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{{short description|Twin brothers and central characters of Rome's foundation myth}}
{{Redirect4|Romulus|Remus}}
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[[File:She-wolf suckles Romulus and Remus.jpg|thumb| [[Capitoline Wolf]]. Traditional scholarship says the wolf-figure is Etruscan, 5th century BC, with figures of Romulus and Remus added in the 15th century AD by [[Antonio Pollaiuolo]]. Recent studies suggest that the wolf may be a medieval sculpture dating from the 13th century AD.<ref>Adriano La Regina, "[http://roma.repubblica.it/dettaglio/articolo/1485581 La lupa del Campidoglio è medievale la prova è nel test al carbonio]". ''La Repubblica''. 9 July 2008</ref>]]


{{about|the tale of the mythical twins||Romulus (disambiguation)|and|Remus (disambiguation)|and|Romulus and Remus (disambiguation)}}
'''Romulus''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɒ|m|j|ʉ|l|ə|s}} and '''Remus''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|iː|m|ə|s}} were the twin brothers and main characters of [[Roman mythology|Rome's foundation myth]]. (The pronunciation in English is different from the Latin original '''Rōmulus''' and '''Rĕmus'''). Their mother was [[Rhea Silvia]], daughter of [[Numitor]], king of [[Alba Longa]]. Before their conception, Numitor's brother [[Amulius]] seized power, killed Numitor's male heirs and forced Rhea Silvia to become a [[Vestal Virgin]], sworn to [[chastity]]. Rhea Silvia conceived the twins by the god [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]. Once the twins were born, Amulius had them [[Infanticide#Greece and Rome|abandoned to die]] in the [[Tiber]] river. They were saved by a series of miraculous interventions: the river carried them to safety, a she-wolf found and [[human–animal breastfeeding|suckled]] them, and a woodpecker fed them. [[Faustulus|A shepherd]] and [[Acca Larentia|his wife]] found them and [[Adoption|fostered]] them to manhood as simple shepherds. The twins, still ignorant of their true origins, proved to be natural leaders. Each acquired many followers. When they discovered the truth of their birth, they killed Amulius and restored Numitor to his throne. Rather than wait to inherit Alba Longa, they chose to found a new city.


[[File:Lupa Capitolina, Rome.jpg|thumb|''[[Capitoline Wolf|La Lupa Capitolina]]'' "the Capitoline Wolf". Traditional scholarship says the wolf-figure is Etruscan, 5th century BC. The figures of Romulus and Remus were added in the 15th century AD by [[Antonio del Pollaiuolo]]. Some modern research suggests that the she-wolf may be a [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] sculpture dating from the 13th century AD.<ref>Adriano La Regina, [http://roma.repubblica.it/dettaglio/articolo/1485581 "La lupa del Campidoglio è medievale la prova è nel test al carbonio"]. ''La Repubblica''. 9 July 2008</ref>]] [[File:Altar Mars Venus Massimo.jpg|thumb|350px|Altar to [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] (divine father of Romulus and Remus) and [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] (their divine ancestress) depicting elements of their legend. The god Tiberinus ("Father Tiber") and the infant twins being suckled by a [[Capitoline Wolf|she-wolf]] in the [[Lupercal]] are below. A vulture from the contest of augury and Palatine hill are to the left. (From [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]], now at the [[National Museum of Rome#Palazzo Massimo alle Terme|Palazzo Massimo alle Terme]])]]
While Romulus wanted to found the new city on the [[Palatine Hill]], Remus preferred the [[Aventine Hill]].<ref>Dionysius of Halicarnasus, ''Roman Antiquities'', 1.85</ref> They agreed to determine the site through [[augury]] but when each claimed the results in his own favor, they quarreled and Remus was killed.<ref>[[Ovid]] has Romulus invent the festival of [[Lemuria (festival)|Lemuria]] to appease Remus's resentful ghost. Ovid '' Fasti'' 5.461</ref> Romulus founded the new city, named it [[Rome]], after himself, and created its first [[Roman Legion|legion]]s and [[Roman Senate|senate]]. The new city grew rapidly, swelled by landless refugees; as most of these were male and unmarried, Romulus arranged the abduction of women from the neighboring [[Sabine]]s. The ensuing war ended with the joining of Sabines and Romans as one Roman people. Thanks to divine favour and Romulus's inspired leadership, Rome became a dominant force, but Romulus himself became increasingly autocratic, and disappeared or died in mysterious circumstances. In later forms of the myth, he ascended to heaven and was identified with [[Quirinus]], the divine personification of the Roman people.
[[File:Mignard - The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife.jpg|thumb|350px|''The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife'', [[Nicolas Mignard]] (1654)]]


In [[Roman mythology]], '''Romulus''' and '''Remus''' ({{IPA|la|ˈroːmʊlʊs|lang}}, {{IPA|la|ˈrɛmʊs|}}) are [[twins in mythology|twin brothers]] whose story tells of the events that led to the [[Founding of Rome|founding]] of the [[History of Rome|city of Rome]] and the [[Roman Kingdom]] by [[Romulus]], following his [[fratricide]] of Remus. The image of a [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]] suckling the twins in their infancy has been a symbol of the city of Rome and the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] since at least the 3rd century BC. Although the tale takes place before the founding of Rome around 750 BC, the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC. Possible historical bases for the story, and interpretations of its local variants, are subjects of ongoing debate.
The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths, particularly Remus's death. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name a [[back-formation]] from the name Rome; the basis for Remus's name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation. The myth was fully developed into something like an "official", chronological version in the Late Republican and early Imperial era; Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and [[Plutarch]] reckoned the twins' birth year as c. 27/28 March 771 BC. An earlier tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine [[Troy|Trojan]] prince [[Aeneas]] was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of Rome's first Imperial dynasty. Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed.<ref>The archaeologist [[Andrea Carandini]] is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, based on the 1988 discovery of an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome. Carandini dates the structure to the mid-8th century BC and names it the ''[[Murus Romuli]]''. See Carandini, ''La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà'' (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. ''Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 - 700/675 a. C. circa)'' (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)</ref> The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins became an iconic representation of the city and its founding legend, making Romulus and Remus preeminent among the [[feral children in mythology and fiction|feral children of ancient mythography]].


==Overview==
==The legend in ancient sources==
Romulus and Remus were born in [[Alba Longa]], one of the many ancient Latin cities near the [[Seven hills of Rome]]. Their mother [[Rhea Silvia]], also known as Ilia,<ref>{{Cite web | first1=Dio | last1=Cassius | year=1914| title=Dio's Roman History | url=https://archive.org/details/diosromanhistory08cassuoft/diosromanhistory08cassuoft/ | last2=Earnest | first2=Cary | last3=Foster | first3=Herbert Baldwin | location=Cambridge, MA | publisher=Harvard University Press| page=13}}</ref> was a [[Vestal Virgin]] and the daughter of former king [[Numitor]], who had been displaced by his brother [[Amulius]]. In some sources, Rhea Silvia conceived them when the god [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] visited her in a sacred grove dedicated to him.<ref>Other sources express doubt as to the divine nature of their parentage. One claims that the boys were fathered by Amulius himself, who raped his niece while wearing his armor to conceal his identity.</ref>
Modern scholarship approaches the various known stories of Romulus and Remus as cumulative elaborations and later interpretations of Roman [[Founding myth|foundation-myth]]. Particular versions and collations were presented by Roman historians as authoritative, an official history trimmed of contradictions and untidy variants to justify contemporary developments, genealogies and actions in relation to [[Mos maiorum|Roman morality]]. Other narratives appear to represent popular or folkloric tradition; some of these remain inscrutable in purpose and meaning. Wiseman sums the whole as the [[mythography]] of an unusually problematic foundation and early history.<ref>{{citation | last = Wiseman | first = TP | title = Remus, A Roman myth | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1995}}.</ref><ref>{{citation | first = Arnoldo | last = Momigliano | contribution = An interim report on the origins of Rome | title = Terzo contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico | volume = 1 | publisher = Edizioni di storia e letteratura | place = Rome, IT | year = 2007 | pages = 545–98 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tq53aX69lv0C&pg=PA550&lpg=PA550&dq=Diocles+of+peparethus&source=bl&ots=8g0TaZ3lt6&sig=lOyDSOM6evaJs_nSDXCJAvY5aw4&hl=en&ei=L-JpS_vhC5Pu0wTlmoyzCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBEQ6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=Diocles%20of%20peparethus&f=false}}. A critical, chronological review of historiography related to Rome's origins.</ref> Cornell and others describe particular elements of the mythos as "shameful".<ref>Cornell, pp 60–2: "these elements have convinced the eminent historiographer H. Strasburger that Rome's foundation myth represents not native tradition but defamatory foreign propaganda, probably originated by Rome's neighbours in [[Magna Graecia]] and successfully foist on an impressionable and ethnically confused Roman people." Cornell and Momigliano find this argument impeccably developed but entirely implausible; if an exercise in mockery, it was a signal failure.</ref> Nevertheless, by the 4th century BC, the fundamentals of the Romulus and Remus story were standard Roman fare, and by 269 BC the wolf and suckling twins appeared on one of the earliest, if not the earliest issues of Roman silver coinage. Rome's [[foundation story]] was evidently a matter of national pride. It featured in the earliest known [[history of Rome]], which was attributed to [[Diocles of Peparethus]]. The patrician senator [[Quintus Fabius Pictor]] used Diocles' as a source for his own history of Rome, written around the time of [[Second Punic War|Rome's war with Hannibal]] and probably intended for circulation among Rome's Greek-speaking allies.<ref>The escape of Aeneas from Troy and his foundation of a "New Troy" in Italy was not an exclusively Roman ancestor-myth. It is represented by 4th century votive statuettes from Etruscan Veii and was known in archaic Latium. Beard et al., pp. 1-2..</ref><ref>Fabius wrote in Greek, the Mediterranean ''lingua franca'' of the time. His narrative began with the arrival of the Greek hero [[Herakles]] in Italy. [[Plutarch]] claims that Fabius' history follows Diocles "on most points". Wiseman, pp. 1-2..</ref>


