The Tarquins commanded the Etruscan left wing facing the Roman troops of Spurius Larcius and Titus Herminius. The Romans awaited in the Naevian Meadow between Porsena and the bridge. Porsena left an Etruscan garrison to hold it, then proceeded towards the Pons Sublicius, the only regional bridge across the Tiber. Concentrating his forces on the Etruscan (west) side of the Tiber, Porsena assaulted Janiculum hill and seized it and all its materiel from the terrified Roman guard. In 509 BC, King Lars Porsena was at the head of an army that marched on Rome. This animated depiction shows the phases of the battle, including the defense of the bridge by Horatius. Siege of Rome by the Etruscans under Lars Porsena. However, this may be a later elaboration, as the famous statue of Horatius, lame and one-eyed, which was still visible, though heavily weathered, in the time of Pliny the Elder, was probably intended as a depiction of the god Vulcan, and only became identified with Horatius when its original subject was no longer recognizable. He was a nephew of the consul, Marcus Horatius Pulvillus, and is said to have obtained his agnomen, Cocles, meaning "one-eyed", because he lost an eye in the Battle of the Sublician Bridge. Horatius was a member of the ancient patrician house of the Horatii, celebrated in legend since the combat between the Horatii and the Curiatii in the time of Tullus Hostilius, the third Roman king. By defending the narrow end of the bridge, he and his companions were able to hold off the attacking army long enough to allow other Romans to destroy the bridge behind him, blocking the Etruscans' advance and saving the city. Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the early Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Etruscan King Lars Porsena of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium. Horatius Cocles, a fanciful 1586 engraving by Hendrick Goltzius.
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