The little story of Romulus and Remus

In this article, I won’t talk about historical truths, because we only know a myth, a legend about the foundation of Rome. There is no record that can support the truth of the myth, so it is up to us if we believe it or not, but usually, Italians accept the myth as it would be true. Even if there were records of this myth they were probably destroyed during the battle of Allia(390), fought between the Romans and a Gallic tribe named Senones. According to the legend, Numitor, King of Alba Longa was overthrown by his younger brother Amulius. Amulius in order to make sure Numitor had no heirs, killed Numitor’s sons and ordered Rhea Silvia, Numitor’s daughter to be a Vestal Virgin.

Vestal Virgins had to sworn celibacy for more than 30 years, this way she could not give birth to a boy. Unfortunately, she gave birth to two brothers, Romulus and Remus and claimed that the god Mars was the father of the children. When Amulius found out about the children, she ordered the imprisonment of Rhea Silvia and the murdering of the two children. The servants showed mercy and left them adrift on the Tiber river. They were found at the bank of the Tiber River by a she-wolf, who raised them. On 21 April 753 BCE according to the myth they founded Rome. It is said that in an argument over who would rule the city Romulus killed his brother Remus and names the city after himself. The new city, the early Rome was a small town on the banks of the river Tiber, but the city grew very fast trough trade. Its location was excellent for merchants. The Roman culture was built after the model of Greece, whose culture and civilization came to Rome from the south via Greek colonies. Religion, literacy and the fundamentals of architecture were borrowed from the Greeks. The other ethnic group that influenced the Romans were the Etruscans from the north, who were very good at trading, so the Romans learned from them. After all, we can say that near the Greeks, the Etruscans are the biggest ethnic group that had a big impact on Rome. The kingdom of Rome grew rapidly from a little trading town to a prosperous city between the 8th and 6th century BC.

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