Romulus () was the legendary
founder
Founder or Founders may refer to:
Places
*Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium
* Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...
and
first king of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these traditions incorporate elements of
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...
, and it is not clear to what extent a historical figure underlies the mythical Romulus, the events and institutions ascribed to him were central to the myths surrounding Rome's origins and cultural traditions.
Traditional account
The myths concerning Romulus involve several distinct episodes and figures, including the miraculous birth and youth of Romulus and his twin brother,
Remus; Remus' murder and the founding of Rome;
the Rape of the Sabine Women, and the subsequent war with the
Sabines; a period of joint rule with
Titus Tatius
According to the Roman foundation myth, Titus Tatius was the king of the Sabines from Cures and joint-ruler of the Kingdom of Rome for several years.
During the reign of Romulus, the first king of Rome, Tatius declared war on Rome in resp ...
; the establishment of various Roman institutions; the death or
apotheosis
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term ha ...
of Romulus, and the succession of
Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions ar ...
.
Romulus and Remus
According to
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representa ...
, Romulus and Remus were the sons of
Rhea Silvia by the god
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
. Their maternal grandfather was
Numitor, the rightful king of
Alba Longa
Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Rome, in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it wa ...
, through whom the twins were descended from both the
Trojan hero
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
, and
Latinus
Latinus ( la, Latinus; Ancient Greek: Λατῖνος, ''Latînos'', or Λατεῖνος, ''Lateînos'') was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology. He is often associated with the heroes of the Trojan War, namely Odysseus and Aeneas. Al ...
, the king of
Latium
Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire.
Definition
Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...
.
Before the twins' birth, Numitor's throne had been usurped by his brother,
Amulius, who murdered Numitor's son or sons, and condemned Rhea Silvia to perpetual virginity by consecrating her a
Vestal.
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
, ''History of Rome
The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced ...
'' i. 3. When Rhea became pregnant, she asserted that she had been visited by the god Mars. Amulius imprisoned her, and upon the twins' birth, ordered that they be thrown into the
Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by th ...
. But as the river had been swollen by rain, the servants tasked with disposing of the infants could not reach its banks, and so
exposed
Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to:
News sources
* Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism
* '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website
Film and TV Film
* ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film
* ''Exposed'' (1932 ...
the twins beneath a fig tree at the foot of the
Palatine Hill.
In the traditional account, a
she-wolf happened upon the twins, and suckled them until they were found by the king's herdsman,
Faustulus, and his wife,
Acca Larentia
Acca Larentia or Acca Larentina was a mythical woman, later goddess of fertility, in Roman mythology whose festival, the Larentalia, was celebrated on December 23.
Myths
Foster mother
In one mythological tradition (that of ...
. The brothers grew to manhood among the shepherds and hill-folk. After becoming involved in a conflict between the followers of Amulius and those of their grandfather Numitor, Faustulus told them of their origin. With the help of their friends, they lured Amulius into an ambush and killed him, restoring their grandfather to the throne.
[Livy, i. 3–6.] The princes then set out to establish a city of their own.
They returned to the
hills overlooking the Tiber, the site where they had been exposed as infants. They could not agree on which hill should house the new city. When an omen to resolve the controversy failed to provide a clear indication, the conflict escalated and Romulus or one of his followers killed Remus.
In a variant of the legend, the augurs favoured Romulus, who proceeded to plough a square furrow around the Palatine Hill to demarcate the walls of the future city. When Remus derisively leapt over the "walls" to show how inadequate they were against invaders, Romulus struck him down in anger. In another variant, Remus was killed during a melée, along with Faustulus.
Establishment of the city
The founding of Rome was commemorated annually on April 21, with the festival of the
Parilia
upright=1.5, ''Festa di Pales, o L'estate'' (1783), a reimagining of the Festival of Pales by Joseph-Benoît Suvée
The Parilia is an ancient Roman festival of rural character performed annually on 21 April, aimed at cleansing both sheep and sh ...
