Roman Mythology's Original Texts 2: Romulus & the Founding of Rome

Thank you for visiting. This article is the second installment in a series explaining the original texts of Rome.

This time, I look in detail at the founding myth that tells of the birth of the city of Rome itself, following the historian Livy’s “History of Rome.” It is a story, beginning with the twins Romulus and Remus raised by a wolf, in which myth and history are inseparably fused.

For an overview map of the original texts of Roman mythology as a whole, please see this summary article.

Roman Mythology's Original Texts: The Aeneid and the Founding Mythen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-roman/

What Kind of Original Text Is Livy’s “History of Rome”

The “History of Rome (the history since the founding of Rome)” is a grand general history in 142 books, in which the historian Livy depicted from Rome’s founding to his own age (the reign of Augustus).

What should be noted is its first part. For the ancient time around the founding, no certain records remain, and legend (myth) and history are told in a single continuous line. Livy himself prefaces, “The stories around the founding are, rather than certain records, traditions beautifully adorned like poetry.” That is, the “History of Rome” is also a precious original text of myth, conveying how the Romans told the story of their own origin.

Let me show the flow of this founding myth in a diagram.

Greek and Roman Mythology, Explained in MangaView on Amazon → The Larousse Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman MythologyView on Amazon →

The Twins’ Birth — the War God Mars and the Priestess Rhea Silvia

The story begins from the bloodline that the Aeneas of the previous article (Article 1) built. Aeneas’s descendants ruled the Italian city of “Alba Longa” for generations.

But at one time, the legitimate king Numitor had his throne seized by his younger brother Amulius. Amulius, so that no successor would be born from Numitor’s line, made his daughter “Rhea Silvia” a priestess of Vesta (a sacred virgin), who was not permitted to marry for life.

But the gods’ designs exceed human schemes. The war god Mars came to Rhea Silvia, and she bore twin boys. These were “Romulus and Remus.” The enraged Amulius imprisoned the mother and had the twins put in a basket and set adrift on the Tiber. He tried to do away with those who threatened his throne.

The Brothers Raised by a Wolf

But the basket carrying the twins did not sink, and stopped, caught on the roots of a tree by the riverbank. What came hearing their crying was a single she-wolf. Far from attacking the twins, the wolf gave them her milk and raised them. The woodpecker, the sacred bird of the war god Mars, is also told to have helped by carrying food.

In time, the shepherd “Faustulus,” who saw this scene, took the twins in and, with his wife, raised them as his own children. Growing up sturdy, the two naturally became the leaders of the young men. At one time, captured over a trivial quarrel, they came to know their origin — that they were the grandsons of the exiled king Numitor.

Knowing the truth, the twins rose up leading the young men, struck down the evil king Amulius, and restored their grandfather Numitor to the legitimate throne. The abandoned children raised by a wolf regained the royal blood. Note that the “statue of the she-wolf giving milk to the twins (the Capitoline Wolf),” handed down to the present as a symbol of Rome, derives from this myth.

The Founding of Rome, and the Brothers’ Tragedy

The twins, having restored their grandfather to the throne, decided to build a new city at the place where they had been picked up and raised. But here a tragedy occurred. The brothers came into conflict over “which would rule the city, and on which hill to build it.”

To settle it, the two relied on bird augury (divining the gods’ will by the coming of birds). On Remus’s Aventine Hill appeared 6 vultures, and on Romulus’s Palatine Hill appeared 12 vultures. Neither would yield over which had won, and the strife deepened.

And when Romulus drew the city’s boundary ditch (the line of the wall) on the Palatine Hill, the decisive moment came. Remus scornfully leapt over that boundary, sneering, “What use is such a thing?” The angry Romulus cried, “So shall it be for all who cross my wall,” and struck down his brother Remus.

Thus, in 753 BC, Romulus built the city “Rome,” named after himself. That the founding began with the blood of fratricide has also been read as foreshadowing the history of Rome, spent in later civil wars.

The Abduction of the Sabine Women

The newly born Rome had a great problem. Those who gathered were only the fugitives and drifters Romulus accepted (an asylum for exiles), and there were almost no women. At this rate, the city would perish in a single generation.

So Romulus devised a scheme. He invited the neighboring Sabines to a festival (the Consualia). And while people were absorbed in the festival, on a signal, the Roman young men all at once carried off the unmarried daughters of the Sabines. This is the “abduction of the Sabine women,” depicted in many paintings.

