104
sources, the story of the she-wolf
came about because Larentia had
been a lupa, a Latin slang word for
prostitute that also meant wolf.Rome is founded
The boys grew handsome and
strong. Famous for their feats
of courage and generosity, they
became leaders among the
local farmers and huntsmen.
When Romulus and Remus were
grown men, they learned of their
history—from either Faustulus
or Mars—and launched a revolt.
The usurper Amulius was killed
and King Numitor was restored
to his throne.
The twins then decided to
found a great city of their own.
They declared that, in obedience
to an oracle from Delphi, their city
would be the sanctuary of the god
of asylum, and they gathered
around them a great band of
fugitives, outlaws, and runaway
slaves. When it came to choosing
the exact site of the city, Romulus
preferred the Palatine Hill and
Remus the Aventine Hill. To
determine the site and which of
them would be the city’s first ruler,
they agreed to seek a sign from thegods by observing birds of omen—
Romulus, in contrast to his brother,
carried a crooked staff known as a
lituus, used by diviners to interpret
future events by studying the flight
of birds. This marked Romulus out
symbolically as more conscientious
than his brother and, therefore,
more deserving of victory. When
Remus saw six vultures, he claimed
the gods favored him. Romulus
then saw 12 vultures—though,
according to Dionysius’s account,
Romulus was trying to dupe Remus
and hadn’t seen any birds at all.
The followers of each brother
pronounced their respective
champion as king. When Romulus
started to plow a furrow to mark the
city’s boundary, an argument arose
that quickly got out of hand. Remus
jeered his brother and mocked him
by jumping over the furrow, at
which point Romulus (or, some say,
his follower Celer) killed him.
Romulus then founded the city of
Rome in 753 bce.The Sabine women
The tale of Rome’s initial foundation
emphasizes the warlike nature of
Romulus, inherited from his war-
god father, and has a brutal themeTHE FOUNDING OF ROME
that would come to define the
Roman empire’s expansion for
centuries to come. On the Palatine
Hill, as soon as Rome was built,
Romulus placed all his men in
legions to defend against surrounding
peoples such as the Sabines.
The first problem facing the
new city was the lack of women,
for the refugees and outlaws
attracted by Romulus and Remus
were all men. To solve this,
Romulus announced that he had
discovered the altar of the harvest
god Consus beneath the city, and
instituted a festival, the Consualia,When the signal was given,
they drew their swords,
rushed in with shouts,
and ravished away the
daughters of the Sabines.
RomulusPlutarch’s Romulus
Among the sacred treasures
guarded by the Vestal Virgins was
a phallus that relates to a curious
alternative story of the birth of
Romulus and Remus.
According to Plutarch, there
was a wicked king of Alba Longa
named Tarchetius, in whose
hearth a phallus appeared. An
oracle prophesied that if a virgin
had relations with this phallus,
she would bear a child of
unparalleled strength and good
fortune. Tarchetius commanded
his daughter to obey the oracle,but she sent her slave instead.
When Tarchetius discovered
his daughter’s deceit, he
ordered both girls put to death.
However, Vesta, goddess of the
hearth, appeared to the king
in his sleep and warned him
not to kill the girls—so he
imprisoned them instead.
When the slave girl gave
birth to twins, Tarchetius
ordered them to be exposed (left
outside to die); but, as in the
usual story, Romulus and Remus
were suckled and saved by a
she-wolf before being found by
the peasants who raised them.The Greco-Roman author
Plutarch (45 ce–ca. 120 ce)
composed over 225 works on Greek
and Roman history and culture.US_102-105_Founding_of_Rome.indd 104 01/12/17 4:22 pm
105
The Forum was the center of
everyday life in ancient Rome. Among
other shrines, it contained the Temple
of Vesta—one of its oldest shrines,
dating back to the 7th century bce.in the god’s honor. He invited the
Sabines to the festival but, while
the Sabine men watched the
chariot races, Romulus gave a
signal, throwing his cloak over his
shoulders, and with this, his men
took up arms. They seized the
Sabine women, carrying them over
the thresholds of their houses and
claiming them as their wives.War and reconciliation
Hoodwinked and humiliated, the
Sabine men resolved to wage war
against the Romans. After Romulus
killed the Sabine king, Acron, the
Sabines united under Titus Tatius
and laid siege to Rome. Tarpeia,
the daughter of the commander of
Rome’s citadel, betrayed the city:
in exchange for the Sabine’s gold
armlets, she opened the gates
and let in the foreign army.During the bloody fight that
followed, Romulus was knocked
down by a stone thrown at his
head. The Romans began to retreat,
rallying only when Romulus rose
and prayed to Jupiter Stator (“the
stayer”) for help. The battle was
halted by the Sabine women, who
ran between the two armies and
begged their Sabine fathers and
Roman husbands not to kill each
other. Peace was made between
the two sides under the joint
leadership of Romulus and Tatius.
Romulus ruled Rome for 40
years, establishing it as a mighty
city. Many stories were told of his
superior strength. In one display
of power, Romulus stood on the
Aventine Hill and hurled his spear
into the earth. It sank so deep that
no man could pull it out. The shaft
was made of hard cornel wood,
and the tree that grew from it
was treated with great reverence.
In the time of Gaius Caesar,
who reigned from 27 bce–14 ce,
the roots of Romulus’s cornel tree
were inadvertently cut by workmen
repairing some nearby steps,
and the tree withered and died.ANCIENT ROME
The rape of the Sabine women
has been depicted by many artists.
This detail is from a vast fresco by
Luca Cambiaso (ca. 1565) for a salon
at the Villa Imperiale in Genoa, Italy.The city of Rome grew in power
and prestige, but not without
conflict. When ambassadors from
the city of Laurentum were
murdered by Tatius’s kinsmen,
Tatius was slain in revenge.
A plague afflicted both Rome and
Laurentum, as both sides were
seen to be at fault in not pursuing
justice for their murderers. Taking
advantage of the plague, the people
of Cameria attacked Rome, but
Romulus defeated them, taking
their city and half of its inhabitants.Ascension
One day, when Romulus was
mustering his troops in the Field of
Mars, a storm arose. The air rang
with peals of thunder, and Romulus
was wrapped in a cloud and carried
up to heaven in the chariot of his
father, Mars, to become a god
himself. Thereafter, Romulus was
worshipped under the name of
Quirinus, the Sabine god of war.
The next king after Romulus, Numa
Pompilius, was a Sabine, showing
that the union of the two peoples
lasted beyond the reigns of
Romulus and Tatius. ■US_102-105_Founding_of_Rome.indd 105 01/12/17 4:22 pm