. Romulus' first act was to fortify the Palatine, in the course of which he made a sacrifice to the gods. He laid out the city's boundaries with a furrow that he ploughed, performed another sacrifice, and with his followers set to work building the city itself. Romulus sought the assent of the people to become their king. With Numitor's help, he addressed them and received their approval. Romulus accepted the crown after he sacrificed and prayed to
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...
, and after receiving favourable omens.
Romulus divided the populace into three
tribes
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
, known as the ''Ramnes'', ''Titienses'', and ''Luceres'', for taxation and military purposes. Each tribe was presided over by an official known as a
tribune, and was further divided into ten
curia
Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they came ...
, or wards, each presided over by an official known as a ''curio''. Romulus also allotted a portion of land to each ward, for the benefit of the people. Nothing is known of the manner in which the tribes and curiae were taxed, but for the military levy, each curia was responsible for providing one hundred foot soldiers, a unit known as a ''century'', and ten cavalry. Each Romulean tribe thus provided about one thousand infantry, and one century of cavalry; the three hundred cavalry became known as the
Celeres
__NoToC__
The ''celeres'' () were the bodyguard of the Kings of Rome. Traditionally established by Romulus, the legendary founder and first King of Rome, the celeres comprised three hundred men, ten chosen by each of the curiae.Livy, i. 15. Th ...
, "the swift", and formed the royal bodyguard.
Choosing one hundred men from the leading families, Romulus established the
Roman senate
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...
. These men he called ''patres'', the city fathers; their descendants came to be known as "
patricians", forming one of the two major social classes at Rome. The other class, known as the "
plebs" or "plebeians", consisted of the servants, freedmen, fugitives who sought asylum at Rome, those captured in war, and others who were granted Roman citizenship over time.
[Livy, i. 9.]
To encourage the growth of the city, Romulus outlawed infanticide, and established an
asylum for fugitives on the
Capitoline Hill
The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. ...
. Here freemen and slaves alike could claim protection and seek Roman citizenship.
The Rape of the Sabine Women
The new city was filled with colonists, most of whom were young, unmarried men. While fugitives seeking asylum helped the population grow, single men greatly outnumbered women. With no intermarriage taking place between Rome and neighboring communities, the new city would eventually fail. Romulus sent envoys to neighboring towns, appealing to them to allow intermarriage with Roman citizens, but his overtures were rebuffed. Romulus formulated a plan to acquire women from other settlements. He announced a momentous
festival and games, and invited the people of the neighboring cities to attend. Many did, in particular the
Sabines, who came in droves. At a prearranged signal, the Romans began to
snatch and carry off the marriageable women among their guests.
The aggrieved cities prepared for war with Rome, and might have defeated Romulus had they been fully united. But impatient with the preparations of the Sabines, the Latin towns of
Caenina,
Crustumerium, and
Antemnae took action without their allies. Caenina was the first to attack; its army was swiftly put to flight, and the town taken. After personally defeating and slaying the prince of Caenina in single combat, Romulus stripped him of his armour, becoming the first to claim the
spolia opima, and
vowed a temple to
Jupiter Feretrius. Antemnae and Crustumerium were conquered in turn. Some of their people, chiefly the families of the abducted women, were allowed to settle at Rome.
Following the defeat of the Latin towns, the Sabines, under the leadership of
Titus Tatius
According to the Roman foundation myth, Titus Tatius was the king of the Sabines from Cures and joint-ruler of the Kingdom of Rome for several years.
During the reign of Romulus, the first king of Rome, Tatius declared war on Rome in resp ...
, marshalled their forces and advanced upon Rome. They gained control of the citadel by bribing
Tarpeia, the daughter of the Roman commander charged with its defense. Without the advantage of the citadel, the Romans were obliged to meet the Sabines on the battlefield. The Sabines advanced from the citadel, and fierce fighting ensued. The nearby
Lacus Curtius is said to be named after Mettius Curtius, a Sabine warrior who plunged his horse into its muck to stymie his Roman pursuers as he retreated. At a critical juncture in the fighting, the Romans began to waver in the face of the Sabine advance. Romulus vowed a
temple to Jupiter Stator, to keep his line from breaking. The bloodshed finally ended when the Sabine women interposed themselves between the two armies, pleading on the one hand with their fathers and brothers, and on the other with their husbands, to set aside their arms and come to terms. The leaders of each side met and made peace. They formed one community, to be jointly ruled by Romulus and Tatius.