Seeing them as a possible threat to his rule, King Amulius ordered them to be killed and they were abandoned on the bank of the river [[Tiber]] to die. They were saved by the god [[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]], Father of the River, and survived with the care of others at the site of future Rome. In the most well-known episode, the twins were suckled by a she-wolf in a cave now known as the [[Lupercal]].<ref>For other depictions, see Livy and Dionysius</ref> Eventually, they were adopted by [[Faustulus]], a shepherd. They grew up tending flocks, unaware of their true identities. Over time, they became natural leaders and attracted a company of supporters from the community.
Fabius' history provided a basis for the early books of Livy's ''[[Ab Urbe Condita (book)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', which he wrote in [[Latin (language)|Latin]], and for several Greek-language histories of Rome, including [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]'s ''Roman Antiquities'', written during the late 1st century BC, and [[Plutarch]]'s early 2nd century ''Life of Romulus''.<ref>{{citation | first = Dionysius | last = of Halicarnassus | title = Roman Antiquities | publisher = Loeb | pages = 1, 72-90; 2, 1-76 | editor = Thayer | url = http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/ | place = Chicago, IL, USA}}.</ref><ref>{{citation | last = Plutarch | title = The Parallel Lives | chapter = The life of Romulus | publisher = Loeb | editor = Thayer | url = http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/romulus*.html | place = Chicago, IL, USA}}.</ref> These three accounts provide the broad literary basis for studies of Rome's founding mythography. They have much in common, but each is selective to its purpose. Livy's is a dignified handbook, justifying the purpose and morality of Roman traditions observed in his own times. Dionysius and Plutarch approach the same subjects as interested outsiders, and include founder-traditions not mentioned by Livy, untraceable to a common source and probably specific to particular regions, social classes or oral traditions.<ref>{{citation | first = Arnoldo | last = Momigliano | title = The classical foundations of modern historiography | publisher = University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton | year = 1990 | page = 101 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Djv5ttMz-HYC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=Diocles+of+peparethus&source=bl&ots=NreVzMV8R4&sig=5CfZzc2PTD3cf5-fvnNAsABbnMA&hl=en&ei=q51pS_fEOaWy0gS8pNWpCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Diocles%20of%20peparethus&f=false}}. Modern historiographic perspectives on this source material.</ref><ref>{{citation | last = Dillery | editor-first = Andrew | editor-last = Feldherr | title = The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2009 | pages = 78–81 ff. | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7AYWt9bQe9UC&pg=PT97&lpg=PT97&dq=Diocles+of+peparethus&source=bl&ots=rbFQD6QUDE&sig=PTN4gi0a5u9UZ5v3gxmyhkJuZko&hl=en&ei=pbJpS_2NDYnu0gThofSrCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=Diocles%20of%20peparethus&f=false}}.</ref> A Roman text of the late Imperial era, ''[[Origo gentis romanae|Origo gentis Romanae]]'' (The origin of the Roman people) is dedicated to the many "more or less bizarre", often contradictory variants of Rome's foundation myth, including versions in which Remus founds a city named Remuria, five miles from Rome, and outlives his brother Romulus.<ref>Cornell, pp. 57-8.</ref><ref>{{citation | title = Origo Gentis Romanae | last = Banchich | others = trans. by Haniszewski, et al. | publisher = Cansius College | year = 2004 | url = http://www.roman-emperors.org/origogentis.pdf | format = [[PDF]]}}. Translation and commentaries.</ref>
[[File:Belgique - Bruxelles - Maison de la Louve - 05.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|<div style="text-align:center">Romulus and Remus on the House of the She-wolf at the [[Grand-Place]] of [[Brussels]]</div>]]


When they were young adults, they became involved in a dispute between supporters of Numitor and Amulius. As a result, Remus was taken prisoner and brought to Alba Longa. Both his grandfather and the king suspected his true identity. Romulus, meanwhile, had organized an effort to free his brother and set out with help for the city. During this time, they learned of their past and joined forces with their grandfather to restore him to the throne. Amulius was killed and Numitor was reinstated as king of Alba. The twins set out to build a city of their own.
===Stories of ancestry and parentage===
There are several variations on the basic legendary tale.


After arriving back in the area of the seven hills, they disagreed about the hill upon which to build. Romulus preferred the [[Palatine Hill]], above the Lupercal; Remus preferred the [[Aventine Hill]]. When they could not resolve the dispute, they agreed to seek the gods' approval through a contest of [[augury]]. Remus saw 6 auspicious birds, but Romulus saw 12 and claimed to have won divine approval. They disputed the result; Remus insulted Romulus' new city and was killed, either by Romulus or by one of his supporters.<ref>Dionysius lays out several of the different accounts of his death, along with his murder by Romulus.</ref> Romulus then went on to found the city of Rome, its institutions, government, military, and religious traditions. He reigned for many years as its first king.
Plutarch presents Romulus's and Remus's ancient descent from prince [[Aeneas]], fugitive from [[Troy]] after its destruction by the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]]. Their maternal grandfather is his descendant [[Numitor]], who inherits the kingship of [[Alba Longa]]. Numitor’s brother [[Amulius]] inherits its treasury, including the gold brought by Aeneas from Troy. Amulius uses his control of the treasury to dethrone Numitor, but fears that Numitor's daughter, [[Rhea Silvia]], will bear children who could overthrow him.


==Primary sources==
Amulius forces Rhea Silvia into perpetual virginity as a [[Vestal Virgin|Vestal]] priestess, but she bears children anyway. In one variation of the story, [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], god of war, seduces and impregnates her: in another, Amulius himself seduces her, and in yet another, Hercules.
The origins of the different elements in Rome's foundation myth are a subject of ongoing debate. They may have come from the Romans' own [[Italic peoples|Italic]] origins, or from [[Greco-Roman relations in classical antiquity|Hellenic influences]] that were included later. Definitively identifying those original elements has so far eluded [[Classics|classicists]].<ref>Tennant, p. 81</ref> Roman historians dated the founding of Rome around 753 BC, but the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC.<ref name="DoH I-72">Dionysius, vol. 1 p. 72</ref> There is an ongoing debate about how and when the "complete" fable came together.<ref name="Tennant">Tennant</ref>


Some elements are attested earlier than others, and the storyline and the tone were variously influenced by the circumstances and tastes of the different sources as well as by contemporary Roman politics and concepts of propriety.<ref>Wiseman, ''Remus''</ref> Whether the twins' myth was an original part of Roman myth or a later development is the subject of an ongoing debate.<ref name="Tennant"/> Sources often contradict one another. They include the histories of Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Tacitus as well as the work of Virgil and Ovid.<ref name="DoH I-72"/><ref name="DoH II-76">Dionysius, vol. II p. 76</ref><ref name="Plutarch">Plutarch, ''Lives''</ref>
The king sees his niece's pregnancy and confines her. She gives birth to twin boys of remarkable beauty; her uncle orders her death and theirs. One account holds that he has Rhea buried alive &ndash; the standard punishment for [[Vestal Virgins]] who violated their vow of [[celibacy]] &ndash; and orders the death of the twins by [[Infant exposure|exposure]]; both means would avoid his direct blood-guilt. In another, he has Rhea and her twins thrown into the [[River Tiber]].
[[Quintus Fabius Pictor]]'s work became authoritative to the early books of Livy's ''[[History of Rome (Livy)|History of Rome]]'', [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]'s ''Roman Antiquities'', and [[Plutarch]]'s ''Life of Romulus''.<ref name="Albrecht1997">{{cite book|last=von Albrecht|first=Michael|title=A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrYatgm2MWoC|access-date=20 November 2016|volume=I|year=1997|publisher=BRILL|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-10709-0|page=374}}</ref>


These three works have been among the most widely read versions of the myth. In all three works, the tales of the lupercal and the fratricide are overshadowed by that of the twins' lineage and connections to Aeneas and the deposing of Amulius. The latter receives the most attention in the accounts. Plutarch dedicates nearly half of his account to the overthrow of their uncle.
In every version, a servant is charged with the deed of killing the twins, but cannot bring himself to harm them. He places them in a basket and leaves it on the banks of the Tiber. The river rises in flood and carries the twins downstream, unharmed.<ref>Compare the story of Romulus and Remus to [[Moses]], [[Perseus]], and [[Sargon of Akkad]] for similar stories of babies being placed in cradles and set afloat in a body of water.</ref>


===''Roman Antiquities'' (Dionysius)===
[[Image:Altar Mars Venus Massimo.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Altar from [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]] showing the discovery of Romulus and Remus (now at the [[National Museum of Rome#Palazzo Massimo alle Terme|Palazzo Massimo alle Terme]]).]]
{{Main|Dionysius of Halicarnassus}}
Dionysius cites, among others, the histories of [[Quintus Fabius Pictor|Pictor]], [[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)|Lucius Calpurnius Piso]], [[Cato the Elder]], [[Lucius Cincius Alimentus]].


The first book of Dionysius' twenty-volume history of Rome does not mention Remus until page 235 (chapter 71). After spending another 8 chapters discussing the background of their birth in Alba, he dedicates a total of 9 chapters to the tale (79–87). Most of that is spent discussing the conflict with Amulius.
The [[river deity]] [[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]] makes the basket catch in the roots of a fig tree that grows in the [[Velabrum]] swamp at the base of the [[Palatine Hill]]. The twins are found and suckled by a [[Italian wolf|she-wolf]] (''Lupa'') and fed by a woodpecker (Picus). A shepherd of Amulius named [[Faustulus]] discovers them and takes them to his hut, where he and his wife [[Acca Larentia]] raise them as their own children.


He goes on to discuss the various accounts of the city's founding by others, and the lineage and parentage of the twins for another 8 chapters until arriving at the tale of their abandonment by the Tiber. He spends the better part of the chapter 79 discussing the survival in the wild. Then the end of 79 through 84 on the account of their struggle with Amulius. 84 with the non-fantastical account of their survival 294. Finally 295 is the augury 85–86, 87–88 the fratricide.303{{clarify|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Romolo e remo.jpg|thumb|left|Faustulus (to the right of picture) discovers Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf and woodpecker. Their mother Rhea Silvia and the river-god Tiberinus witness the moment. Painting by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], c. 1616 ([[Capitoline Museums]]).]]


