Talk:Numa Pompilius

message: On the List of Kings of Rome page it says Numa ruled until 674 BC, but on this page it says he died in 673 BC. Is this a dates mix-up or did he give up thr throne a year before he died?--
:OCD sez 673, any 674s should be fixed to be consistent. (Not that it matters a whole lot, this person's life being more legend than fact...) Stan 21:29, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The Roman new year was not on the same date as ours and so a Roman year (from the foundation of the city) overlaps with our years.  As he may well never existed, as you say, it isn't that important but the same problem will apply to most dates of this period.Dejvid 12:14, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Which year?

message: Didn't his guy build the first Royal palace in Rome?--Amadscientist (talk) 00:35, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Regia]] 

message: Uh, the article should point out that its entire content is later Roman legend written down more than 500 years after Numa's death. Livy and Plutarch were not critical historians and they built on a firm ground on long hallowed legend here. /Strausszek (talk) 08:10, 4 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Legendary 

message: This article states "The painting depicts Romulus's wife Hersilia — the daughter of Titus Tatius, leader of the Sabines ..."  However, according to the page Titus Tatius "He had one daughter Tatia, who married Numa Pompilius (Romulus's successor) ..."  
So which is it (or did one woman have two names and two husbands)?  Maybe myths are allowed inconsistency but Wikipedia articles should not be contradictory.  If the story is known to have several versions then an explanatory note appears warranted.
Incomplete lists of other pages stating that Tatia was the daughter of Titus Tatius and maried Romulus's successor:
Numa Pompilius
Or that Hersilia was the daughter of Titus Tatius and Romulus's wife:
Jacques-Louis David
The Rape of the Sabine Women
Cross posted to discussions of listed articles
Shythylacine (talk) 10:52, 19 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Inconsistent mythology

message: This article references sections 23, 27, 28, and 35 of Numa Pompilius in Plutarch's Parallel Lives.  I was reading through that piece of work on Project Gutenberg and LacusCurtius, trying to look up those passages when I discovered that Numa only goes up to section 22.  Reference number 8 which deals with Numa catching Picus and Faunus occurs in section 15, not 27.  Just wondering if these are really mistakes, or if I'm merely ignorant.  Anyway, I am going to peruse Project Gutenberg in order to “fix” all the Plutarch citations.  If anyone wants to double check, here are some links:
* Numa @ Project Gutenberg
* Numa @ University of Chicago
Cheers. Braincricket (talk) 05:54, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  References 

message: After just finishing reading a translation of Plutarch's Life of Numa, I don't see a portrayal of Numa as cunning and calculating. A google search of 'numa plutarch cunning' returns pages with copy-and-paste of this text. Plutarch does list Numa doing things to ensure his survival as a Sabine king among Romans but isn't cunning & calculating a stretch?
Or is this something in a different work of Plutarch? I'm no expert...
5.80.4.101 (talk) 18:29, 27 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cunning and calculating 

message: All the seven kings of Rome are described by historians as being « legendary », and this is pointed, for each of them, in their wikipedia page, because the informations we have about them are very scarce, sometimes contradictory, sometimes impossible to believe (miraculous feats). This denomination legendary is not specifically linked with one or several particular legends. It is sufficient to mention what is attributed to him, without pointing that it is to be found in legends, if one line before a link (which should not be suppressed) is made to the Roman mythology. Sapphorain (talk) 17:06, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: The "legends" would be Roman oral folk tales and often faulty personal histories of Roman aristocrats. The kings were probably not completely fictional, but it's now impossible to separate fact from fiction, especially when ascribing particular events to a particular reign. The term "legendary" might be a bit too strong. The term "traditional" might be substituted, but I'm not arguing for that change, especially if its use here is consistent with other articles on Roman kings. Dhtwiki (talk) 19:18, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

text: The information was have about Numa isn't scarce. We have a full biography about him from Plutarch for example, where he does mention legends now and then but identifies them as such and does an excellent job separating fact from fiction. Have you read the primary sources? If not, on what basis are you making all these claims about them? Perfect Orange Sphere (talk) 20:22, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

text: The kings of Rome, from Romulus to Lucius Tarquinius Superbus are constantly referred to by modern historians as "The seven legendary kings of Rome". I have added one historical source explicitly citing Numa Pompilius as "the second legendary king of Rome" (The Galileo Project, Rice University, note [4]), but there are many others mentioning the "seven legendary kings" as , , , or mentioning one of of them as one of the seven legendary kings, . Now User:Perfect Orange Sphere has been repeatedly denying the correctness of the qualificative "legendary", and refers to Plutarch to claim that it should not be used (specifically for Numa Pompilius, as he doesn't even mention the other six kings: why?). But Plutarch lived more than half a millennium after the last king of Rome, and the claim that he did an "excellent job separating fact from fiction" is not at all convincing. What he does in fact is remarking that some parts are clearly not plausible. But he also notes at the beginning that ancient records might have been lost and that the records at his disposition might have been forged. Sapphorain (talk) 13:14, 28 March 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, yeah, with that source it looks like you're right. Good work! Perfect Orange Sphere (talk) 00:37, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Well. In the future please make sure you are sufficiently informed on a subject before starting an edit war. Sapphorain (talk) 21:41, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Legendary