Subsequent events
The two kings presided over the growing city of Rome for a number of years, before Tatius was slain in a riot at
Lavinium
Lavinium was a port city of Latium, to the south of Rome, midway between the Tiber river at Ostia and Antium. The coastline then, as now, was a long strip of beach. Lavinium was on a hill at the southernmost edge of the ''Silva Laurentina'', ...
, where he had gone to make a sacrifice. Shortly before, a group of envoys from
Laurentum had complained of their treatment by Tatius' kinsmen, and he had decided the matter against the ambassadors. Romulus resisted calls to avenge the Sabine king's death, instead reaffirming the Roman alliance with Lavinium, and perhaps preventing his city from splintering along ethnic lines.
In the years following the death of Tatius, Romulus is said to have conquered the city of
Fidenae, which, alarmed by the rising power of Rome, had begun raiding Roman territory. The Romans lured the Fidenates into an ambush, and routed their army; as they retreated into their city, the Romans followed before the gates could be shut, and captured the town. The
Etruscan city of
Veii
Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan civilization, Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the Comuni of the Province of Rome, comune ...
, nine miles up the Tiber from Rome, also raided Roman territory, foreshadowing that city's role as the chief rival to Roman power over the next three centuries. Romulus defeated Veii's army, but found the city too well defended to besiege, and instead ravaged the countryside.
Death and succession
After a reign of thirty-seven years,
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
, I. "Romulus reigned thirty-seven years."Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
, '' Parallel Lives''
''Romulus''
"Romulus is said to have been fifty-four years of age, and in the thirty-eighth year of his reign when he disappeared from among men." Romulus is said to have disappeared in a
whirlwind during a sudden and violent storm, as he was reviewing his troops on the
Campus Martius. Livy says that Romulus was either murdered by the senators, torn apart out of jealousy, or was raised to heaven by Mars, god of war. Livy believes the last theory regarding the legendary king's death, as it allows the Romans to believe that the gods are on their side, a reason for them to continue expansion under Romulus' name.
Romulus acquired a cult following, which later became assimilated with the cult of
Quirinus
In Roman mythology and religion, Quirinus ( , ) is an early god of the Roman state. In Augustan Rome, ''Quirinus'' was also an epithet of Janus, as ''Janus Quirinus''.
Name
Attestations
The name of god Quirinus is recorded across Roman so ...
, perhaps originally the indigenous god of the Sabine population. As the Sabines had not had a king of their own since the death of Titus Tatius, the next king of Rome,
Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions ar ...
, was chosen from among the Sabines.
Primary sources
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
,
Dionysius, and
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
rely on
Quintus Fabius Pictor as a source. Other significant sources include
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...
's ''
Fasti'', and
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...
''. Greek historians had traditionally claimed that Rome was founded by Greeks, a claim dating back to the
logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos
Hellanicus (or Hellanikos) of Lesbos ( Greek: , ''Ἑllánikos ὁ Lésvios''), also called Hellanicus of Mytilene ( Greek: , ''Ἑllánikos ὁ Mutilēnaῖos'') was an ancient Greek logographer who flourished during the latter half of the 5th ...
of 5th-century BC, who named Aeneas as its founder. Roman historians connect Romulus to Aeneas by ancestry and mention a previous settlement on the
Palatine Hill, sometimes attributing it to
Evander and his Greek colonists. To the Romans, Rome was the institutions and traditions they credit to their legendary founder, the first "Roman".
The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name is a
back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the ...
from the name of the city. Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
reports the calculation of
Varro's friend Tarutius that 771 BC was the birth year of Romulus and his twin. The tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine
Trojan prince
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of
Rome's first Imperial dynasty. It is unclear whether or not the tale of Romulus or that of the twins are original elements of the foundation myth, or whether both or either were added.
