Romulus

Romulus
Traditional Reign	753-716 BC
Title	First King of Rome
Mother	Rhea Silvia
Father	Mars (traditional account)
Twin Brother	Remus
Predecessor	None (traditional founder)
Successor	Numa Pompilius
Later Deification	Quirinus
Associated City	Rome

Romulus was, according to Roman tradition, the founder and first king of Rome. He and his twin brother Remus were said to have been descended from the royal family of Alba Longa, and to have been raised by a she-wolf after being abandoned as infants. Romulus subsequently founded Rome on the Palatine Hill, became its first king, and established institutions which Roman writers associated with the origins of their political and religious order.

The traditional date for the founding of Rome is 753 BC, with 21 April celebrated as the anniversary. Romulus was traditionally said to have reigned for thirty-seven years, before disappearing during a public ceremony and being received among the gods under the name Quirinus.

Traditional Biography

Birth and Parentage

Romulus and Remus were traditionally said to have been the sons of Rhea Silvia, also called Ilia, a daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa. Numitor had been dispossessed of his throne by his brother Amulius, who feared that Numitor's descendants might eventually challenge his rule. Amulius therefore forced Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin, whose religious obligations required her to remain unmarried and childless.

According to the principal Roman tradition, Rhea Silvia became pregnant by the god Mars. The twins were consequently regarded as having divine as well as royal ancestry. Ancient authors nevertheless preserve variations concerning their parentage. Livy records that Rhea Silvia named Mars as the father, whether because she believed it or because the claim concealed a human violation. Plutarch also records accounts identifying Amulius himself as the father.

When Amulius learned of the birth, he ordered the infants to be abandoned. They were placed in a vessel and left beside the Tiber River. The waters carried them to the vicinity of the Palatine Hill, where they were discovered beneath a fig tree.

The traditional account relates that a she-wolf suckled the infants before they were discovered by a shepherd named Faustulus. He took them to his home, where they were raised by his wife Acca Larentia. The brothers grew up among the shepherds and became known for their strength, courage and leadership. Plutarch also preserves an explanation that Acca Larentia was called a lupa by the shepherds, a Latin word meaning both a she-wolf and, in common usage, a prostitute. This has led to alternative interpretations of the story of their upbringing.

The Restoration of Numitor

As young men, Romulus and Remus became leaders among the shepherds and were involved in disputes with neighbouring herdsmen. Remus was eventually captured during a conflict and brought before Numitor, who was still living at Alba Longa. The circumstances of the young men's birth and upbringing led Numitor to suspect their royal identity.

Faustulus subsequently revealed the truth to Romulus. The brothers gathered their supporters, returned to Alba Longa and overthrew Amulius. Numitor was restored to the throne, and the brothers were recognised as his grandsons.

Rather than remain at Alba Longa, Romulus and Remus decided to establish a new settlement in the territory where they had been raised.

The Founding of Rome

The brothers disagreed over the location of the new city. Romulus favoured the Palatine Hill, while Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. They agreed to consult the auspices, seeking divine approval through the observation of birds.

According to the traditional account, Remus first saw six vultures, while Romulus subsequently saw twelve. Their followers disputed which sign conferred the right to establish the city. The disagreement developed into a violent quarrel, during which Remus was killed. The accounts differ over the precise circumstances of his death. In one familiar version, Remus leapt over the newly constructed boundary of the city in mockery and was killed by Romulus or one of his followers. Livy also preserves a version in which Celer, one of Romulus' men, struck Remus with a mattock.

Romulus proceeded with the foundation of the city on the Palatine. He marked its boundary with a plough drawn by a bull and a cow, establishing a sacred boundary which later Roman tradition associated with the pomerium. Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes the ceremony and records that the Romans continued to celebrate its anniversary as the festival of the Parilia.

The traditional date of the foundation was 21 April 753 BC. The date became the basis of the Varronian chronology, by which Roman years were calculated from the traditional foundation of the city. Ancient writers did not, however, agree on a single foundation date or even on a single founder.

The Abduction of the Sabine Women

The new settlement initially lacked a sufficient population of women. Romulus therefore established an asylum in the city, attracting fugitives and newcomers from neighbouring communities. The growing population nevertheless faced a shortage of marriageable women, and neighbouring peoples were unwilling to establish marital alliances with the new city.

Romulus arranged public games and religious celebrations, inviting the neighbouring communities to attend. During the festivities, the Romans seized a number of the Sabine women who had come with their families. This episode became known as the Rape of the Sabine Women. The Latin raptio referred to the seizure or abduction of the women, and the story became one of the most enduring episodes in the foundation traditions of Rome.

The abduction provoked war with several neighbouring peoples. Romulus defeated the forces of Caenina, whose king Acron was said to have been killed in single combat. Romulus dedicated Acron's spoils of armour to Jupiter Feretrius, establishing the tradition of the spolia opima, the highest military honour associated with a Roman commander who killed an enemy leader in battle.

The Sabines, under their king Titus Tatius, subsequently attacked Rome. The Romans initially suffered reverses, partly through the treachery of Tarpeia, who opened the citadel to the Sabine forces. The battle between the two peoples was finally brought to an end by the intervention of the abducted women themselves.