===''Ab Urbe Condita'' (Livy)===
In another variant, [[Hercules]] impregnates [[Acca Larentia]] and marries her off to the shepherd Faustulus. She has twelve sons; when one of them dies, Romulus takes his place to found the priestly college of Arval brothers [[Fratres Arvales]]. Acca Larentia is therefore identified with the Arval goddess [[Dea Dia]], who is served by the Arvals. In later Republican religious tradition, a Quirinal priest ([[flamen]]) impersonated Romulus (by then deified as [[Quirinus]]) to perform funerary rites for his foster mother (identified as Dia).
{{Main|Ab Urbe Condita Libri}}
[[File:Details of Romulus and Remus on the allegory of Tiber.jpg|thumb|Detail of Romulus and Remus on the allegory of Tiber]]
Livy discusses the myth in chapters 4, 5, and 6 of his work's first book. p.&nbsp;7 parentage 4 p.&nbsp;8 survival. p.&nbsp;8 the youth. 5 9–10 the struggle with Amulius. 6 p.&nbsp;11 (the beginning only) the augury and fratricide.


===Life of Romulus (Plutarch)===
Another and probably late tradition has Acca Larentia as a sacred prostitute (one of many Roman slangs for prostitute was ''lupa'' (she-wolf)).<ref name = "Livy">Livy, (i), p. 4.</ref><ref name = "Ovid">{{citation | last = Ovid | title = Fasti | number = iii | page = 55}}.</ref>
{{Main|Parallel Lives}}
Plutarch relates the legend in chapters 2–10 of ''the Life of Romulus''. He dedicates the most attention, nearly half the entire account, to conflict with Amulius.


===''Fasti'' (Ovid)===
Yet another tradition relates that Romulus and Remus are nursed by the Wolf-Goddess Lupa or Luperca in her cave-lair ''([[lupercal]])''. Luperca was given cult for her protection of sheep from wolves and her spouse was the Wolf-and-Shepherd-God [[Lupercus]], who brought fertility to the flocks. She has been identified with Acca Larentia.
''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', the epic Latin poem by [[Ovid]] from the early 1st century AD, contains a complete account of the twins' tale. Notably, it relates a tale wherein the ghost of Remus appears to Faustulus and his wife, whom the poet calls "Acca". In the story, Remus appears to them while in bed and expresses his anger at Celer for killing him and his own,{{clarify|date=August 2018}} as well as Romulus' unquestioned fraternal love.


===''Roman History'' (Dio)===
== Founding of Rome==
''Roman History'' by [[Cassius Dio]] survives in fragment from various commentaries. They contain a more-or-less complete account. In them, he mentions an oracle that had predicted Amulius' death by a son of Numitor as the reason the Alban king expelled the boys. There is also a mention of "another Romulus and Remus" and another Rome having been founded long before on the same site.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dio Cassius|access-date=24 November 2016|chapter=|title=Roman History I p.12-18|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/dio_cassius-roman_history/1914/pb_LCL032.13.xml?rskey=eUjGRa&result=1&mainRsKey=Aro2od|doi=10.4159/DLCL.dio_cassius-roman_history.1914|year=1914|isbn=9780674990364}} {{Subscription required|via=[[Loeb Classical Library|digital Loeb Classical Library]]}}</ref>
{{Main|Founding of Rome}}


===''Origo Gentis Romanae'' (unknown)===
In all versions of the founding myth, the twins grew up as shepherds. While tending their flocks, they came into conflict with the shepherds of [[Amulius]]. Remus was captured and brought before Amulius, who eventually discovers his identity. Romulus raised a band of shepherds to liberate his brother and Amulius was killed. Romulus and Remus were conjointly offered the crown but they refused it and restored [[Numitor]] to the throne. They left to found their own city, but could not agree on its location; Romulus preferred the [[Palatine Hill]], Remus preferred the [[Aventine Hill]]. They agreed to seek the will of the gods in this matter, through [[augur]]y. Each took position on his respective hill and prepared a [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#templum|sacred space]] there. Remus saw six auspicious birds; but Romulus saw twelve. Romulus claimed superior augury as the divine basis of his right to decide. Remus made a counterclaim: he saw his six vultures first. Romulus set to work with his supporters, digging a trench (or building a wall, according to Dionysius) around the Palatine to define his city boundary.
This work contains a variety of versions of the story. In one, there is a reference to a [[woodpecker]] bringing the boys food during the time they were abandoned in the wild. In one account of the conflict with Amulius, the capture of Remus is not mentioned. Instead, Romulus, upon being told of his true identity and the crimes suffered by him and his family at the hands of the Alban king, simply decided to avenge them. He took his supporters directly to the city and killed Amulius, afterwards restoring his grandfather to the throne.<ref>''Origo Gentis Romanae'' XXI</ref>


===Death of Remus===
===Fragments and other sources===
[[File:Franks Casket the left panel.jpg|thumb|320px|Panel of the 8th-century [[Anglo-Saxon art|Anglo-Saxon]] [[Franks Casket]]]]
Livy gave two versions of Remus's death. In the one "more generally received", Remus criticized and belittles the new wall, and in a final insult to the new city and its founder alike, he leaped over it. Romulus killed him, saying "So perish every one that shall hereafter leap over my wall". In the other version, Remus was simply stated as dead; no murder was alleged. Two other, lesser known accounts have Remus killed by a blow to the head with a spade, wielded either by Romulus's commander [[Fabia (gens)|Fabius]] (according to St. Jerome's version) or by a man named [[Celer (builder)|Celer]]. Romulus buried Remus with honour and regret.<ref>Wiseman, pp. 9 -11.</ref> The Roman ''[[ab urbe condita]]'' began from the founding of the city, and places that date as 21 April 753 BC.<ref name="Gordon1983">{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Arthur Ernest|title=Illustrated introduction to Latin epigraphy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywI6SDUggk4C&pg=PA226|accessdate=20 April 2011|year=1983|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-03898-1|page=226}}</ref>
*''Annals'' by [[Ennius]] is lost, but fragments remain in later histories.
*''Roman History'' by [[Appian]], in Book I "Concerning the Kings" is a fragment containing an account of the twins' parentage and origins.
*''[[The City of God]]'' by [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], claims, in passing, that Remus was alive after the city's founding. Both he and Romulus established the Roman Asylum after the traditional accounts claimed that he had died.<ref>{{cite book|author=Saint Augustine|access-date=24 November 2016|title=The City of God Against the Pagans|volume=1|page=137|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/augustine-city_god_pagans/1957/pb_LCL411.137.xml?mainRsKey=Aro2od&result=1&rskey=bxRC3b|doi=10.4159/DLCL.augustine-city_god_pagans.1957|year=1957|isbn=9780674994522}} {{Subscription required|via=[[Loeb Classical Library|digital Loeb Classical Library]]}}</ref>
*''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' by [[Diodorus Siculus]], is a [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]], which survives mostly intact in fragments and has a complete recounting of the twins' origins, their youth in the shepherd community, and the contest of the augury and fratricide. In this version, Remus sees no birds at all and he is later killed by Celer, Romulus' worker.
*''[[Origines]]'' by [[Cato the Elder]], fragments of which survive in the work of later historians, is cited by Dionysius.
*Roman poet [[Juvenal]] calls them ''geminos Quirinos'', an allusion to [[Quirinus]].<ref>Leeming, David.''From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. 64–65.</ref>


==City of Rome==
===Lost sources===
*[[Quintus Fabius Pictor]] wrote in the 3rd century BC. His ''History'', written in Greek, is the earliest-known history of Rome. He is cited by all three canonical works.
Romulus completed his city and named it ''[[Rome|Roma]]'' after himself. Then he divided his fighting men into regiments of 3000 infantry and 300 cavalry, which he called "legions". From the rest of the populace he selected 100 of the most noble and wealthy fathers to serve as his council. He called these men [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|Patricians]]: they were fathers of Rome, not only because they cared for their own legitimate citizen-sons but because they had a fatherly care for Rome and all its people. They were also its elders, and were therefore known as [[Roman Senate|Senators]]. Romulus thereby inaugurated a system of government and social hierarchy based on the [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patron-client relationship]].
*[[Diocles of Peparethus]] wrote a history of Rome that is cited by Plutarch.
*[[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)|Lucius Calpurnius Piso]] wrote a history cited by Dionysius.
*[[Quintus Aelius Tubero (jurist)|Quintus Aelius Tubero]] wrote a history cited by Dionysius.
*Marcus Octavius (otherwise unknown) wrote an account cited in the ''Origo Gentis''.
*[[Licinius Macer]] (died 66 BC) wrote an account cited in the ''Origo Gentis''.
*Vennonius wrote an account cited in the ''Origo Gentis''.
*[[Juba II]] wrote a history cited by Plutarch<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roller |first1=Duane |title=The world of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene : royal scholarship on Rome's African frontier |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0415305969 |pages=171}}</ref>


==Modern scholarship==
Rome drew exiles, refugees, the dispossessed, criminals and runaway slaves. The city expanded its boundaries to accommodate them; five of the [[seven hills of Rome]] were settled: the [[Capitoline Hill]], the [[Aventine Hill]], the [[Caelian Hill]], the [[Quirinal Hill]], and the [[Palatine Hill]]. As most of these immigrants were men, Rome found itself with a shortage of marriageable women. Romulus invited the neighboring [[Sabine]]s and [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]], along with their womenfolk, to a festival at the [[Circus Maximus]], in honour of [[Consus]] (or of [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]). While the men were distracted by the games and befuddled with wine, the Romans [[Rape of the Sabine women|seized their daughters]] and took them into the city. Most were eventually persuaded to marry Roman men.
[[File:Cr 20-1-Reverse.jpg|thumb|Romulus and Remus. Silver [[drachm|didrachm]] (6.44 g), {{circa|269}}–266 BC]]
[[File:Bracteate she-wolf NMAT KP208-243 (cropped).jpg|thumb|She-wolf suckling two infants ("Romulus and Remus"), with pseudo-Roman characters. [[Panjakent|Penjikent]], 5th century AD, [[National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan]] (KP 208–243).<ref>{{cite book |title=Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or |date=2021 |publisher=Musée Guimet, Snoek |location=Paris, Gand |page=133 |isbn=<!--978-94-6161-627-2-->978-9461616272}}</ref> Motif [[:File:Bunjikat_Remus_and_Romulus.jpg|also known further east]], from [[Principality of Ushrusana|Ushrusana]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Laet |first1=Sigfried J. de |title=History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century |date=1 January 1994 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-102813-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&pg=PA947 |language=en}}</ref>]]
Modern scholarship approaches the various known stories of Romulus and Remus as cumulative elaborations and later interpretations of Roman [[origin myth]]. Particular versions and collations were presented by Roman historians as an authoritative, official history trimmed of contradictions and untidy variants, to justify contemporary developments, genealogies and actions in relation to [[Mos maiorum|Roman morality]]. Other narratives appear to represent popular or folkloric tradition; some of these remain inscrutable in purpose and meaning. Wiseman sums the whole as the [[mythography]] of an unusually problematic foundation and early history.<ref>Wiseman ''Remus''.</ref><ref>{{cite book | first = Arnoldo | last = Momigliano | contribution = An interim report on the origins of Rome | title = Terzo contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico | volume = 1 | publisher = Edizioni di storia e letteratura | place = Rome | year = 2007 | pages = 545–98 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tq53aX69lv0C&q=Diocles+of+peparethus&pg=PA550| isbn = 9788884983633 }}. A critical, chronological review of historiography related to Rome's origins.</ref>


