Founding of Rome
Rome was traditionally founded on 21 April 753 BC by Romulus, who then killed his brother. The story as the Romans told it begins in Alba Longa, where the king Numitor is deposed by his brother Amulius, who makes Numitor's daughter a Vestal to prevent heirs. She bears twins to Mars; they are exposed on the Tiber, washed ashore, and suckled by a she-wolf; a shepherd raises them; and they restore their grandfather and go to found a city of their own. They quarrel over which hill to build on and take the auspices. Remus sees six birds and Romulus twelve, or Remus sees his first — the accounts disagree, which is the point of them — and Remus jumps over his brother's new wall in contempt and is killed. Rome then acquires a population by declaring an asylum for exiles, runaways and criminals, and wives by abducting them from the Sabines at a festival. None of this is history. Livy, who tells it best, says himself that such traditions are more decorative than reliable, and he was writing seven centuries later. What archaeology supports is settlement on the Palatine from at least the tenth century BC, huts, and a gradual coalescence of hilltop villages into a town over the eighth and seventh. The date itself was calculated by Varro in the first century BC. The Romans marked the anniversary annually and dated their years from it, and Italy still keeps 21 April as the birthday of Rome. The wolf and the twins have been the city's emblem for two and a half thousand years, on a bronze whose date is itself disputed.
- Category: Political
