (753 - 509 BCE). Romulus proclaimed himself king after killing his bro Remus. After him, though, the kings were elected by the Curiate Assembly. There was Numa Pompilius, who was really into religion, and then Tullus Hostilius, who was really into war. Ancus Marcius was the fourth king.

This Etruscan dude Lucius Tarquinius “Tarquin” Priscus, egged on by his ambitious wife Tanaquil, became Ancus Marcius’s BFF. When Ancus Marcius died, Tarquin, as the king’s BFF, got to be the new king. But Ancus Marcius’s sons, who thought they would be next in line, felt totally cheated and so they killed Tarquin with an axe.

But it was all for nothing, because when Tarquin died, his wife Tanaquil kept it on the DL and secretly set up her adopted son Servius Tullius as the next king.

But then Servius Tullius’s daughter Tullia ran over her father in a chariot so that her husband Lucius Tarquinius Superbus could be king. When Superbus’s son Sextus raped Lucretia, it just became glaringly obvious that this kingship stuff was not working, and the Republic was founded in 509.