The three canonical accounts of Livy, Dionysius, and Plutarch provide the broad literary basis for studies of Rome's founding mythography. They have much in common, but each is selective to its purpose. Livy's is a dignified handbook, justifying the purpose and morality of Roman traditions of his own day. Dionysius and Plutarch approach the same subjects as interested outsiders, and include founder-traditions not mentioned by Livy, untraceable to a common source and probably specific to particular regions, social classes or oral traditions.<ref>{{cite book | first = Arnoldo | last = Momigliano | title = The classical foundations of modern historiography | publisher = University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton | year = 1990 | page = 101 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Djv5ttMz-HYC&q=Diocles+of+peparethus&pg=PA101| isbn = 9780520078703 }}. Modern historiographic perspectives on this source material.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Dillery | editor-first = Andrew | editor-last = Feldherr | title = The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2009 | pages = 78–81 ff | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7AYWt9bQe9UC&q=Diocles+of+peparethus&pg=PT97| isbn = 9781139827690 }}.</ref> A Roman text of the late Imperial era, ''[[Origo gentis Romanae]]'' (The origin of the Roman people) is dedicated to the many "more or less bizarre", often contradictory variants of Rome's foundation myth, including versions in which Remus founds a city named Remuria, five miles from Rome, and outlives his brother Romulus.<ref>Cornell, pp. 57–8.</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Origo Gentis Romanae | last = Banchich | others = trans. by Haniszewski, et al. | publisher = Cansius College | year = 2004 | url = http://www.roman-emperors.org/origogentis.pdf }}. Translation and commentaries.</ref>
===War with the Sabines===
The Sabine and Latin men demanded the return of their daughters. The inhabitants of three Latin towns (Caenina, [[Antemnae]] and [[Crustumerium]]) took up arms one after the other but were soundly defeated by Romulus, who killed Acron, the king of Caenina, with his own hands and celebrated the first [[Roman triumph]] shortly after. Romulus was magnanimous in victory &ndash; most of the conquered land was divided among Rome's citizens but none of the defeated were enslaved.


Roman historians and Roman traditions traced most Roman institutions to Romulus. He was credited with founding Rome's armies, its system of rights and laws, its state religion and government, and the system of [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage]] that underpinned all social, political and military activity.<ref>Rodriguez Mayorgas p.93</ref> In reality, such developments would have been spread over a considerable span of time. Some were much older and others much more recent. To most Romans, the evidence for the veracity of the legend and its central characters seemed clear and concrete, an essential part of Rome's sacred topography. One could visit the [[Lupercal]], where the twins were suckled by the she-wolf, or offer worship to the deified Romulus-Quirinus at the "''[[Casa Romuli|shepherd's hut]]''", or see it acted out on stage, or simply read the [[Fasti]].
The Sabine king [[Titus Tatius]] marched on Rome to assault its [[Capitoline Hill|Capitoline]] citadel. The citadel commander's daughter [[Tarpeia]] opened the gates for them, in return for "what they wear on their left arms". She expected their golden bracelets. Once inside, the Sabines crushed her to death under a pile of their shields.
[[Image:Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres 019.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Romulus, Victor over Acron, hauls the rich booty to the temple of Jupiter, by [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]]]]
The Sabines left the citadel to meet the Romans in open battle in the space later known as the [[comitium]]. The outcome hung in the balance; the Romans retreated to the Palatine Hill, where Romulus called on [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]] for help &ndash; traditionally at the place where a [[Temple of Jupiter Stator (8th century BC)|temple to Jupiter ''Stator'']] ("the stayer") was built. The Romans drove the Sabines back to the point where the [[Curia Hostilia]] later stood.


The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths, particularly in the manner of Remus's death. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name a [[back-formation]] from the name Rome; the basis for Remus's name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation. The myth was fully developed into something like an "official", chronological version in the Late Republican and early Imperial era; Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and [[Plutarch]] reckoned the twins' birth year as 771 BC. A tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine [[Troy|Trojan]] prince [[Aeneas]] was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Rome's first Imperial dynasty]]. Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed.<ref>The archaeologist [[Andrea Carandini]] is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, based on the 1988 discovery of an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome. Carandini dates the structure to the mid-8th century BC and names it the ''[[Murus Romuli]]''. See Carandini, ''La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà'' (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. ''Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 – 700/675 a. C. circa)'' (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)</ref> The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins became an iconic representation of the city and its founding legend, making Romulus and Remus pre-eminent among the [[List of fictional feral children|feral children of ancient mythography]].
[[Image:The Intervention of the Sabine Women.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The Intervention of the Sabine Women, by [[Jacques-Louis David]], 1799.]]
The Sabine women themselves then intervened to beg for unity between Sabines and Romans. A truce was made, then peace. The Romans-based themselves on the Palatine and the Sabines on the [[Quirinal Hill|Quirinal]], with Romulus and Tatius as joint kings and the Comitium as the common centre of government and culture. 100 Sabine elders and clan leaders joined the Patrician Senate. The Sabines adopted the Roman calendar, and the Romans adopted the armour and oblong shield of the Sabines. The legions were doubled in size.


===Organization and growth===
===Historicity===
[[File:Maria Saal Dom Grabrelief Romulus und Remus 27122013 774.jpg|thumb|left|450px|A Roman relief from the [[Maria Saal#Cathedral|Cathedral of Maria Saal]] showing Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf]]
Romulus and Tatius ruled jointly for five years and subdued the Alban colony of the Camerini. Then Tatius sheltered some allies who had illegally plundered the Lavinians, and murdered ambassadors sent to seek justice. Romulus and the Senate decided that Tatius should go to Lavinium to offer sacrifice and appease his offence. At Lavinium, Tatius was assassinated and Romulus became sole king.
Current scholarship offers little evidence to support any particular version of the Roman foundation myth, including a historical Romulus or Remus.<ref>Rodriguez Mayorgas p.91</ref> Starting with Fabius Pictor, the written accounts must have reflected the commonly-held history of the city to some degree.<ref>Rodriguez Mayorgas p.90</ref> The archaeologist [[Andrea Carandini]] is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, and dates an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill to the mid-8th century BC and names it the ''[[Murus Romuli]]''.<ref>See Carandini, ''La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà'' (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. ''Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 – 700/675 a. C. circa)'' (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)</ref><ref>[[T. P. Wiseman]]. 2001. “Reading Carandini". ''The Journal of Roman Studies'' 91:182–193 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3184776</ref>


==Iconography==
As king, Romulus held authority over Rome's armies and judiciary. He organized Rome's administration according to tribe; one of [[Latins]] (''Ramnes''), one of Sabines (''Titites''), and one of ''Luceres''.<ref>In [[Varro]], the Ramnes derived their name from Romulus, the Titites derived their name from [[Titus Tatius]], and the Luceres derived their name from an Etruscan leader or his title of honour: Livy, 1.13 describes the origin of the ''Luceres'' as unknown.</ref> Each elected a tribune to represent their civil, religious, and military interests. The tribunes were magistrates of their tribes, performed sacrifices on their behalf, and commanded their tribal levies in times of war.
Ancient pictures of the Roman twins usually follow certain [[Iconography|symbolic]] traditions, depending on the legend they follow: they either show a shepherd, the she-wolf, the twins under a fig tree, and one or two birds ([[Livy]], [[Plutarch]]); or they depict two shepherds, the she-wolf, the twins in a cave, seldom a fig tree, and never any birds ([[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]).


The twins and the she-wolf were featured on what might be the earliest silver coins minted in Rome.<ref>Crawford, p. 31</ref>
Romulus divided each tribe into ten ''[[curia]]e'' to form the ''[[Curiate Assembly|Comitia Curiata]]''. The thirty [[curiae]] derived their individual names from thirty of the kidnapped Sabine women.


The [[Franks Casket]], an Anglo-Saxon ivory box (early 7th century AD) shows Romulus and Remus in an unusual setting, two wolves instead of one, a grove instead of one tree or a cave, four kneeling warriors instead of one or two gesticulating shepherds. According to one interpretation, and as the [[Anglo-Saxon runes|runic]] inscription ("far from home") indicates, the twins are cited here as the ''Dioscuri'', helpers at voyages such as [[Castor and Pollux|Castor and Polydeuces]]. Their descent from the Roman god of war predestines them as helpers on the way to war. The carver transferred them into the Germanic holy grove and has [[Odin]]'s second wolf join them. Thus the picture served—along with five other ones—to influence "[[wyrd]]", the fortune and fate of a warrior king.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://deposit.d-nb.de/ep/netpub/84/95/68/987689584/_data_stat/english/left02.html |title=Romulus and Remus |website=Franks Casket |access-date=20 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308052737/http://deposit.d-nb.de/ep/netpub/84/95/68/987689584/_data_stat/english/left02.html |archive-date=8 March 2013 }}; see also "The Travelling Twins: Romulus and Remus in Anglo-Saxon England"</ref>
The individual curiae were further divided into ten [[gens|gentes]], held to form the basis for the [[Roman naming conventions|nomen]] in the Roman naming convention. Proposals made by Romulus or the Senate were offered to the Curiate assembly for ratification; the ten gentes within each curia cast a vote. Votes were carried by whichever gens has a majority.


