Lucius Junius Brutus

Lucius Junius Brutus (died c. 500 BC) was the semi-legendary founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of its two first consuls. Depicted as responsible for the expulsion of his uncle, the Roman king Tarquinius Superbus after the rape and suicide of Lucretia, in the traditional accounts it is he who led the overthrow of the Roman monarchy. He was then involved in securing the abdication of fellow consul Tarquinius Collatinus, and the suppression of a plot to restore the Tarquinian monarchy.

He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Decimus Junius Brutus and Marcus Junius Brutus, the most infamous of Julius Caesar's assassins. Traditions about his life may have been fictional, and some scholars argue that it was the Etruscan king Porsenna who overthrew Tarquinius. The plebeian status of the Junia gens has also raised doubts about his position as a consul and the alleged initial patrician domination of the office. Depicted as the nephew of Tarquinius, he may have symbolized the internal tensions that occurred during the transition between the monarchy and the republic.