Romulus and Remus: Legend of the Creation of Rome
The citizens of the ancient city of Rome were proud to belong to the most beautiful city of their time. Center of the largest empire of Antiquity, the Roman metropolis occupied a place of cultural, economic and political crossroads.
Such a great city necessarily needed an exceptional legend to tell its creation: that of Romulus and Remus fulfills this role perfectly.
The most famous twin brothers in all of Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus are two beings with exceptional destinies, two semi-legendary characters whose trace is still felt today in our culture.
Their story, recounted by the authors of Antiquity and transmitted since then by a tradition of historians, marked the beginning of one of the most formidable civilizations of all time.
Together, let's travel into the past, and discover the legend of the creation of Rome.
Contents :
Birth and childhood of twin brothers
Birth and childhood of twin brothers
Romulus and Remus were therefore twin brothers.
Their mother, a woman named Rhea Silvia, happened to be the daughter of Numitor, the king of an Italian city known as Alba Longa.
Shortly before the two brothers were conceived, King Numitor was assassinated by his brother, the terrible Amulius.
To ensure that no one could ever challenge his power again, Amulius had his nephews killed and forced Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal priestess, thus taking the vow of chastity.
Amulius' plan was perfect, except for the intervention of Mars, the god of war.
Touched by this injustice, he decided to make Rhea Silva pregnant, giving her the chance to perpetuate her father's royal lineage.
When the children came into the world, King Amulius, true to himself, had them thrown into the Tiber so that they could never claim the throne.
The servant in charge of this sad mission undoubtedly had more heart than her master, and decided that instead of drowning the little ones, she would place them in a basket that she would simply let drift.
Under the advice of Mars, the god of the Tiber, Tiberinus, ensured calm waves and kept away the tumults, so that nothing would happen to the infants.
After a few hours of drifting, the basket arrived at a calmer area of the river where it could land on the bank.
There was a she-wolf who protected and nursed Romulus and Remus as if they were her cubs.
This she-wolf, known as “lupa”, is one of the symbols of the city of Rome.
In short, a few days later, the children, already very vigorous, were found by a shepherd who was passing by.
The man, full of kindness, decided to raise them as his sons.
Confrontation against Amulius
The story could have ended there, but that was without taking into account the fate of the two children.
One day, while they were tending their sheep, some of King Amulius' men came to plunder the lands of the man who had taken them in. Remus, the only one present at the time, fought with all the enthusiasm in the world but, alone and under-equipped, he was no match for Amulius' men.
He was then captured and thrown into prison.
As soon as he heard the news, Romulus decided to gather a group of local shepherds and set out to save his brother.
Helped by the gods and their determination, men managed to defeat their enemies and above all to kill the terrible tyrant.
To thank the two brothers, the inhabitants of the region decided to name them kings.
As it may seem, they refused.
They had other plans and saw their future even greater.
The argument of Romulus and Remus
We two brothers in fact wanted more than simply inheriting a kingdom: they wanted to create their own.
Once adults, they decided to found a city where the she-wolf had taken them in a few years earlier.
The place was characterized by the presence of seven hills, and despite several days of debate, the twins could not agree on the place to lay the first stone: Romulus wanted to found his city at the top of the Palatine Hill, while Remus preferred that of the Aventine.
They ended up finding common ground that was common at the time: they were going to let the gods decide for them.
Concretely, the two men had to observe the flight of birds to decide where their city would be founded.
After a few moments, Remus shouted with joy: he had seen six birds flying together.
He then went to announce the news to his brother who could only contradict him: he had seen twelve.
The situation had not progressed well: Romulus claimed that he was the clear winner with his twelve birds, but Remus maintained that since he had seen his six birds first, he had won.
Unable to find common ground, they left angry, each on their own.
During the night that followed, Romulus decided to go ahead and drew a line around the Palatine Hill: this was the boundary of his city, a border that no one could cross without his authorization.
When he heard the news, Remus couldn't help but joke and went to tease his brother.
After a few taunts, he tried to cross the border, which was then very thinly guarded.
Touched in his honor, Romulus became angry and killed his twin brother on the spot.
The founding of Rome
After Remus' death, Romulus continued to work on building his city.
It was thus on April 21, 753 BC that he was officially named king: Rome was born, and its history could begin.
Romulus gave his name to his city, Roma.
Far from the greatness that would follow, the population of Rome was initially made up of fugitives, exiles, runaway slaves, and criminals.
Having nothing left to take, these individuals were ready to line up under the banner of a king who promised to forget their past.
However, a problem quickly became apparent: men far outnumbered women among the inhabitants of Rome, so that the birth rate quickly became a problem.
The solution found by Romulus to resolve this problem was, to say the least, expeditious: he was going to kidnap the women from neighboring cities.
During the decades that followed, the new king sought to extend the power and influence of Rome, subjecting the peoples of the region to his authority one after the other.
With power, however, Romulus became more and more authoritarian, and the senate that he had set up at the founding of the city began to plot against him.
After summoning him, some jealous and resentful senators assassinated him, which marked the end of his epic.
To crown the legend, some sources claim that when he left, Romulus ascended to the heavens to join the gods, confirmation if any were needed of his divine parentage.
Between reality and fiction
Even today, historians debate how much reality and how much fiction is found in the legend of Romulus and Remus.
Historical characters for some and purely mythological figures for others, the truth undoubtedly lies somewhere in between.
From a general point of view, the legend that we have just discovered together tells us of a city that created itself, of a city based on unique principles for its time.
This is decidedly true.
Rome is indeed a unique case in history, and the myth of its founding can certainly teach us a lot about human nature.
In the end, even if nothing can be stated with certainty, like every city, kingdom or empire, Rome does have a founder.
Whether it is Rompus, Remoulus or any other person that history has forgotten, the fact remains that he stood between the Tiber and the Palatine Hill, thousands of years ago. years ago a pioneer full of ideas on an empty land, a land on which he would build one of the greatest cities of all time.
This builder, whoever he was, thus forever marked the history of humanity
For further
If you are also passionate about Roman culture, you will undoubtedly find something to make you happy (that is true) in our collection of lucky charms that you will find here.
To delve more deeply into the subject of the creation of Rome, here is a document which retraces this epic from a purely archaeological point of view, and another which will tell you more about Romulus as a legendary character.
In any case, we sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading this.
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