==In popular culture==
Romulus formed a personal guard called the ''[[Celeres]]''; these were three hundred of Rome's finest horsemen. They were commanded by a tribune of the Ramnes; in one version of the founding tale, Celer killed Remus and helped Romulus found the city of Rome. The provision of a personal guard for Romulus helped justify the Augustan development of a [[Praetorian Guard]], responsible for internal security and the personal safety of the Emperor. The relationship between Romulus and his Tribune resembled the later relation between the [[Roman Dictator]] and his [[Master of the Horse|Magister Equitum]]. Celer, as the Celerum [[Tribune]], occupied the second place in the state, and in Romulus's absence had the rights of convoking the Comitia and commanding the armies.
* ''[[Duel of the Titans]]'', ({{Lang-it|Romolo e Remo}}), a 1961 film starring [[Steve Reeves]] and [[Gordon Scott]] as the two brothers.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaugBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 |title=Imagining Ancient Cities in Film: From Babylon to Cinecittà |first1=Marta |last1=Garcia Morcillo |first2=Pauline |last2=Hanesworth |first3=Óscar |last3=Lapeña Marchena |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=11 February 2015 |page=169 |isbn=9781135013172}}</ref>
*''[[The First King: Birth of an Empire]]'' (''Il Primo Re''), a 2019 Italian historical film by [[Matteo Rovere]] depicting the foundation of Rome. The film's script features a reconstructed [[Old Latin]] language.
* ''[[Romulus (TV series)|Romulus]]'', a 2020 Italian TV series by Matteo Rovere about the founding of Rome. It also features a reconstructed Old Latin language.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10405220/|title = Romulus (TV Series 2020– ) – IMDb|website = [[IMDb]]}}</ref>


==Depictions in art==
For more than two decades, Romulus waged wars and expanded Rome's territory. He subdued [[Fidenae]], which seized Roman provisions during a famine, and founded a Roman colony there. Then he subdued the Crustumini, who had murdered Roman colonists in their territory. The [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]] of [[Veii]] protested the presence of a Roman garrison at Fidenae, and demanded the return of the town to its citizens. When Romulus refused, they confronted him in battle and were defeated. They agreed to a hundred-year truce and surrendered fifty noble hostages: Romulus celebrated his third and last triumph.
{{further|Capitoline Wolf statues in cities}}


<gallery mode="packed" caption="''« Les Sabines » by [[Jacques-Louis David]] ([[musée du Louvre]])''" heights="200">
When Romulus's grandfather [[Numitor]] died, the people of [[Alba Longa]] offered him the crown as rightful heir. Romulus adapted the government of the city to a Roman model. Henceforth, the citizens held annual elections and choose one of their own as Roman governor.
The Intervention of the Sabine Women - David (Louvre INV 3691).jpg
F0440 Louvre JL David Sabines INV3691 detail02 rwk.jpg|{{center|Romulus}}
</gallery>


[[File:Origini di roma in narrazione continua, da pompei V 4, 13, s.n..JPG|thumb|A fresco from [[Pompeii]] depicting the foundation of Rome. [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]] riding in his chariot; [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] descending from the sky to [[Rhea Silvia]] lying in the grass; [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] shows to [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god [[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]] and water-goddess [[Juturna]]. 35–45 AD]]
In Rome, Romulus began to show signs of autocratic rule. The Senate becomes less influential in administration and lawmaking; Romulus ruled by [[edict]]. He divided his conquered territories among his soldiers without Patrician consent. Senatorial resentment grew to hatred.
The myth has been an inspiration to artists throughout the ages. Particular focus has been paid to the rape of Ilia by Mars and the suckling of the twins by the she-wolf.


===Death of Romulus===
===Palazzo Magnani===
[[File:Carracci, Remo ladri armenti, Palazzo Magnani, Bologna.png|thumb|''Remus and the Cattle Thieves'' (attributed to one or more of the Carraccis)]]
According to the legend, Romulus "mysteriously" disappeared in a storm or whirlwind, during or shortly after offering public sacrifice at or near the Quirinal Hill.<ref>Evans, Jane DeRose ''The Art of Persuasion'' University of Michigan Press 1992 ISBN 0-472-10282-6 [https://books.google.com/books?id=2AsRrF3ej38C&pg=PA103&dq=romulus+quirinus&ei=Rfz-SOKiGpDwsgPk4_DrDA&client=firefox-a#PPA103,M1 books.google.co.uk]</ref> A "foul suspicion" arises that the Senate, weary of kingly government, and exasperated of late by the imperious deportment of Romulus toward them, had plotted against his life and made him away, so that they might assume the authority and government into their own hands. This suspicion they sought to turn aside by decreeing divine honors to Romulus, as to one not dead, but translated to a higher condition. And Proculus, a man of note, took oath that he saw Romulus caught up into heaven in his arms and vestments, and heard him, as he ascended, cry out that they should hereafter style him by the name of Quirinus.<ref>Plutarch, Life of Numa Pompilius.</ref>
In the late 16th century, the wealthy [[Magnani]] family from Bologna commissioned a series of artworks based on the Roman foundation myth. The artists contributing works included a sculpture of Hercules with the infant twins by Gabriele Fiorini, featuring the patron's own face. The most important works were an elaborate series of frescoes collectively known as ''Histories of the Foundation of Rome'' by the Brothers Carracci: [[Ludovico Carracci|Ludovico]], [[Annibale Carracci|Annibale]], and [[Agostino Carracci]].


===Fresco of Palazzo Trinci===
Livy repeats more or less the same story, but shifts the initiative for deification to the people of Rome:
[[File:Loggia di romolo e remo 04 nascita di romolo e remo.JPG|thumb|The birth of Romulus and Remus]]
{{quote|Then a few voices began to proclaim Romulus's divinity; the cry was taken up, and at last every man present hailed him as a god and son of a god, and prayed to him to be forever gracious and to protect his children. However, even on this great occasion there were, I believe, a few dissenters who secretly maintained that the king had been torn to pieces by the senators. At all events the story got about, though in veiled terms; but it was not important, as awe, and admiration for Romulus's greatness, set the seal upon the other version of his end, which was, moreover, given further credit by the timely action of a certain Julius Proculus, a man, we are told, honored for his wise counsel on weighty matters. The loss of the king had left the people in an uneasy mood and suspicious of the senators, and Proculus, aware of the prevalent temper, conceived the shrewd idea of addressing the Assembly. 'Romulus', he declared, 'the father of our city descended from heaven at dawn this morning and appeared to me. In awe and reverence I stood before him, praying for permission to look upon his face without sin. ''Go'', he said, ''and tell the Romans that by heaven's will my [[Roman Empire|Rome shall be capital of the world]]. Let them learn to be soldiers. Let them know, and teach their children, that no power on earth can stand against Roman arms''. Having spoken these words, he was taken up again into the sky"<ref>Livy, 1.16, trans. A. de Selincourt, ''The Early History of Rome'', 34-35 [http://rel2243-04.fa03.fsu.edu/divine.htm rel2243-04.fa03.fsu.edu]</ref> }}
The ''Loggia di Romolo e Remo'' is an unfinished, 15th century [[fresco]] by [[Gentile da Fabriano]] depicting episodes from the legend in the [[Palazzo Trinci]].

Livy infers Romulus's murder as no more than a dim and doubtful whisper from the past; in the circumstances, Proculus' declaration is wise and practical because it has the desired effect. Cicero's seeming familiarity with the story of Romulus's murder and divinity must have been shared by his target audience and readership.<ref>Evans, 103: citing Cicero, ''de Rep''. 2.10.20.</ref> Dio's version, though fragmentary, is unequivocal; Romulus is surrounded by hostile, resentful senators and "rent limb from limb" in the senate-house itself. An eclipse and sudden storm, "the same sort of phenomenon that had attended his birth", conceal the deed from the soldiers and the people, who are anxiously seeking their king. Proculus fakes a personal vision of Romulus's spontaneous ascent to heaven as Quirinus and announces the message of Romulus-Quirinus; a new king must be chosen at once. A dispute arises: should this king be Sabine or Roman? The debate goes on for a year. During this time, the most distinguished senators rule for five days at a time as ''[[Interrex|interreges]]''.<ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'', 1, (fragment: ''Ioann. Laur. Lyd., De magistr. rei publ. Rom. 1, 7'', Zonaras) online at Thayer's website [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/1*.html penelope.uchicago.edu]; see also Thayer's linked note on the limits of historical accuracy in using known eclipses to date Romulus's birth and death.</ref>

====Alleged dates====
Plutarch says that Romulus was 53 ("in the fifty-fourth year of his age") when he "vanished" in 717 BC; this gives the twins a birth-date in the year 771 BC, and Romulus's founding of Rome at the age of 18.<ref>{{citation | publisher = [[MIT]] | series = Classics | url = http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/romulus.html | title = Romulus | last = Plutarch | others = trans. by John Dryden}}.</ref> [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] says that Romulus began his reign at 18, ruled for 37 years and died at 55 years old.<ref>Dionysius of Hallicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'' 2.56</ref>

==Romulus-Quirinus==
[[Ennius]] (fl. 180s BC) refers to Romulus as a divinity without reference to Quirinus, whom Roman mythographers identified as an originally Sabine war-deity, and thus to be identified with Roman [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]. [[Lucilius]] lists Quirinus and Romulus as separate deities, and [[Varro]] accords them different temples. Images of Quirinus showed him as a bearded warrior wielding a spear as a god of war, the embodiment of Roman strength and a deified likeness of the city of Rome. He had a [[Flamen|Flamen Maior]] called the [[Flamen Quirinalis]], who oversaw his worship and rituals in the ordainment of Roman religion attributed to Romulus's royal successor, [[Numa Pompilius]]. There is however no evidence for the conflated Romulus-Quirinus before the 1st century BC.<ref>Evans, 103 and footnote 66: citing quotation of Ennius in Cicero, 1.41.64.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Fishwick |first=Duncan |title=The Imperial Cult in the Latin West |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |edition=2nd |year=1993 |isbn=90-04-07179-2 |page=53 }}.</ref>

[[Ovid]] in Book 14, lines 812-828, of the ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' gives a description of the deification of Romulus and his wife [[Hersilia]], who are given the new names of Quirinus and Hora respectively. Mars, the father of Romulus, is given permission by [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] to bring his son up to Olympus to live with the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]]. Ovid uses the words of Ennius as a direct quote and puts them into the mouth of the King of the Gods, "There shall be one whom you shall raise to the blue vault of heaven". Ovid then uses a simile to describe the change that Romulus undertakes as he ascends to live with the Olympians, "as leaden balls from a broad sling melt in mid sky: Finer his features now and worthier of heaven’s high-raised couch, his lineaments those of Quirinus in his robe of state”.

