PR-2237IRE Ancient Rome

Romulus and Remus
The city of Rome is thought to have begun in a small village in a region of Italy called Latium.
Roman legends adopted from the Greeks also tell us that the ancient Romans believed they could
trace their ancestry back to a person called Aeneas, a hero who escaped from the complete
destruction of the city of Troy (Ilium) by the Greeks. The legend reinforced the hero aspect
favoured by the Romans by saying that Aeneas carried his father on his back. Aeneas later moved on to
Carthage before finally deciding to settle in Latium.
Aeneas eventually had a son who founded the city of Alba Longa and the legend tells us that Romulus and
Remus, traditional founders of Rome, were descended from the kings of Alba Longa. During the last 10 years
of his life the famous Roman poet, Virgil, wrote his epic poem ‘Aeneid’, a poem in 12 books which retold the
legend of Aeneas and outlined the growth of the Roman Empire.
The legend of Romulus and Remus may be partially true, for in the 8th century BC we know that two villages,
one on the Palatine Hill, merged to form a single settlement. This was around 753 BC —the date recognised
in legend. However, the discovery at the beginning of the 20th century of hut foundations and burial sites on
the Palatine Hill cast doubts on the veracity of the foundation story. Archaeologists decided that some of the
burial sites dated back to the 10th century BC, hundreds of years before the legend of Romulus and Remus.
In what is believed to be another early foundation legend, Romulus invited his powerful enemies, the
Sabines, to a feast and during the celebrations the Romans seized the Sabine women for their wives.
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