Romulus and Remus

The Foundation of Rome Myth

  • Legend of Ancient Rome
    • The Ancient Romans believed in the Legend of Ancient Rome which is the story of how Romulus and Remus founded the city, with Romulus becoming the first of the Kings of Ancient Rome.
    • During the Empire, Virgil joined Italian mythology with Greek mythology by recounting the story in the Aeneid of the Trojan Hero, Aeneas, and how he survived the Fall of Troy to settle in Latium and became the forefather of Romulus and Remus.
  • Romulus and Remus
    • They were the twin sons of Rhea Silvia the daughter of King Numitor. When he was usurped by his brother Amulius, she was imprisoned. When the twins were born he ordered that they be drowned in the Tiber, but the servants left them on the riverbank.
    • The twins were found and reared by a she-wolf in a cave called the Lupercal on the Palatine Hill.
    • Later they were found by a shepherd and taken to his village where they grew to manhood.
    • After discovering that their Grandfather was King Numitor, they overthrow Amulius and restored Numitor to his throne.
  • Ab urbe condita
    • ‘Ab urbe condita’ AUC means ‘from the founding of the City’ (of Rome).
    • Romulus and Remus then set off to found a city of their own. After an altercation in which Remus subsequently died, Romulus founded the city of Rome on April 21st 753 BCE.
  • Rape of the Sabine Women
    • As Rome was full of men but had no women, Romulus held a festival and games and invited the neighbouring cities to join in, the largest group being the Sabines. After a signal was given, the Roman men carried off all the marriageable Sabine women. The neighbouring cities then went to war with Rome but because they did not coordinate their attacks, Rome survived.
  • The Succession
    • As Romulus had no successor, the next king was chosen from the Sabines, Numa Pompilius.
  • Lupercalia
    • Lupercalia was a Roman Festival that took place in the Cave of Lupercus on the Palatine Hill, where Romulus and Remus were thought to have been reared by the wolf. Lupercus was the Roman God of shepherds.
    • It was celebrated in honour of Romulus and Remus on the Ides of February, which fell on the 13th, and continued through to the 15th.
    • The Cave of Lupercus, the Palatine Hill and the Forum Romanum were part of Rome’s Foundation Myth.
  • The Wolf
    • Because of this Legend, Wolves held a religious importance to the Romans, and was the one animal that was not displayed in the wild animal hunts shown in the Roman Amphitheatres known as Venatio.

 

Palatine Hill, Rome

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