==Iconography==
[[Image:Cr 20-1-Reverse.jpg|thumb|Romulus and Remus. Silver [[drachm|didrachm]] (6.44 g). c. 269–266 BC]]
Ancient pictures of the Roman twins usually follow certain [[Iconography|symbolic]] traditions, depending on the legend they follow: they either show a shepherd, the she-wolf, the twins under a fig tree, and one or two birds ([[Livy]], [[Plutarch]]); or they depict two shepherds, the she-wolf, the twins in a cave, seldom a fig tree, and never any birds ([[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]).

Also there are coins with ''Lupa'' and the tiny twins placed beneath her.

The [[Franks Casket]], an Anglo-Saxon ivory box (early 7th century AD) shows Romulus and Remus in an unusual setting, two wolves instead of one, a grove instead of one tree or a cave, four kneeling warriors instead of one or two gesticulating shepherds. According to one interpretation, and as the [[Anglo-Saxon runes|runic]] inscription ("far from home") indicates, the twins are cited here as the ''Dioscuri'', helpers at voyages such as [[Castor and Pollux|Castor and Polydeuces]]. Their descent from the Roman god of war predestines them as helpers on the way to war. The carver transferred them into the Germanic holy grove and has [[Woden]]’s second wolf join them. Thus the picture served — along with five other ones — to influence "[[wyrd]]", the fortune and fate of a warrior king.<ref>[http://deposit.d-nb.de/ep/netpub/84/95/68/987689584/_data_stat/english/left02.html]; see also "The Travelling Twins: Romulus and Remus in Anglo-Saxon England''</ref>

==In popular culture==
* ''[[Romolo e Remo]]'': a 1961 film starring [[Steve Reeves]] and [[Gordon Scott]] as the two brothers.
* ''[[The Rape of the Sabine Women (1962 film)|The Rape of the Sabine Women]]'': a 1962 film starring [[Wolf Ruvinskis]] as Romulus.
* In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' universe, Romulus and Remus are neighbouring [[planets]] with Remus being [[tidally locked]] to the star. Romulus is the capital of the [[Romulan|Romulan Star Empire]], which is loosely based on the [[Roman Empire]].
* The novel Founding Fathers by [[Alfred Duggan]] describes the founding and first decades of Rome from the points of view of Marcus, one of Romulus's Latin followers, Publius, a Sabine who settles in Rome as part of the peace agreement with Tatius, Perperna, an Etruscan fugitive who is accepted into the tribe of Luceres after his own city is destroyed, and Macro, a Greek seeking purification from blood-guilt who comes to the city in the last years of Romulus's reign. Publiusa and Perpernia become senators. Romulus is portrayed as a gifted leader though a remarkably unpleasant person, chiefly distinguished by his luck; the story of his surreptitious murder by the senators is adopted, but although the story of his deification is fabricated, his murderers themselves think he may indeed have become a god. The novel begins with the founding of the city and the killing of Remus, and ends with the accession of Numa Pompilius.
* In the game ''[[Undead Knights]]'', the main characters are brothers named Romulus and Remus.
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', one of the characters is named after Remus—Remus John Lupin. And at one point uses the code name Romulus. Professor Lupin is a teacher of defence against the dark arts, and is in fact a werewolf. This reflects the Remus of roman mythology, who was raised by a wolf.
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]]'' Romulus is worshiped as a god by the Followers of Romulus cult. The main character, Ezio Auditore, comes into conflict with the cult on several occasions during his adventures in Rome while trying to locate the keys to the Armor of [[Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger|Brutus]], wiping out the cult in the process.<ref>Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood</ref>
*In the [[Death Grips]] song, "Black Quarterback" Romulus and Remus are mentioned. In characteristic Death Grips style, their lyric isn't contextualised in any typical linear sense.
*"Up the Wolves" by [[The Mountain Goats]] is a song that alludes to Romulus and Remus.
*[[Ex Deo]] released an album in 2009 titled [[Romulus (album)|Romulus]]. Its title track concerns the myth of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome.


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Asena]], a similar legend concerning the origin of the [[Turkic peoples|Turks]]
* [[Asena]], a similar legend concerning the origin of the [[Turkic peoples|Turks]]
* [[Castor and Pollux]]
* [[Proto-Indo-European religion#Brothers|Proto-Indo-European religion, §Brothers]]
* [[The Golden Bough (mythology)|The Golden Bough]], a tale concerning Aeneas and Rome
* [[The Golden Bough (mythology)|The Golden Bough]], a tale concerning Aeneas and Rome
* [[Greco-Roman world]]
* [[Hengist and Horsa]], legendary brothers from the tale of the 5th-century AD [[Jutes|Jutish]] invasion of Britain.
* [[Lares]]
* [[*Manu and *Yemo|Manu and Yemo]], a [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Proto-Indo-European]] story believed to be the origin of this myth
*[[Romulus of Fiesole]], a 1st-century saint who was also abandoned in the wild and nursed by a she-wolf.
*[[Senius and Aschius]], the legendary twin founders of [[Siena]]
*[[Cain and Abel]], first sons of [[Adam and Eve]]


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==

===Primary sources===
*{{cite book|author=Dionysius of Halicarnassus|access-date=19 November 2016|title=Roman Antiquities|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/dionysius_halicarnassus-roman_antiquities/1937/pb_LCL319.3.xml?mainRsKey=RapDr1&result=1&rskey=kwodaD|doi=10.4159/DLCL.dionysius_halicarnassus-roman_antiquities.1937|year=1937|isbn=9780674993525}} {{Subscription required|via=[[Loeb Classical Library|digital Loeb Classical Library]]}}
*{{cite book |author=Livy|access-date=7 November 2016|title=History of Rome 1|url=http://www.loebclassics.com/view/livy-history_rome_1/1919/pb_LCL114.59.xml?result=1&rskey=YrZTGC|doi=10.4159/DLCL.livy-history_rome_1.1919|year=1919|isbn=9780674991262}} {{Subscription required|via=[[Loeb Classical Library|digital Loeb Classical Library]]}}
*{{cite book |author= Plutarch | title = The Parallel Lives | chapter = The life of Romulus | publisher = Loeb | editor = Thayer | chapter-url = https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/romulus*.html | place = Chicago}}.
*{{cite book |author=Ovid|editor1-first=G. P|editor1-last=Goold|access-date=25 November 2016|title=Fasti |url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-fasti/1931/pb_LCL253.295.xml?rskey=idh5gf&result=6&mainRsKey=oKhCH5|doi=10.4159/DLCL.ovid-fasti.1931|year=1931 |isbn= 9780674992795}} {{Subscription required|via=[[Loeb Classical Library|digital Loeb Classical Library]]}}

===Secondary sources===
*{{cite book|last=Crawford|first=Michael Hewson|title=Coinage and Money Under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84_G_8q6WQcC|access-date=30 November 2016|year=1985|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05506-3}}
*{{cite journal|last=Rodríguez Mayorgas|first=Ana|title=Romulus, Aeneas and the Cultural Memory of the Roman Republic|journal=Athenaeum|volume=98|issue=1|date=2010|pages=89–109|access-date=14 December 2016|url=http://eprints.sim.ucm.es/24264/1/RodriguezMayorgas.pdf}}
*{{cite journal|last=Tennant|first=PMW |date=1988|title=The Lupercalia and the Romulus and Remus Legend|url=http://www.casa-kvsa.org.za/1988/AC31-08-Tennant.pdf |journal=Acta Classical|volume=XXXI |pages=81–93 |issn=0065-1141 |access-date=19 November 2016 |archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510133423/http://www.casa-kvsa.org.za/1988/AC31-08-Tennant.pdf |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite book |last=Wiseman|first=Timothy Peter |author1-link=T.P. Wiseman|title=Remus: A Roman Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7LPNHRUlWacC|access-date=30 November 2016|date=25 August 1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge ; New York, NY, USA|isbn=978-0-521-48366-7}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Albertoni, Margherita, et al. ''The Capitoline Museums: Guide''. Milan: Electa, 2006. For information on the Capitoline She-Wolf.
* {{cite book |last1=Albertoni |first1=Margherita |display-authors=etal |title=The Capitoline Museums: Guide |date=2006 |publisher=Electa |location=Milan}}. For information on the Capitoline She-Wolf.
* [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Beard, M.]], [[John A. North (classicist)|North, J.]], Price, S., ''Religions of Rome, vol.'' 1, illustrated, reprint, Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-521-31682-0
* {{cite book |last1=Beard |first1=Mary |last2=North |first2=John A. |last3=Price |first3=S. R. F. |author1-link=Mary Beard (classicist) |title=Religions of Rome |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge ; New York |isbn=0-521-31682-0 |edition=illustrated, reprint|volume= 1 }}
* Cornell, T., ''The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC)'', Routledge, 1995. ISBN 978-0-415-01596-7
* {{cite book|last=Cornell|first=T.|title=The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=01g78OVXuQ8C|date=1995|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-75495-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Mazzoni|first=Cristina|title=She-Wolf: The Story of a Roman Icon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4cq1XH0L3GUC|access-date=2 December 2016|date=29 March 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-19456-3}}
* [[T.P. Wiseman|Wiseman, T. P.]], ''Remus: a Roman myth'', Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-521-48366-7
* {{cite journal |last1=Tomažinčič |first1=Špela |title=Remo Cum Fratre Quirinus: Metamorphoses of the Roman Foundation Myth from Its Beginnings to Horace |journal=Keria: Studia Latina et Graeca |date=26 July 2008 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=7–31 |doi=10.4312/keria.10.1.7-31 |url=https://journals.uni-lj.si/keria/article/view/3819 |access-date= |publisher=University of Ljubljana Press |language=sl |issn=2350-4234}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{commons}}
{{commons}}
* [[Plutarch]] (Lives of ''[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Romulus*.html Romulus]'', ''[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Numa*.html Numa Pompilius]'', ''[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Camillus*.html Camillus]'')
* Plutarch, ''[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Romulus*.html the Life of Romulus]''
* Romulus and Remus (Romwalus and Reumwalus) and two wolves on the Franks Casket: [http://www.franks-casket.de/english/left00.html Franks Casket, Helpers on the way to war]
* Romulus and Remus (Romwalus and Reumwalus) and two wolves on the Franks Casket: [https://www.franks-casket.de/english/left00.html Franks Casket, Helpers on the way to war]
*[http://cdm.reed.edu/ara-pacis/altar/front-entrance-west/romulous-remus-1/ Romulous and Remus on the Ara Pacis Augustae]
*[https://rdc.reed.edu/c/arapacis/s Romulous and Remus on the Ara Pacis Augustae]