Romulus-Quirinus
Ennius
Quintus Ennius (; c. 239 – c. 169 BC) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, Apulia, (Ancient Calabri ...
(fl. 180s BC) refers to Romulus as a divinity in his own right, without reference to
Quirinus
In Roman mythology and religion, Quirinus ( , ) is an early god of the Roman state. In Augustan Rome, ''Quirinus'' was also an epithet of Janus, as ''Janus Quirinus''.
Name
Attestations
The name of god Quirinus is recorded across Roman so ...
. Roman mythographers identified the latter as an originally Sabine war-deity, and thus to be identified with Roman
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
.
Lucilius
The gens Lucilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The most famous member of this gens was the poet Gaius Lucilius, who flourished during the latter part of the second century BC.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vo ...
lists Quirinus and Romulus as separate deities, and
Varro accords them different temples. Images of Quirinus showed him as a bearded warrior wielding a spear as a god of war, the embodiment of Roman strength and a deified likeness of the city of Rome. He had a
Flamen Maior called the
Flamen Quirinalis, who oversaw his worship and rituals in the ordainment of Roman religion attributed to Romulus's royal successor,
Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions ar ...
. There is however no evidence for the conflated Romulus-Quirinus before the 1st century BC.
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...
in ''
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...
'' XIV
lines 805-828 gives a description of the
deification of Romulus and his wife
Hersilia, who are given the new names of Quirinus and Hora respectively. Mars, the father of Romulus, is given permission by
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...
to bring his son up to Olympus to live with the
Olympians.
One theory regarding this tradition proposes the emergence of two mythical figures from an earlier, singular hero. While Romulus is a founding hero, Quirinus may have been a god of the harvest, and the
Fornacalia
The Fornacalia was an Ancient Roman religious festival celebrated in honor of the goddess ''Fornax'', a divine personification of the oven (''fornax''), and was related to the proper baking of bread.
History
The Fornacalia may have been establishe ...
a festival celebrating a staple crop (
spelt). Through the traditional dates from the tales and the festivals, they are each associated with one another. A legend of the murder of such a founding hero, the burying of the hero's body in the fields (found in some accounts), and a festival associated with that hero, a god of the harvest, and a food staple is a pattern recognized by
anthropologists. Called a "''dema'' archetype", this pattern suggests that in a prior tradition, the god and the hero were in fact the same figure and later evolved into two.
Historicity
Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed.
Modern scholarship approaches the various known stories of the myth as cumulative elaborations and later interpretations of Roman
foundation myth. Particular versions and collations were presented by Roman historians as authoritative, an official history trimmed of contradictions and untidy variants to justify contemporary developments, genealogies and actions in relation to
Roman morality. Other narratives appear to represent popular or folkloric tradition; some of these remain inscrutable in purpose and meaning.
T.P. Wiseman sums up the whole issue as the
mythography of an unusually problematic foundation and early history.
[.][. — A critical, chronological review of historiography related to Rome's origins.]
The unsavoury elements of many of the myths concerning Romulus have led some scholars to describe them as "shameful" or "disreputable".
[Cornell, Tim (1995), ]
The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC)
'. London: Routledge, . In antiquity such stories became part of anti-Roman and anti-pagan propaganda. More recently, the historian Hermann Strasburger postulated that these were never part of authentic Roman tradition, but were invented and popularized by Rome's enemies, probably in
Magna Graecia, during the latter part of the fourth century BC.
This hypothesis is rejected by other scholars, such as Tim Cornell (1995),
who notes that by this period, the story of Romulus and Remus had already assumed its standard form, and was widely accepted at Rome. Other elements of the Romulus mythos clearly resemble common elements of folk tale and legend, and thus strong evidence that the stories were both old and indigenous.
Likewise, Momigliano finds Strasburger's argument well-developed, but entirely implausible; if the Romulus myths were an exercise in mockery, they were a signal failure.
Depictions in art
The episodes which make up the legend, most significantly that of
the rape of the Sabine women, the tale of
Tarpeia, and the death of Tatius have been a significant part of
ancient Roman scholarship and the frequent subject of art, literature and philosophy since ancient times.
