Romulus - Roman Mythology About the Founding and First King of Rome

Romulus was the eponymous first king of Rome. How he got there is story like many others, involving a rags-to-riches rise in fortune, a miraculous birth (like Jesus), and the exposure of an unwanted infant (like Paris of Troy and Oedipus) in a river (like Moses and Sargon). Barry Cunliffe, in Britain Begins (Oxford: 2013), succinctly describes the story as one of love, rape, treachery, and murder.

The story of Romulus, his twin brother Remus, and the founding of the city of Rome is one of the most familiar legends about the Eternal City. The basic legend about how Romulus came to be the first king of Rome begins with the god Mars impregnating a Vestal Virgin named Rhea Silvia, daughter of the rightful, but deposed king.

• After the birth of Mars' sons Romulus and Remus, the king orders them to be left to die in the Tiber River.
• When the basket in which the twins were placed washes up on shore, a wolf suckles them and a woodpecker named Picus feeds them until....
• The shepherd Faustulus finds the twins and brings them into his home.
• When they grow up, Romulus and Remus restore the throne of Alba Longa to its rightful ruler, their maternal grandfather.
• Then they set out to found their own city.
• Sibling rivalry leads Romulus to slay his brother.
• Romulus then becomes the first king and founder of the city of Rome.
• Rome is named after him.

Such is the condensed, skeletal version of the story of the twins, but the details are believed to be false.

Was the Suckling Lupa a She-Wolf or a Prostitute?

It is thought that a prostitute may have cared for the infants and the story about the wolf suckling the babies is only an interpretation of a Latin word for the location of a brothel (lupanar) cave [see below]; the Latin for prostitute and she-wolf is lupa.

Romulus May Not Have Been the Eponymous Founder

Although Romulus is considered the eponymous ruler, the name of Rome may well have a different origin.

Alba Longa was an area near the eventual location of Rome, about 12 miles southeaast, but the city on the seven hills had yet to be built. A Vestal Virgin was a special priestly post of the hearth goddess Vesta, reserved for women that conferred great honor and privilege, but also, as the name implies, virginal status.

The usurper feared a future challenge from Numitor's descendants.

To prevent their being born, Amulius forced his niece to become a Vestal and therefore forced to remain a virgin.

The penalty for violating the vow of chastity was a cruel death. The legendary Rhea Silvia survived violation of her vow long enough to give birth to twins, Romulus and Remus. Unfortunately, like later Vestal Virgins who violated their vows and therefore endangered the luck of Rome (or were used as scapegoats when Rome's luck appeared to be running out), Rhea may have suffered the usual punishment -- burial alive (shortly after delivery).

After many adventures, which the Roman poet Vergil (Virgil) describes in the Aeneid, Aeneas and his son arrived at the city of Laurentum on the west coast of Italy. Aeneas married Lavinia, the daughter of the king of the area, Latinus, and founded the town of Lavinium in honor of his wife. Ascanius, son of Aeneas, decided to build a new city, which he named Alba Longa, under the Alban mountain and near where Rome would be built.

• Timeline of Ancient Roman History

• c. 1184 - Fall of Troy
• c. 1176 - Aeneas founds Lavinium
• c. 1152 - Ascanius founds Alba Longa
• c. 1152-753 - Kings of Alba Longa

Kings of Alba Longa

• Ascanius
• Latinus (Silvius)
• Alba (Silvius)
• Atys (Silvius)
• Capys (Silvius)
• Capetus (Silvius)
• Tiberinus (Silvius)
• Agrippa (Silvius)
• Romulus (Silvius)
• Aventinus (Silvius)
• Proca (Silvius) - father of Numitor and Amulius
• Amulius king by usurpation. Numitor was the grandfather of Romulus and Remus.

There were two traditions on the founding of Rome. According to one, Aeneas was the founder of Rome and according to the other, it was Romulus. Cato, in the early second century B.C., combined the two stories to come up with what is the generally accepted version:

The Hybrid Story of the Founding of the 7-Hilled City of Rome

Aeneas came to Italy and Romulus founded the actual 7-hilled (Palatine, Aventine, Capitoline or Capitolium, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline and Caelian) city of Rome, according to Jane Gardner.

How and why Romulus or his companions killed Remus is also unclear: Was Remus killed by accident or out of sibling rivalry for the throne?

Appraising the Signs From the Gods

One story about Romulus killing Remus begins with the brothers using augury to determine which brother should be king. Romulus looked for his signs on the Palatine Hill and Remus on the Aventine. The sign came to Remus first -- six vultures.

Taunting Twins

Another story of the killing of Remus has each brother building the walls for his city on his respective hill. Remus, mocking the low walls of his brother's city, leaped over the Palatine walls, where an angry Romulus killed him. The city grew up around the Palatine and was named Rome for Romulus, its new king.

The end of the reign of Romulus is suitably mysterious. Rome's first king was last seen when a thunder storm wrapped itself around him.

Modern Fiction on Romulus by Steven Saylor

It may be fiction, but Steven Saylor's Roma includes an engrossing story of the legendary Romulus.

Archaeologists Uncover The Lupercale?

A cave was uncovered on the Palatine Hill in Rome that some think is the Lupercale in which Romulus and Remus were suckled by a lupa (whether wolf or prostitute). If this were said cave, it might prove the existence of the twins. Read more in USA Today's "Does a cave prove Romulus and Remus are no myth?"

References:

• _{academic.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/Livy.html - Reed College Livy Page}
• _{depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/courses/romehist.htm - Duckworth's History of Early Rome}
• _{pantheon.org/articles/r/romulus.html - Romulus - Encyclopedia Mythica}
• _{yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/laws_of_thekings.htm - Laws of the Kings}
• _{maicar.com/GML/Romulus.html - Carlos Parada Page on Romulus}
• _{dur.ac.uk/Classics/histos/1997/hodgkinson.html - Civil War Between Romulus and Remus}