Ancient latins illustration

The battle marked the final attempt of the Tarquins to reclaim their throne. According to legend, Castor and Pollux fought on the side of the Romans. The threat of invasion by Rome's former allies in Latium led to the appointment of Aulus Postumius Albus as dictator. The year in which the battle occurred is unclear, and has been unclear since ancient times.

Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts, and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions. In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and Arimaspians were associated with gold deposits of Central Asia. Indeed, as Pliny the Elder wrote, "griffins were said to lay eggs in burrows on the ground and these nests contained gold nuggets. In medieval heraldry, the griffin became a Christian symbol of divine power and a guardian of the divine. The derivation of this word remains uncertain. Most statuary representations of griffins depict them with bird-like talons , although in some older illustrations griffins have a lion's forelimbs; they generally have a lion's hindquarters.

But in the end, there was no straining at the gates, no barbarian horde that dispatched the Roman Empire in one fell swoop. Instead, the Roman Empire fell slowly as a result of challenges from within and without, changing over the course of hundreds of years until its form was unrecognizable. Because of the long process, different historians have placed an end date at many different points on a continuum. Perhaps the Fall of Rome is best understood as a compilation of various maladies that altered a large swath of human habitation over many hundreds of years.

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