Palazzo Magnani
In the late 16th century, the wealthy
Magnani family from Bologna commissioned a series of artworks based on the Roman foundation myth. The artists contributing works included a sculpture of Hercules with the infant twins by Gabriele Fiorini, featuring the patron's own face. The most important works were an elaborate series of frescoes collectively known as ''Histories of the Foundation of Rome'' by the Brothers Carracci:
Ludovico,
Annibale, and
Agostino.
File:Romolo traccia con l'aratro il confine della città di Roma.png, Romulus marking the city's boundaries with a plough
File:L'asilo per i profughi sul Campidoglio.png, The Asylum (Inter duos Lucos)
File:Il ratto delle Sabine.png, The rape of the Sabine women
File:Romolo dedica a Giove Feretrio le spoglie del re Acrone.jpg, Romulus dedicating the temple to Jupiter Feretrius
File:Battaglia tra Romani e Sabini.png, The Battle of the Lacus Curtius
File:Tito Tazio ucciso dai Laurenti.png, The death of Titus Tatius in Laurentium
File:Carracci, Romolo appare a Proculo, Palazzo Magnani, Bologna.png, Romulus appearing to Proculus Julius
File:La superbia di Romolo.jpg, The Pride of Romulus
The rape of the Sabine women
File:Sodoma 004.jpg, ''Ratto delle Sabine'' "The Rape of the Sabines", Il Sodoma (1507)
File:L'Enlèvement des Sabines – Nicolas Poussin – Musée du Louvre, INV 7290 – Q3110586.jpg, ''L'Enlèvement des Sabines'' "The Abduction of the Sabines", Nicolas Poussin (1638)
File:RUBENS anversa osterriethuis the rape of the sabine woman 1634-36 56 x 87 cm.jpg, ''The Rape of the Sabine Women'', Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...
(1634–36)
File:Rape of the Sabine Women (Loggia dei Lanzi) 2 2013 February.jpg, ''Ratto delle Sabine'' "Rape of the Sabines", Giambologna (1583)
File:Jacopo Ligozzi Rape of the Sabine Women.JPG, ''Ratto delle Sabine'' "The Rape of the Sabines", Jacopo Ligozzi (c.1565-1627)
File:Theodoor van Thulden (attr) Rape of the Sabine Women.jpg, ''L'Enlèvement des Sabines'' "The Abduction of the Sabines", ''Attributed to'' Theodoor van Thulden
Theodoor van Thulden (1606–12 July 1669) was a painter, draughtsman and engraver from 's-Hertogenbosch. He is mainly known for his altarpieces, mythological subjects, allegorical works and portraits. He was active in Antwerp, where he had tra ...
(17th c.)
File:Rape of the Sabine Women by Sebastiano Ricci.jpg, "The Rape of the Sabine Women", Sebastiano Ricci (c. 1700)
File:Johann Heinrich Schönfeld - Rape of the Sabine Women - WGA21057.jpg, ''Der Raub der Sabinerinnen'' "The Rape of the Sabine Women", Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (1640)
File:Charles Christian Nahl 1870, The Rape Of The Sabines - The Abduction.jpg, ''The Rape Of The Sabines – The Abduction'', Charles Christian Nahl (1870)
File:Charles Christian Nahl 1871, The Rape Of The Sabines - The Captivity.jpg, ''The Rape Of The Sabines – The Captivity'', Charles Christian Nahl (1871)
File:Charles Christian Nahl 1871, The Rape Of The Sabines - The Invasion.jpg, ''The Rape Of The Sabines – The Invasion'', Charles Christian Nahl (1871)
Tarpeia
File:Sodoma Tarpeia.jpg, ''The Vestal Virgin Tarpeia Beaten by Tatius’ soldiers'' Il Sodoma (16th c.)