The women entered the battlefield carrying their children and appealed to their fathers and brothers on one side and their husbands on the other. Their intervention brought about a truce and reconciliation. The Romans and Sabines agreed to share the city, and Romulus and Titus Tatius became joint kings. The Sabine population was incorporated into the Roman community, and the union became a central part of the traditional explanation of Rome's early growth.

Kingship and Roman Institutions

Roman writers credited Romulus with the establishment of many of the institutions of the early Roman state. He was said to have organised the population into tribes and curiae, established a council of elders which became the Roman Senate, and distinguished between the patrician families and the wider population.

The Senate was traditionally said to have begun with one hundred members, selected from the leading families of the city. Following the union with the Sabines, additional members were admitted. The Roman tradition also associated Romulus with the institution of the relationship between patrons and clients, through which influential citizens provided protection and assistance to dependants.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives an extensive account of the constitution and laws attributed to Romulus. He describes the division of authority between the king, Senate and people, as well as the organisation of the army and the curiae. He also credits Romulus with laws governing marriage, the family and the authority of the father within the household.

These institutions were important elements of the later Roman understanding of their political and social origins. Their precise form in the eighth century BC cannot, however, be independently established from the surviving evidence.

Military Campaigns and the Death of Tatius

Following the reconciliation of the Romans and Sabines, Romulus and Titus Tatius continued to rule jointly. Their combined forces conducted campaigns against neighbouring communities, extending Roman influence in the surrounding territory.

The death of Tatius left Romulus as sole ruler. According to the ancient accounts, Tatius was killed during a journey to Lavinium after members of his party had become involved in violence against local representatives. Romulus declined to avenge the death by launching a war against Lavinium, a decision which ancient writers interpreted as an effort to preserve the peace between the two peoples.

Romulus subsequently fought against communities including Fidenae and Veii. The ancient narratives credit him with military victories and the extension of Roman territory. They also portray him as an energetic commander who strengthened the military organisation of the growing city.

Disappearance and Deification

Romulus was traditionally said to have ruled for thirty-seven years. His disappearance occurred during a public ceremony or review of the army in the vicinity of the Campus Martius. According to the most familiar account, a violent storm and sudden darkness overwhelmed the gathering. When the conditions cleared, Romulus had vanished.

The disappearance produced conflicting interpretations. Some believed that Romulus had been taken bodily into heaven by the gods. Others suspected that he had been murdered by members of the Senate, who were said to have concealed his remains. Plutarch records both traditions.

The account of his deification was strengthened by the testimony of Julius Proculus, a respected Roman, who claimed that Romulus had appeared to him while he was travelling from the countryside. Romulus allegedly declared that he had been received among the gods and was henceforth to be worshipped as Quirinus. Proculus communicated the message to the Roman people, and a cult of Quirinus became associated with the founder of Rome.

The identification of Romulus with Quirinus became established in Roman religious tradition. Ovid's Fasti describes the transformation of Romulus into the god Quirinus, while the Oxford Classical Dictionary notes that the assimilation of Quirinus to Romulus was established by the third century BC.

Historical Assessment

Romulus occupies a central place in Roman foundation traditions, but the surviving accounts of his life were written many centuries after the period in which he was supposed to have lived. Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch preserve important versions of the story, but their narratives are not contemporary records of an eighth-century king.

Ancient writers themselves acknowledged disagreement about the origins of Rome. Dionysius of Halicarnassus records several competing traditions concerning the identity of the city's founder and its date of foundation. Some accounts associated the city with descendants of Aeneas, while others named different founders or attributed the foundation to groups of Trojan immigrants.

Archaeological evidence establishes that the hills of Rome were inhabited long before the traditional date of 753 BC. The Palatine Hill was occupied from at least the tenth or ninth century BC, and excavations have revealed remains of early huts in the area associated by Roman tradition with the home of Romulus. The archaeological park of the Colosseum identifies one such traditional dwelling as the Casa Romuli, which was preserved and restored in antiquity.

The wider development of Rome appears to have been gradual. Settlements on the hills expanded, the Forum valley became part of the inhabited area, and public and monumental buildings developed over subsequent centuries. Tim Cornell's account of the origins of Rome in the Oxford Classical Dictionary describes the ancient foundation narratives as legendary and notes that the archaeological evidence indicates the growth of an early settlement into an organised city-state.

Jeremy Armstrong and J. H. Richardson have further argued that archaeology does not establish a single foundation event or a secure foundation date for Rome. They note that the traditional date of 753 BC was only one of several dates proposed by ancient writers, and that the identity of the founder was likewise disputed.

The evidence therefore establishes the antiquity of settlement on the site of Rome, but does not independently demonstrate the existence of Romulus as a historical individual or verify the events of his traditional biography. Romulus remains the central legendary founder through whom the Romans explained the origins of their city, monarchy, institutions and religious traditions.

See also

• Remus
• Rhea Silvia
• Numitor
• Amulius
• Titus Tatius
• Quirinus
• Roman Kingdom
• Roman mythology
• Palatine Hill
• Sabine women
• Original Source: Plutarch - Lives - Romulus

External links

• Plutarch, Romulus, Loeb Classical Library (1914), Greek text and English translation by Bernadotte Perrin
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Book I
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Book II
• Livy, History of Rome, Books I-X