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg | leg }}
{{s-new | creation }}
{{s-ttl | title = [[King of Rome]] | years = 753–717 }}
{{s-aft | after = [[Numa Pompilius]] | rows = 2}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Numitor]] }}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Latin kings of Alba Longa|King of Alba Longa]] }}
{{s-end}}


{{Kings of Rome}}
{{Kings of Rome}}
{{Plutarch}}
{{Plutarch}}
{{Roman religion}}
{{Roman myth (mortal)}}
{{Roman myth (mortal)}}
{{Ancient Rome topics}}
{{Ancient Rome topics}}
{{Authority control|additional=Q1242632}}


[[Category:Romulus and Remus| ]]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Origin myths]]

[[Category:8th-century BC Romans]]
[[Category:8th-century BC Romans]]
[[Category:Kings of Rome]]
[[Category:People from Alba Longa]]
[[Category:Sibling duos]]
[[Category:People whose existence is disputed]]
[[Category:City founders]]
[[Category:She-wolf (Roman mythology)]]
[[Category:Founding monarchs]]
[[Category:Feral children]]
[[Category:Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Divine twins]]
[[Category:Divine twins]]
[[Category:Demigods of Classical mythology]]
[[Category:Groups of ancient Romans]]
[[Category:Deified people]]
[[Category:Mythological Italian people]]
[[Category:Myth of origins]]

Latest revision as of 18:42, 8 October 2024

La Lupa Capitolina "the Capitoline Wolf". Traditional scholarship says the wolf-figure is Etruscan, 5th century BC. The figures of Romulus and Remus were added in the 15th century AD by Antonio del Pollaiuolo. Some modern research suggests that the she-wolf may be a Romanesque sculpture dating from the 13th century AD.[1]
Altar to Mars (divine father of Romulus and Remus) and Venus (their divine ancestress) depicting elements of their legend. The god Tiberinus ("Father Tiber") and the infant twins being suckled by a she-wolf in the Lupercal are below. A vulture from the contest of augury and Palatine hill are to the left. (From Ostia, now at the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme)
The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife, Nicolas Mignard (1654)

In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus (Latin: [ˈroːmʊlʊs], [ˈrɛmʊs]) are twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the founding of the city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his fratricide of Remus. The image of a she-wolf suckling the twins in their infancy has been a symbol of the city of Rome and the ancient Romans since at least the 3rd century BC. Although the tale takes place before the founding of Rome around 750 BC, the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC. Possible historical bases for the story, and interpretations of its local variants, are subjects of ongoing debate.

Overview

[edit]

Romulus and Remus were born in Alba Longa, one of the many ancient Latin cities near the Seven hills of Rome. Their mother Rhea Silvia, also known as Ilia,[2] was a Vestal Virgin and the daughter of former king Numitor, who had been displaced by his brother Amulius. In some sources, Rhea Silvia conceived them when the god Mars visited her in a sacred grove dedicated to him.[3]

Seeing them as a possible threat to his rule, King Amulius ordered them to be killed and they were abandoned on the bank of the river Tiber to die. They were saved by the god Tiberinus, Father of the River, and survived with the care of others at the site of future Rome. In the most well-known episode, the twins were suckled by a she-wolf in a cave now known as the Lupercal.[4] Eventually, they were adopted by Faustulus, a shepherd. They grew up tending flocks, unaware of their true identities. Over time, they became natural leaders and attracted a company of supporters from the community.

Romulus and Remus on the House of the She-wolf at the Grand-Place of Brussels

When they were young adults, they became involved in a dispute between supporters of Numitor and Amulius. As a result, Remus was taken prisoner and brought to Alba Longa. Both his grandfather and the king suspected his true identity. Romulus, meanwhile, had organized an effort to free his brother and set out with help for the city. During this time, they learned of their past and joined forces with their grandfather to restore him to the throne. Amulius was killed and Numitor was reinstated as king of Alba. The twins set out to build a city of their own.

After arriving back in the area of the seven hills, they disagreed about the hill upon which to build. Romulus preferred the Palatine Hill, above the Lupercal; Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. When they could not resolve the dispute, they agreed to seek the gods' approval through a contest of augury. Remus saw 6 auspicious birds, but Romulus saw 12 and claimed to have won divine approval. They disputed the result; Remus insulted Romulus' new city and was killed, either by Romulus or by one of his supporters.[5] Romulus then went on to found the city of Rome, its institutions, government, military, and religious traditions. He reigned for many years as its first king.

Primary sources

[edit]

The origins of the different elements in Rome's foundation myth are a subject of ongoing debate. They may have come from the Romans' own Italic origins, or from Hellenic influences that were included later. Definitively identifying those original elements has so far eluded classicists.[6] Roman historians dated the founding of Rome around 753 BC, but the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC.[7] There is an ongoing debate about how and when the "complete" fable came together.[8]

Some elements are attested earlier than others, and the storyline and the tone were variously influenced by the circumstances and tastes of the different sources as well as by contemporary Roman politics and concepts of propriety.[9] Whether the twins' myth was an original part of Roman myth or a later development is the subject of an ongoing debate.[8] Sources often contradict one another. They include the histories of Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Tacitus as well as the work of Virgil and Ovid.[7][10][11] Quintus Fabius Pictor's work became authoritative to the early books of Livy's History of Rome, Dionysius of Halicarnassus's Roman Antiquities, and Plutarch's Life of Romulus.[12]

These three works have been among the most widely read versions of the myth. In all three works, the tales of the lupercal and the fratricide are overshadowed by that of the twins' lineage and connections to Aeneas and the deposing of Amulius. The latter receives the most attention in the accounts. Plutarch dedicates nearly half of his account to the overthrow of their uncle.

Roman Antiquities (Dionysius)

[edit]

Dionysius cites, among others, the histories of Pictor, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Cato the Elder, Lucius Cincius Alimentus.

The first book of Dionysius' twenty-volume history of Rome does not mention Remus until page 235 (chapter 71). After spending another 8 chapters discussing the background of their birth in Alba, he dedicates a total of 9 chapters to the tale (79–87). Most of that is spent discussing the conflict with Amulius.

He goes on to discuss the various accounts of the city's founding by others, and the lineage and parentage of the twins for another 8 chapters until arriving at the tale of their abandonment by the Tiber. He spends the better part of the chapter 79 discussing the survival in the wild. Then the end of 79 through 84 on the account of their struggle with Amulius. 84 with the non-fantastical account of their survival 294. Finally 295 is the augury 85–86, 87–88 the fratricide.303[clarification needed]

Ab Urbe Condita (Livy)

[edit]
Detail of Romulus and Remus on the allegory of Tiber

Livy discusses the myth in chapters 4, 5, and 6 of his work's first book. p. 7 parentage 4 p. 8 survival. p. 8 the youth. 5 9–10 the struggle with Amulius. 6 p. 11 (the beginning only) the augury and fratricide.

Life of Romulus (Plutarch)

[edit]

Plutarch relates the legend in chapters 2–10 of the Life of Romulus. He dedicates the most attention, nearly half the entire account, to conflict with Amulius.

Fasti (Ovid)

[edit]

Fasti, the epic Latin poem by Ovid from the early 1st century AD, contains a complete account of the twins' tale. Notably, it relates a tale wherein the ghost of Remus appears to Faustulus and his wife, whom the poet calls "Acca". In the story, Remus appears to them while in bed and expresses his anger at Celer for killing him and his own,[clarification needed] as well as Romulus' unquestioned fraternal love.