Naturally, the Sabines waged war on Rome to take back their daughters. In the midst of the fierce battle, unexpected ones threw themselves between the two armies. They were the Sabine women who had been abducted and were now wives of Romans, having borne children. They threw themselves between the two armies and appealed for reconciliation: “Fathers, husbands, do not kill each other for our sake.” Moved, the two sides laid down their arms, and the Romans and the Sabines fused into one people, with Romulus and the Sabine king ruling together. Growing greater by taking in different peoples — the later figure of Rome appears here too.

Romulus’s End, and the King Who Became a God

To Romulus, who built Rome and ruled it long, too came an end. One day, while reviewing his army, Romulus is told to have been suddenly wrapped in a violent storm and dark clouds, and vanished just like that.

Amid the people’s bewilderment, a noble named Proculus testified: “Romulus, ascended to heaven, appeared before me and told me, ‘Rome is fated to become the head of the world. Hone your valor.’” Thus Romulus was deified as the god “Quirinus” and came to be venerated as one of Rome’s guardian gods. The founder-king becoming a god — this too is an ending characteristic of Rome, which holds the king and state sacred.

The Seven Kings — from Regal Rome to the Republic

After Romulus, Rome is told to have been ruled by “seven kings.” Each king built up a foundation of Rome, one by one.

Among them, the 2nd king Numa is especially valued as a wise king who ordered, by religion and law, the country Romulus built by arms (Rome’s cult is explained in Article 4).

And in the age of the last king, the “Proud King” Tarquinius Superbus, a great turning point came. An incident occurred in which the king’s son violated the chaste wife Lucretia, and the citizens, indignant at this, rose up, centered on Brutus. In 509 BC, the Romans expelled the king and established the “Republic” (a system in which two consuls ruled, alternating each year), not concentrating power in a single king. The strong sentiment of “never again to crown a king” became the foundation of the later Roman spirit.

The Heroes of the Early Republic — the “Exempla” Livy Depicted

The stories of the early Republic depicted from Book 2 of the “History of Rome” on are closer to legend than myth, but indispensable in reading Livy’s original text. Livy depicted these hero tales, again and again, as “models (exempla) the Romans should emulate.” Using history as a textbook of morals — this is the very core of Livy’s original text.

When the Etruscan king Porsenna, whose king (Tarquinius) had been expelled, attacked Rome to restore Tarquinius, three heroes were born.

First, Horatius Cocles. He stood blocking the way all alone on the bridge over the Tiber (the Pons Sublicius) as the enemy’s great army pressed in, holding off the enemy until his comrades finished breaking the bridge behind him. When the bridge fell, he is told to have leapt into the river fully armed and swum back alive to his allies.

Next, Mucius Scaevola. He sneaked into the enemy camp to assassinate the enemy general Porsenna, but, mistaking him, stabbed another and was captured. When threatened with burning, he himself put his right hand into the altar’s flame and burned it without changing his expression. It was to show that “a Roman fears neither pain nor death.” Porsenna, terrified by this, is told to have released him. From his losing his right hand, his family came to be called “Scaevola (left-handed).”

Further, the maiden hostage Cloelia is told to have slipped out of the enemy camp, led her companions, and swum back across the Tiber. It is an episode characteristic of Rome, praising courage regardless of gender.

And one more, Cincinnatus. At the state’s crisis, he was appointed dictator while in the midst of plowing his field, and when he splendidly defeated the enemy, in a mere 16 days he readily let go of power and returned to his field. Serving the country without selfishness, and gracefully relinquishing power — this figure was passed down to later ages as a model of “the ideal leader.”

The Founding Myth Tells Rome’s Self-Portrait

In Rome’s founding myth, how the Romans thought of themselves as a people is clearly engraved.

An open city that accepts fugitives, the power of fusion that takes in the Sabines, the pride of arms as children of the war god Mars, and the will toward the Republic that expelled the king and chose freedom. The historian Livy depicted these founding stories not as mere old tales, but as a “mirror” to remind his contemporary Romans, whom he felt were becoming morally decadent, of the virtues of their ancestors. In the point of telling the proper figure of the state through myth, lies a great feature of Rome’s original texts.

To Learn More

Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Myths and LegendsView on Amazon → An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to the Myths That Make StoriesView on Amazon →

Conclusion

In this article, I explained in detail the Roman founding myth, based on Livy’s “History of Rome.” How was it?

The twins Romulus and Remus, born as children of the war god Mars and raised by a she-wolf. The founding in 753 BC, which began with the blood of fratricide, the abduction of the Sabine women and reconciliation, the king Romulus who became a god, and from the seven kings to the Republic. I think you have felt that, with myth and history fused, it depicts the self-portrait of the Romans.

In the next Article 3, I will explain Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” and “Fasti,” which compiled the stories of the gods themselves.

Roman Mythology's Original Texts: The Aeneid and the Founding Mythen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-roman/

I hope you’ll read the next article too.