File:Frieze Basilica Aemilia Massimo n3.jpg, Tarpeia's punishment, Pentelic marble fragment from the Frieze of the Basilica Aemilia (100 BC-100 AD
File:Tarpeia's Punishment.png, Reconstruction of Basilica Aemilia Frieze marble fragment
File:Pictura loquens; sive, Heroicarum tabularum Hadriani Schoonebeeck, enarratio et explicatio (1695) (14751427905).jpg, Tarpeia, Illustration fro
''Pictura loquens'' "the Heroic Accounts of Hadrian Schoonebeeck"
(1695) (14751427905)
File:Tarpeia.gif, Tarpeia conspires with Tatius in an illustration fro
''The story of the Romans''
by Hélène Adeline Guerber (1896)
Hersilia
File:Romolo ed Ersilia, final scene, Act 3.jpg, Print from Romolo ed Ersilia, final scene, Act 3, Artist;: Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727 – 14 December 1785) was an Italian painter and engraver, who lived in England from 1755. He is also called Giuseppe Cipriani by some authors. Much of his work consisted of designs for prints, many of whic ...
, Engraver: Francesco Bartolozzi
__NOTOC__
Francesco Bartolozzi (21 September 1727, in Florence – 7 March 1815, in Lisbon) was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London. He is noted for popularizing the "crayon" method of engraving.
Early life
Ba ...
(1781)
File:F0442 Louvre JL David Sabines INV3691 detail01 rwk.jpg, Hersilia from a detail of ''Les Sabines'' " The Intervention of the Sabine Women", Jacques-Louis David (1799)
File:Guercino - Hersilia Separating Romulus and Tatius - WGA10944.jpg, ''Ersilia separa Romolo da Tazio'' "Hersilia Separating Romulus and Tatius, Guercino (1645)
Death of Tatius
The subject for the 1788
Prix de Rome was the death of Tatius (''La mort de Tatius''). Garnier won the contest.
File:Garnier La mort de Tatius.JPG, Version by Étienne-Barthélémy Garnier, now in the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts
The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French '' grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Scien ...
, Paris.
File:Girodet La mort de Tatius.jpg, Version by Girodet, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers
The Musée des beaux-arts d'Angers is a museum of art located in a mansion, the "logis Barrault", place Saint-Éloi near the historic city of Angers.
Building
The museum is part of the Toussaint complex, which includes the garden of Fine Arts, ...
.
File:Jacques Réattu - La mort de Tatius.jpg, Version by Jacques Réattu, now in the Musée Réattu, Arles
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...
.
Death of Romulus
File:Rubens Apparizione di Romolo e Proculo Cardiff.png, "Apparition of Romulus before Proculus", Rubens (17th c.)
See also
*
Evander of Pallene
*
Hersilia
*
List of people who disappeared
Lists of people who disappeared include those whose current whereabouts are unknown, or whose deaths are unsubstantiated. Many people who disappear are eventually declared dead ''in absentia''. Some of these people were possibly subjected to enfo ...
*
Proculus Julius
Proculus Julius is a figure in the legendary history of the Roman Kingdom. His reported visitation by King Romulus, Rome's putative founder and first ruler, shortly after the king's disappearance convinces the people of Rome to accept Romulus' ...
*
Legendary progenitor
A legendary progenitor is a legendary or mythological figure held to be the common ancestor of a dynasty, people, tribe or ethnic group.
Overview
Masculinity, femininity and ''"ghenos"'' or lineage linked to legendary progenitors were fund ...
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*Cook, John Granger (2018),
Empty Tomb, Apotheosis, Resurrection', p. 263.
*Hyden, Marc (2020),
', Pen and Sword History, ISBN 9781526783172.
Ancient Sources
*
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'' i & ii.
*
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
, ''
History of Rome
The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced ...
'' i–v.
Additional reading
*Carandini, Andrea (2011). ''Rome: Day One.'' Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. .
*Forsythe, Gary (2005). ''A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War.'' Berkeley: University of California Press. .
{{Authority control
8th-century BC Romans
8th-century BC monarchs
Kings of Rome
Deified Roman people
Founding monarchs
Missing person cases in Italy
People from Alba Longa
People whose existence is disputed
Romulus and Remus
Fratricides
Mythological city founders