Roman History (Dio)

[edit]

Roman History by Cassius Dio survives in fragment from various commentaries. They contain a more-or-less complete account. In them, he mentions an oracle that had predicted Amulius' death by a son of Numitor as the reason the Alban king expelled the boys. There is also a mention of "another Romulus and Remus" and another Rome having been founded long before on the same site.[13]

Origo Gentis Romanae (unknown)

[edit]

This work contains a variety of versions of the story. In one, there is a reference to a woodpecker bringing the boys food during the time they were abandoned in the wild. In one account of the conflict with Amulius, the capture of Remus is not mentioned. Instead, Romulus, upon being told of his true identity and the crimes suffered by him and his family at the hands of the Alban king, simply decided to avenge them. He took his supporters directly to the city and killed Amulius, afterwards restoring his grandfather to the throne.[14]

Fragments and other sources

[edit]
Panel of the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket
  • Annals by Ennius is lost, but fragments remain in later histories.
  • Roman History by Appian, in Book I "Concerning the Kings" is a fragment containing an account of the twins' parentage and origins.
  • The City of God by Saint Augustine, claims, in passing, that Remus was alive after the city's founding. Both he and Romulus established the Roman Asylum after the traditional accounts claimed that he had died.[15]
  • Bibliotheca historica by Diodorus Siculus, is a universal history, which survives mostly intact in fragments and has a complete recounting of the twins' origins, their youth in the shepherd community, and the contest of the augury and fratricide. In this version, Remus sees no birds at all and he is later killed by Celer, Romulus' worker.
  • Origines by Cato the Elder, fragments of which survive in the work of later historians, is cited by Dionysius.
  • Roman poet Juvenal calls them geminos Quirinos, an allusion to Quirinus.[16]

Lost sources

[edit]
  • Quintus Fabius Pictor wrote in the 3rd century BC. His History, written in Greek, is the earliest-known history of Rome. He is cited by all three canonical works.
  • Diocles of Peparethus wrote a history of Rome that is cited by Plutarch.
  • Lucius Calpurnius Piso wrote a history cited by Dionysius.
  • Quintus Aelius Tubero wrote a history cited by Dionysius.
  • Marcus Octavius (otherwise unknown) wrote an account cited in the Origo Gentis.
  • Licinius Macer (died 66 BC) wrote an account cited in the Origo Gentis.
  • Vennonius wrote an account cited in the Origo Gentis.
  • Juba II wrote a history cited by Plutarch[17]

Modern scholarship

[edit]
Romulus and Remus. Silver didrachm (6.44 g), c. 269–266 BC
She-wolf suckling two infants ("Romulus and Remus"), with pseudo-Roman characters. Penjikent, 5th century AD, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan (KP 208–243).[18] Motif also known further east, from Ushrusana[19]

Modern scholarship approaches the various known stories of Romulus and Remus as cumulative elaborations and later interpretations of Roman origin myth. Particular versions and collations were presented by Roman historians as an authoritative, official history trimmed of contradictions and untidy variants, to justify contemporary developments, genealogies and actions in relation to Roman morality. Other narratives appear to represent popular or folkloric tradition; some of these remain inscrutable in purpose and meaning. Wiseman sums the whole as the mythography of an unusually problematic foundation and early history.[20][21]

The three canonical accounts of Livy, Dionysius, and Plutarch provide the broad literary basis for studies of Rome's founding mythography. They have much in common, but each is selective to its purpose. Livy's is a dignified handbook, justifying the purpose and morality of Roman traditions of his own day. Dionysius and Plutarch approach the same subjects as interested outsiders, and include founder-traditions not mentioned by Livy, untraceable to a common source and probably specific to particular regions, social classes or oral traditions.[22][23] A Roman text of the late Imperial era, Origo gentis Romanae (The origin of the Roman people) is dedicated to the many "more or less bizarre", often contradictory variants of Rome's foundation myth, including versions in which Remus founds a city named Remuria, five miles from Rome, and outlives his brother Romulus.[24][25]

Roman historians and Roman traditions traced most Roman institutions to Romulus. He was credited with founding Rome's armies, its system of rights and laws, its state religion and government, and the system of patronage that underpinned all social, political and military activity.[26] In reality, such developments would have been spread over a considerable span of time. Some were much older and others much more recent. To most Romans, the evidence for the veracity of the legend and its central characters seemed clear and concrete, an essential part of Rome's sacred topography. One could visit the Lupercal, where the twins were suckled by the she-wolf, or offer worship to the deified Romulus-Quirinus at the "shepherd's hut", or see it acted out on stage, or simply read the Fasti.

The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths, particularly in the manner of Remus's death. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name a back-formation from the name Rome; the basis for Remus's name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation. The myth was fully developed into something like an "official", chronological version in the Late Republican and early Imperial era; Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and Plutarch reckoned the twins' birth year as 771 BC. A tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine Trojan prince Aeneas was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of Rome's first Imperial dynasty. Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed.[27] The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins became an iconic representation of the city and its founding legend, making Romulus and Remus pre-eminent among the feral children of ancient mythography.

Historicity

[edit]
A Roman relief from the Cathedral of Maria Saal showing Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf

Current scholarship offers little evidence to support any particular version of the Roman foundation myth, including a historical Romulus or Remus.[28] Starting with Fabius Pictor, the written accounts must have reflected the commonly-held history of the city to some degree.[29] The archaeologist Andrea Carandini is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, and dates an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill to the mid-8th century BC and names it the Murus Romuli.[30][31]

Iconography

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Ancient pictures of the Roman twins usually follow certain symbolic traditions, depending on the legend they follow: they either show a shepherd, the she-wolf, the twins under a fig tree, and one or two birds (Livy, Plutarch); or they depict two shepherds, the she-wolf, the twins in a cave, seldom a fig tree, and never any birds (Dionysius of Halicarnassus).

The twins and the she-wolf were featured on what might be the earliest silver coins minted in Rome.[32]

The Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon ivory box (early 7th century AD) shows Romulus and Remus in an unusual setting, two wolves instead of one, a grove instead of one tree or a cave, four kneeling warriors instead of one or two gesticulating shepherds. According to one interpretation, and as the runic inscription ("far from home") indicates, the twins are cited here as the Dioscuri, helpers at voyages such as Castor and Polydeuces. Their descent from the Roman god of war predestines them as helpers on the way to war. The carver transferred them into the Germanic holy grove and has Odin's second wolf join them. Thus the picture served—along with five other ones—to influence "wyrd", the fortune and fate of a warrior king.[33]

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Depictions in art

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A fresco from Pompeii depicting the foundation of Rome. Sol riding in his chariot; Mars descending from the sky to Rhea Silvia lying in the grass; Mercury shows to Venus the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god Tiberinus and water-goddess Juturna. 35–45 AD

The myth has been an inspiration to artists throughout the ages. Particular focus has been paid to the rape of Ilia by Mars and the suckling of the twins by the she-wolf.

Palazzo Magnani

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Remus and the Cattle Thieves (attributed to one or more of the Carraccis)

In the late 16th century, the wealthy Magnani family from Bologna commissioned a series of artworks based on the Roman foundation myth. The artists contributing works included a sculpture of Hercules with the infant twins by Gabriele Fiorini, featuring the patron's own face. The most important works were an elaborate series of frescoes collectively known as Histories of the Foundation of Rome by the Brothers Carracci: Ludovico, Annibale, and Agostino Carracci.

Fresco of Palazzo Trinci

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The birth of Romulus and Remus

The Loggia di Romolo e Remo is an unfinished, 15th century fresco by Gentile da Fabriano depicting episodes from the legend in the Palazzo Trinci.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Adriano La Regina, "La lupa del Campidoglio è medievale la prova è nel test al carbonio". La Repubblica. 9 July 2008
  2. ^ Cassius, Dio; Earnest, Cary; Foster, Herbert Baldwin (1914). "Dio's Roman History". Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 13.
  3. ^ Other sources express doubt as to the divine nature of their parentage. One claims that the boys were fathered by Amulius himself, who raped his niece while wearing his armor to conceal his identity.
  4. ^ For other depictions, see Livy and Dionysius
  5. ^ Dionysius lays out several of the different accounts of his death, along with his murder by Romulus.
  6. ^ Tennant, p. 81
  7. ^ a b Dionysius, vol. 1 p. 72
  8. ^ a b Tennant
  9. ^ Wiseman, Remus
  10. ^ Dionysius, vol. II p. 76
  11. ^ Plutarch, Lives
  12. ^ von Albrecht, Michael (1997). A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius. Vol. I. Leiden: BRILL. p. 374. ISBN 978-90-04-10709-0. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  13. ^ Dio Cassius (1914). Roman History I p.12-18. doi:10.4159/DLCL.dio_cassius-roman_history.1914. ISBN 9780674990364. Retrieved 24 November 2016.  – via digital Loeb Classical Library (subscription required)
  14. ^ Origo Gentis Romanae XXI
  15. ^ Saint Augustine (1957). The City of God Against the Pagans. Vol. 1. p. 137. doi:10.4159/DLCL.augustine-city_god_pagans.1957. ISBN 9780674994522. Retrieved 24 November 2016.  – via digital Loeb Classical Library (subscription required)
  16. ^ Leeming, David.From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. 64–65.
  17. ^ Roller, Duane (2003). The world of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene : royal scholarship on Rome's African frontier. Routledge. p. 171. ISBN 0415305969.
  18. ^ Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or. Paris, Gand: Musée Guimet, Snoek. 2021. p. 133. ISBN 978-9461616272.
  19. ^ Laet, Sigfried J. de (1 January 1994). History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-102813-7.
  20. ^ Wiseman Remus.
  21. ^ Momigliano, Arnoldo (2007). "An interim report on the origins of Rome". Terzo contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico. Vol. 1. Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura. pp. 545–98. ISBN 9788884983633.. A critical, chronological review of historiography related to Rome's origins.
  22. ^ Momigliano, Arnoldo (1990). The classical foundations of modern historiography. University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton. p. 101. ISBN 9780520078703.. Modern historiographic perspectives on this source material.
  23. ^ Dillery (2009). Feldherr, Andrew (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians. Cambridge University Press. pp. 78–81 ff. ISBN 9781139827690..
  24. ^ Cornell, pp. 57–8.
  25. ^ Banchich (2004). Origo Gentis Romanae (PDF). trans. by Haniszewski, et al. Cansius College.. Translation and commentaries.
  26. ^ Rodriguez Mayorgas p.93
  27. ^ The archaeologist Andrea Carandini is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, based on the 1988 discovery of an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome. Carandini dates the structure to the mid-8th century BC and names it the Murus Romuli. See Carandini, La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 – 700/675 a. C. circa) (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)
  28. ^ Rodriguez Mayorgas p.91
  29. ^ Rodriguez Mayorgas p.90
  30. ^ See Carandini, La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 – 700/675 a. C. circa) (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)
  31. ^ T. P. Wiseman. 2001. “Reading Carandini". The Journal of Roman Studies 91:182–193 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3184776
  32. ^ Crawford, p. 31
  33. ^ "Romulus and Remus". Franks Casket. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2012.; see also "The Travelling Twins: Romulus and Remus in Anglo-Saxon England"
  34. ^ Garcia Morcillo, Marta; Hanesworth, Pauline; Lapeña Marchena, Óscar (11 February 2015). Imagining Ancient Cities in Film: From Babylon to Cinecittà. Routledge. p. 169. ISBN 9781135013172.
  35. ^ "Romulus (TV Series 2020– ) – IMDb". IMDb.

Bibliography

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Primary sources

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Secondary sources

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Further reading

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