The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hilltop villages during the Final Bronze Age or early Iron Age. Prehistoric habitation of the Italian Peninsula occurred by 48,000 years ago, with the area of Rome being settled by around 1600 BC. Some evidence on the Capitoline Hill possibly dates as early as c. 1700 BC and the nearby valley that later housed the Roman Forum had a developed necropolis by at least 1000 BC. The combination of the hilltop settlements into a single polity by the later 8th century BC was probably influenced by the trend for city-state formation emerging from ancient Greece.
In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus are twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the founding of the city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his fratricide of Remus. The image of a she-wolf suckling the twins in their infancy has been a symbol of the city of Rome and the ancient Romans since at least the 3rd century BC. Although the tale takes place before the founding of Rome around 750 BC, the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC. Possible historical bases for the story, and interpretations of its local variants, are subjects of ongoing debate.
In Roman mythology, Faustulus was the shepherd who found the infant Romulus and his twin brother Remus along the banks of the Tiber River as they were being suckled by the she-wolf, Lupa. According to legend, Faustulus carried the babies back to his sheepfold for his wife Acca Larentia to nurse them. Faustulus and Acca Larentia then raised the boys as their own. Romulus later defeated and killed King Amulius of Alba Longa, with the help of Faustulus, and his brother Pleistinus. Romulus and Remus set out to build their own city, but then had a falling-out. In the ensuing skirmish, Faustulus and Pleistinus were killed. Romulus went on to found Rome.
RheaSilvia, also known as Ilia, was the mythical mother of the twins Romulus and Remus, who founded the city of Rome. This event was portrayed numerous times in Roman art. Her story is told in the first book of Ab Urbe Condita Libri of Livy and in Cassius Dio's Roman History. The Legend of Rhea Silvia recounts how she was raped by Mars while she was a Vestal Virgin, resulting in the twins, as mentioned in the Aeneid and the works of Ovid.
In Roman mythology, King Numitor of Alba Longa was the maternal grandfather of Rome's founder and first king, Romulus, and his twin brother Remus. He was the son of Procas, descendant of Aeneas the Trojan, and father of the twins' mother, Rhea Silvia, and Lausus.a
In Roman mythology, Amulius was king of Alba Longa who ordered the death of his infant, twin grandnephews Romulus, the eventual founder and king of Rome, and Remus. He was deposed and killed by them after they survived and grew to adulthood.
Procas or Proca was one of the Latin kings of Alba Longa in the mythic tradition of the founding of Rome. He was the father of Amulius and Numitor and the great-grandfather of Romulus and Remus, Rome's legendary founders.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was atticistic – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.
The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture depicting a scene from the legend of the founding of Rome. The sculpture shows a she-wolf suckling the mythical twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. According to the legend, when King Numitor, grandfather of the twins, was overthrown by his brother Amulius in Alba Longa, the usurper ordered them to be cast into the Tiber River. They were rescued by a she-wolf that cared for them until a herdsman, Faustulus, found and raised them.
The kings of Alba Longa, or Alban kings, were a series of legendary kings of Latium, who ruled from the ancient city of Alba Longa. In the mythic tradition of ancient Rome, they fill the 400-year gap between the settlement of Aeneas in Italy and the founding of the city of Rome by Romulus. It was this line of descent to which the Julii claimed kinship. The traditional line of the Alban kings ends with Numitor, the grandfather of Romulus and Remus. One later king, Gaius Cluilius, is mentioned by Roman historians, although his relation to the original line, if any, is unknown; and after his death, a few generations after the time of Romulus, the city was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome, and its population transferred to Alba's daughter city.
Tiberinus is a figure in Roman mythology. He was the god of the Tiber River. He was added to the 3,000 rivers, as the genius of the Tiber.
Romulus was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. 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, 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.
Senius and Aschius are the two legendary founders of Siena, Italy. They were brothers, sons of Remus, and thus Romulus was their uncle.
Duel of the Titans is a 1961 Italian / French film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, and Virna Lisi. The film is about twin brothers revolt against tyranny in pre-Roman Italy and then come to a parting of the ways as they lead their people toward the founding of a new city, known as Rome. This is based on the legend of Romulus and Remus.
Alba Longa was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. The ancient Romans believed it to be the founder and head of the Latin League, before it was destroyed by the Roman Kingdom around the middle of the 7th century BC and its inhabitants were forced to settle in Rome. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, had come from the royal dynasty of Alba Longa, which in Virgil's Aeneid had been the bloodline of Aeneas, a son of Venus.
The gens Cloelia, originally Cluilia, and occasionally written Clouilia or Cloulia, was a patrician family at ancient Rome. The gens was prominent throughout the period of the Republic. The first of the Cloelii to hold the consulship was Quintus Cloelius Siculus, in 498 BC.
In the Roman foundation myth, the she-wolf was an Italian wolf who nursed and sheltered the twins Romulus and Remus after they were abandoned in the wild by decree of King Amulius of Alba Longa. She cared for the infants at her den, a cave known as the Lupercal, until they were discovered by a shepherd, Faustulus. Romulus would later become the founder and first king of Rome. The image of the she-wolf suckling the twins has been a symbol of Rome since ancient times and is one of the most recognizable icons of ancient mythology.
The First King: Birth of an Empire, released as Romulus v Remus: The First King in the UK, is a 2019 Italian historical drama film directed by Matteo Rovere. It stars Alessandro Borghi and Alessio Lapice.
The gens Silvia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. According to legend, the Silvii were the royal dynasty of Alba Longa, Rome's mother city, and presumably came to Rome when that city was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius in the seventh century BC. Notwithstanding their connection with Rome's foundation myths, the Silvii were plebeians, and hardly any members of this gens played a significant role in history. However, from inscriptions, several Silvii appear to have had distinguished military careers, and Silvius Silvanus was governor of Moesia Inferior in the time of Diocletian.
Romulus, graphically rendered as ROMVLVS, is an Italian historical drama television series created by Matteo Rovere about the founding of Rome. The show is notable for using archaic Latin instead of Italian.
